You started your Rust server, friends can join through client.connect IP:PORT, and everything runs fine. But open the in-game server browser and the server is nowhere. Not under Community, not under Modded, not even when you search its exact name. Nothing is broken. This is almost always one of five small things, and every one of them is checkable in a few minutes.
How the server browser actually works
The in-game browser does not talk to your server directly. Your server announces itself to Steam's master server list through its query port, and the browser reads that list. On SpillHosting the query port is created and opened for every Rust server automatically, so the plumbing side is already done. When a server that accepts direct connections does not appear in the browser, the cause is nearly always timing, tabs, or filters, not the server itself.
1. A new server needs a few hours
Steam does not show brand-new servers immediately. After the first start, or after a fresh install, it can take several hours before the server turns up in the browser, and search is unreliable for entries that young. This is the single most common reason, and the fix is patience. If your server came online today, check again later before changing anything.
2. Look in the right tab
Which tab your server appears under is decided by whether it is modded:
- Community is for servers without a modding framework.
- Modded is where your server lives the moment Oxide or Carbon is installed, even with zero plugins configured.
Owners install Oxide, look for their server under Community, and conclude it is missing. Check the other tab first.
3. Clear your filters and the search box
The browser remembers filters between sessions. A map size filter, a "hide full" or player count filter, or an old search term can quietly hide your server. Reset every filter, clear the search field, and refresh the list. When searching by name, use a single distinctive word from the name rather than the full title with symbols.
4. Confirm the server is registered with Steam
You do not have to guess whether the announcement is working. Look your server up on battlemetrics.com by its IP address. BattleMetrics reads the same Steam data the in-game browser does. If your server is there, registration works and the in-game listing will follow on its own. If it is not there after a day, open a ticket with us and we will check the startup logs with you.
5. Set your browser tags
The tags shown in the browser, like the wipe schedule, are not automatic. They come from the server.tags convar. Add it to the Additional Args field on your server's Startup tab in the game panel:
+server.tags "monthly,vanilla"
Common tags are monthly, weekly and biweekly for the wipe schedule, and vanilla for unmodified gameplay. Region tags are added by Steam automatically, so you never set those yourself. Restart the server after changing startup arguments.
A note on server names
Keep the name reasonable: under 60 characters, no emojis or exotic symbols. The browser handles plain names with separators like | fine, but decorated names can render oddly and make search matches worse.
Still not listed?
If the server has been online for more than a day, BattleMetrics does not show it, and the tabs and filters are clean, open a ticket from the support page and include your server name. We can query the server from outside and read the startup logs to find where the announcement stops.