Quick answer: RCON lets you run admin commands remotely instead of having to be in the server. The detail that catches nearly everyone: the RCON port is usually your game port plus one, not the game port itself. SquadJS sits on top of RCON and your server logs and turns them into automation, most commonly teamkill warnings, seeding rule broadcasts, and a live Discord relay for chat and admin calls. Almost every community that runs a Squad server for more than a month ends up building this.
RCON: the part you set up first
RCON is remote console access. Without it, administrating means being in the game with admin rights, which is fine until you need to deal with something while you are not playing.
The configuration lives in SquadGame/ServerConfig/Server.cfg, where you set an RCON password and a maximum number of connections.
Then you connect with any Squad compatible RCON client, using your server IP, the RCON port, and the password you set.
The port thing. The RCON port is typically your game port plus one. If your server runs on the default game port, RCON is one above it. People try the game port, get a connection failure, and conclude RCON is broken or their host has not enabled it. It is almost always this.
If you are hosting with us the port is shown in your panel, so you do not have to work it out.
Not every command works over RCON
Worth knowing before you spend twenty minutes debugging a command that was never going to run.
Squad has admin commands that work from the in game admin console and commands that work over RCON, and the lists are not identical. Some are marked as in game only. If a command silently does nothing over RCON, check whether it is one of those rather than assuming your RCON connection is broken.
The quick test: run something you know works over RCON first. If that responds, your connection is fine and the problem is the specific command.
SquadJS: what communities actually use it for
SquadJS is the community standard automation framework for Squad. It reads your server logs and RCON in real time and turns them into actions.
The three things nearly every community sets up:
Teamkill warnings. Automatic messages when someone teamkills, which handles the majority of incidents without an admin having to be present. Most teamkills are accidents, and an automatic reminder resolves them faster than a human would.
Seeding rule broadcasts. Seeding a server means getting the first players on so more will join, and it has its own etiquette. Automatic broadcasts of your seeding rules mean you are not repeating them by hand every evening.
Discord relay. Chat, kills and !admin calls pushed into a Discord channel. This one changes how a community operates more than the others, because it means an admin can be in Discord rather than in the game and still see when they are needed.
That last point is the real value. A Squad match is ninety minutes. Requiring an admin to be playing in order to be useful does not scale, and communities burn out their admin teams that way.
The order that works
If you are setting this up from nothing, do it in this sequence. Each step confirms the previous one.
- Get the server running and joinable. Do not configure anything else until people can play on it.
- Set up RCON and connect once. Confirm you can run a command remotely before building anything on top.
- Add SquadJS. It depends on RCON and log access, so it can only work once step 2 does.
- Add the Discord relay last. It is the piece with the most moving parts and the least urgency.
The common failure is doing this in reverse, starting with the Discord integration because it is the exciting part, then debugging four layers at once when nothing appears in the channel.
Admin setup is not the same as server sizing
Two different problems that get discussed together, so worth separating.
RCON and SquadJS are about operating the server. They do not make it faster. If your server stutters when a point is contested, no amount of admin tooling changes that, because that is CPU headroom.
Our Squad hosting runs 8 to 32GB tiers, and the sizing logic is separate from all of the above: 8GB for a private clan server on smaller layers, 16GB for a public 50 player server, 24 to 32GB once you are running 100 player layers with a modded rotation.
Get the sizing right first. A perfectly administrated server that cannot hold a match together is still a bad server.
Where you host it
Squad matches are long and coordinated over voice, which makes latency matter more than it does in a game you dip into for twenty minutes. Ninety minutes with 40ms of avoidable delay is a different experience.
We run Squad in the Netherlands, North America, Singapore and India. Pick the region closest to most of your community rather than to you as the admin.
FAQ
What port does Squad RCON use? Usually your game port plus one. Trying the game port itself is the most common reason an RCON connection fails.
Where do I set the RCON password?
In SquadGame/ServerConfig/Server.cfg, along with the maximum number of RCON connections.
Why does an admin command do nothing over RCON? Some Squad admin commands are in game console only. Test a command you know works over RCON first to confirm the connection is fine, then check whether the one you want is in game only.
What is SquadJS? The community standard automation framework for Squad servers. It reads your logs and RCON in real time and turns them into actions like teamkill warnings, seeding broadcasts and Discord relays.
Do I need SquadJS? Not to run a server. You will want it once your community is big enough that admins cannot always be in game, because the Discord relay lets them respond without playing.
Will admin tooling fix server lag? No. RCON and SquadJS are about operating the server, not its performance. Stuttering at contested points is CPU headroom and needs a bigger tier, not better tooling.
Related reading: Squad server requirements after the Unreal Engine 5 move, or Squad hosting plans across four regions.