Setting Up a Whitelist on Your Starbound Server Using User Accounts

Why Lock Down a Starbound Server

Exploring the procedurally generated chaos of Starbound is far more enjoyable when the people you share it with are people you actually invited. Random visitors crashing your base or griefing your outpost gets old fast. Starbound does not ship with a traditional whitelist toggle, so the workaround is to disable anonymous connections and require every player to log in with a named account that you control.

This approach turns the server into an invite-only space. Once configured, anyone without valid credentials is rejected at the door, regardless of how they found your IP. The setup involves three short stages: making the server private, defining the accounts, and connecting with them.

Step 1: Disable Anonymous Connections

With anonymous joins still permitted, accounts are pointless because anyone can walk in without one. The first job is to flip that setting off.

1. Open your HolyHosting control panel and head into the configuration files area.

1. Pick the server config file from the list to open the editor.

1. Scroll until you find the `allowAnonymousConnections` line.
2. Change its value from `true` to `false`. Keep the comma at the end of the line. Starbound is picky about JSON formatting and will refuse to load if the syntax breaks.

Leave the editor open. The next step happens in the same file.

Step 2: Add User Accounts

The `serverUsers` block is where every approved player gets defined. The syntax looks intimidating at first, but it follows a clear pattern: each user is one line with a name, an admin flag, and a password.

1. Locate the `serverUsers` section in the same config file.
2. Inside the brackets, paste a new line in this format:

`"UsernameHere" : { "admin" : false, "password" : "PasswordHere" }`

1. To add more players, drop another line beneath it. Every entry except the last one needs a trailing comma. The final account in the list does not.
2. Swap `UsernameHere` and `PasswordHere` for the actual credentials you want each person to use. Set `admin` to `true` for anyone who should have full operator access.

Hit Save at the top of the editor when the list looks right, then head back to the main panel and Restart the server so the changes load.

A quick tip: keep a private text file or password manager entry with the list of accounts. Players will message you for theirs more than once.

Step 3: Connect With Your Account

With the server now refusing anonymous joins, every player needs to log in properly.

1. Launch Starbound and select Join Game from the main menu.
2. Pick an existing character or create a new one for the account.
3. Fill in the IP Address, Port, Username, and Password fields.
4. Click Join Server at the bottom.

If the credentials match an entry in the config, the connection goes through and you spawn in normally.

Troubleshooting

Login keeps getting rejected. Almost always a typo. Reopen the server config, double check the username and password against what the player is entering, and confirm there is no stray space or quotation mark. If you would rather not deal with accounts at all, switch `allowAnonymousConnections` back to `true`, save, and restart.

Changes refuse to take effect. Two usual suspects: the file was not saved, or the server was not restarted afterward. If both look correct, Force Stop the server before editing again. As a last resort, you can reset the file entirely by opening your FTP client or file manager, navigating to the storage directory, ticking `starbound_server.config`, and clicking Delete. A fresh default version will appear on the next start, ready for you to configure from scratch.

Related Reading

• How to Make a Starbound Server
• How to Join a Starbound Server
• How to Add Mods to Starbound Servers
• Starbound Admin Access and Commands