ARK Server Commander

⚠️ Development Stage Notice: This project is currently in development stage and features may be incomplete or have stability issues. It is recommended for testing environments only and should not be used in production.

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• ARK Survival Evolved server management tool for Linux.
• ARK servers come with ArkApi plugin system built-in.

🎮 Features

✅ Implemented Features

• 🐳 Each ARK server runs in an independent Docker container
• 🔌 Servers come with ArkApi pre-installed
• 🔄 Server containers support automatic restart on crash
• ⬆️ Automatic server files and mod updates on first startup
• 💾 Automatic creation and management of Docker volumes for game data storage
• 🖥️ Add and manage multiple ARK servers
• ⚙️ Configure server settings and configuration parameters
• ▶️ One-click server start/stop
• 🖼️ Docker image management (pull, update, status check)
• 🔐 JWT authentication and user management
• 📝 Complete API documentation (Swagger)

🚧 Planned Features

• 🎮 RCON command execution
• 📊 Server running status monitoring
• 🎨 Mod management integration with Steam Workshop
• 🔧 ArkApi plugin management
• 📋 Server log viewing
• 💾 Server save and configuration backup
• 🔍 Tool version update checking
• ⚡ Optional server files and mod updates
• 🔄 Container image update functionality
• 🌐 i18n internationalization support
• 🔌 MCP (Mod Configuration Protocol) support

🚀 Future Plans

• ☸️ Multi-host management based on K8S
• 🌍 Server listing website, breaking free from poor Steam server search
• 👥 Player user interface

🔒 Security Notice

⚠️ JWT Secret Configuration (CRITICAL)

Before deploying this application, you MUST configure a strong JWT secret key!

Why is this important?

• JWT (JSON Web Token) is used for user authentication and session management
• A weak or default JWT secret allows attackers to forge authentication tokens
• This could lead to complete system compromise and unauthorized access to all servers

How to configure:

1. Generate a strong random secret (recommended):

openssl rand -base64 48

2. Set the environment variable:

For Docker Compose deployment, edit docker-compose.yml:

environment:
  - JWT_SECRET=your-generated-secret-here  # Replace with generated secret

For direct deployment:

export JWT_SECRET='your-generated-secret-here'

Security Requirements:

• ✅ Minimum length: 32 characters
• ✅ Use cryptographically random generation
• ✅ Never commit secrets to version control
• ✅ Use different secrets for different environments (dev/staging/prod)
• ❌ Never use default values like "your-secret-key-here"
• ❌ Never use common passwords or dictionary words

Validation:

The application will refuse to start if:

• JWT_SECRET is not set
• JWT_SECRET is shorter than 32 characters
• JWT_SECRET contains weak/common password patterns

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🚀 Quick Start

🔧 System Requirements

• 8GB+ memory per ARK server (recommended)
• 10GB+ disk space per ARK server

📦 Install 1Panel

We recommend installing 1Panel on your server to manage the Docker environment 1Panel Installation Guide

🐳 Docker Containerized Deployment

Copy the docker-compose.yml, or use the following configuration directly:

version: '3.8'

services:
  # ARK Server Management System (Frontend + Backend)
  ark-commander:
    image: tbro98/arkservercommander:latest
    container_name: ark-commander
    ports:
      # You can modify the port mapping
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      # ⚠️ IMPORTANT: Generate a strong secret using: openssl rand -base64 48
      - JWT_SECRET=your-secret-key-here
      - DB_PATH=/data/ark_server.db
      - SERVER_PORT=8080
    volumes:
      # Database storage
      - ./data:/data
      # Docker socket (for managing Docker containers)
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    restart: unless-stopped
    # System requires privileged mode to operate host Docker
    privileged: true

🚀 Start the service

sudo docker-compose up -d

🌐 Access the system interface via ip+port

📖 User Guide

🆕 First Time Use

1. The system will automatically redirect to the initialization page
2. Set up your administrator account and password
3. After initialization, log into the system

🖥️ Managing Servers

1. After logging in, click "Server Management"
2. Click "Add Server" to create a new server configuration

🗺️ Supported Maps - Can be extended with custom additions later

• The Island
• The Center
• Scorched Earth
• Aberration
• Extinction
• Valguero
• Genesis
• Crystal Isles
• Genesis 2
• Lost Island
• Fjordur

❓ FAQ

❓ Q: How to backup ARK server data?

A: Server data backup operations are not yet implemented. Server data is stored in Docker volumes ark-server-<server_number>, you can backup manually.

❓ Q: How to view ARK server logs?

A: The server program currently cannot output logs directly in docker logs, you need to view the server log files, and we'll see how to optimize this later.

❓ Q: How to update ARK server images?

A: The system now supports image management features. After logging in, go to the image management page where you can check for updates, pull new images, and update existing images.

❓ Q: What if JWT_SECRET configuration fails?

A: If the application fails to start with JWT_SECRET errors, ensure:

• JWT_SECRET is set in environment variables
• Secret is at least 32 characters long
• Use openssl rand -base64 48 to generate a strong random secret

🖼️ ARK Server Image

• This system uses the tbro98/ase-server:latest image to run ARK servers
• Image source: ASE-Server-Docker

📸 Interface Screenshots