Admin Commands

Nexus implements a system-wide admin protocol using the rcon command. You can issue these commands using the in-game console (~ key) if you are authenticated as an admin.

Authentication is handled either by connection-level OIDC JWT auth or by in-game rcon_password. For OIDC mode, AUTH_ADMIN_ID is optional: if unset, any valid JWT accepted by AUTH_ISSUER/AUTH_AUDIENCE is treated as admin. The rcon password is a non-archived cvar that will not be saved to config.cfg when set. Adding it to your config.cfg directly isn't recommended, though this will enable automatic elevation on connection.

Targeting

Form	Behavior
rcon <cmd>	If connected to a server, sends to that server. If disconnected, sends to Nexus (port 0).
rcon nexus <cmd>	Forces a Nexus command even while connected to a game server.
rcon <host> <cmd>	Targets a server by slist hostname cache entry. For scaled pools, Nexus fans the command out to every running backend in that pool.
rcon <port\|idx> <cmd>	Targets a specific backend by listen port, or a managed pool by slot index. Pool targets fan the command out to every running backend in that pool.

Nexus Command Reference

Command	Usage	Description
help	rcon nexus help	Show the list of Nexus rcon commands.
tail	rcon nexus tail	Show the last 10 Nexus log lines. Server tail is rcon <host\|port\|idx> tail.
slist	rcon nexus slist [<all\|idx\|host>]	With no argument, list managed pools. Displays the pool name, candidate connect port, game directory, player count, and state. With all, a pool index, or a pool hostname, list backend servers in the existing grouped format for every pool or one selected pool.
session list	rcon nexus session list	List all connected client sessions. Displays role, user identity, server, and port. If no authenticated user identity is available, shows the public source IP in parentheses.
session info	rcon nexus session info <idx>	Show details for one session index from session list, including NQIP/source identity and status-derived player slot/address when connected to a server.
session ban	rcon nexus session ban <idx>	Ban one session index from all servers and disconnect it immediately. Nexus issues server kick by status slot first (best effort), then closes session sockets and blocks route identity until Nexus restart. Admin sessions cannot be banned.
start	rcon nexus start <idx\|host\|all>	Start a specific pool by the pool index shown in rcon nexus slist, or by pool hostname. Use all to start every server defined in servers.ini.
stop	rcon nexus stop <idx\|host\|all>	Stop a specific pool or all pools. Sends a graceful quit command first, then terminates if it doesn't exit.
restart	rcon nexus restart <idx\|host\|all>	Restart a specific pool or all pools. Equivalent to stop followed by start.
remove	rcon nexus remove <idx\|host>	Remove a stopped pool from the runtime registry. Useful for cleaning up temporary launch instances.
launch	rcon nexus launch <binary> [args...]	Launch and register a new server instance dynamically. Example: rcon nexus launch nqserver -dedicated -game ctf +map ctf2m3.

Privileged Gameplay Commands (please)

Retail Quake contained a server admin feature, but it was compile-flag gated and not generally available in stock retail builds. NexQuake's dedicated server build enables it with -DIDGODS.

Usage flow:

1. Enable the feature on the target server (idgods 1 in config, or launch with +idgods 1).
2. As a global Nexus rcon admin:
   1. Run rcon <host|port|idx> status (if not connected) or just status if connected to the target server.
   2. Note the number of the player you want to promote.
   3. Run rcon <host|port|idx> please # <player number>.
3. That player is promoted to admin on that server only.
4. The promoted player can then use cmd <server command> from their client console, and can also run privileged gameplay commands directly (god, notarget, noclip, fly, give, kick, ban). Note that ban in this case is only for that particular game server. To ban a player from the entire NexQuake instance, you must be a global admin and use rcon session ban.