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Godlike.Host offers hosted Project Zomboid servers with its own game panel, SFTP access and free DDoS protection, if you would rather not host it yourself.
Use a scheduler to send staged servermsg warnings, issue a clean save followed by quit, and let the normal launcher, container restart policy, or hosting panel start the server again. This sequence avoids the data-loss risk of killing the process and works on a Windows machine, in Docker, or through a managed host—provided RCON is enabled, protected, and reachable by the scheduler.
The restart sequence that protects the world
An automatic restart is not one command. It is an orchestration sequence with four distinct phases:
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- Warn players: broadcast messages at known intervals, such as 10, 5, 1, and 0 minutes.
- Save the world: send the Project Zomboid
savecommand through RCON or the server console. - Quit cleanly: send
quitand wait for the process to exit. - Start normally: rely on the launcher, Docker restart policy, panel task, or host automation to boot the server again.
Do not replace the last two steps with a force kill. The pz-server-tools documentation describes its emergency kill action as an unclean shutdown that can lose or corrupt data. The pz-panel documentation likewise explains that Project Zomboid does not save the world on a generic SIGTERM; its clean-stop path writes quit to the server instead. A Docker stop or a task that terminates the process can therefore leave the world only as current as its last autosave.
Prerequisites and RCON security
Enable and protect RCON
Your scheduler needs an administrative channel. The relevant server settings are RCONPort and RCONPassword. Set a long, unique password, keep the RCON port on localhost or a private network whenever possible, and firewall it from the public internet. If a remote scheduler must connect, allow only its fixed private address or VPN range.
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- Store the password in a protected environment variable, secret store, or file readable only by the service account.
- Do not put the password in a publicly readable batch file, container image, Git repository, panel note, or shared chat message.
- Use a dedicated RCON account or restricted network path if your tooling supports it.
- Confirm that your RCON client can send quoted text containing spaces and punctuation; command-line quoting differs between clients.
Confirm the restart owner
Only one mechanism should own the restart. Decide whether Windows Task Scheduler, a container policy, a panel, or a host scheduler will relaunch the server. Running two schedules can produce overlapping warnings, two save commands, or a second start attempt while the first process is still shutting down.
Choose and document a timezone
Write the timezone in the task name and the server runbook, for example “Daily restart — 00:00 Europe/London.” pz-panel containers default to UTC unless TZ is set. Supercraft’s scheduler runs in UTC and requires conversion from local time. GTXGaming documents schedules using the machine’s local hour. Daylight-saving changes can move a local-time restart by an hour unless the scheduler and your written schedule use the same timezone rules.
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Pick a restart time, then schedule the first warning early enough to cover the complete countdown. A ten-minute plan for a midnight restart starts at 23:50, not 00:00. Publish the cadence in your server rules so players know whether “restart at midnight” means the first warning or the actual disconnect.
| Relative time | Message purpose | Example broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| T−10 minutes | Give players time to finish combat, travel, or trading. | Server restart in 10 minutes. Please find a safe place. |
| T−5 minutes | Prompt players to finish the current activity. | Server restart in 5 minutes. Finish looting and exit safely. |
| T−1 minute | Stop new activities and begin logging out. | Server restart in 1 minute. |
| T−10 seconds | Explain the immediate save and disconnect. | Restarting now; saving world. |
| T | Run save, then quit. |
No further player action is required. |
You can use fewer or more notices. The important properties are a stated timezone, a predictable first-warning time, and enough time for the clean save and shutdown to complete. Never promise that a countdown is exact to the second if your scheduler polls every 30 seconds or your host queues tasks.
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Windows self-hosted setup with Task Scheduler
1. Create a notifier and shutdown script
The Steam Community Windows procedure uses a notifier batch file that sends RCON servermsg messages and runs it from a scheduled task. Adapt the following structure to your RCON client. Replace RCON_CMD, host, port, and secret handling with the syntax required by your client; the quoting shown by one client may not work unchanged in another.
@echo off
setlocal
set "RCON_CMD=C:Toolsrcon-client.exe"
set "RCON_HOST=127.0.0.1"
set "RCON_PORT=27015"
rem Read the password from a protected mechanism rather than hard-coding it here.
"%RCON_CMD%" -H "%RCON_HOST%" -P "%RCON_PORT%" servermsg "Server restart in 10 minutes. Please find a safe place."
timeout /t 300 /nobreak >nul
"%RCON_CMD%" -H "%RCON_HOST%" -P "%RCON_PORT%" servermsg "Server restart in 5 minutes. Finish looting and exit safely."
timeout /t 240 /nobreak >nul
"%RCON_CMD%" -H "%RCON_HOST%" -P "%RCON_PORT%" servermsg "Server restart in 1 minute."
timeout /t 50 /nobreak >nul
"%RCON_CMD%" -H "%RCON_HOST%" -P "%RCON_PORT%" servermsg "Restarting now; saving world."
timeout /t 10 /nobreak >nul
"%RCON_CMD%" -H "%RCON_HOST%" -P "%RCON_PORT%" save
"%RCON_CMD%" -H "%RCON_HOST%" -P "%RCON_PORT%" quit
endlocalThe example is a timing template, not a guarantee that every RCON executable accepts these flags. Test each command interactively first and inspect the response. If your client cannot keep the password out of the command line, use its supported password file or environment-variable option and lock down that file’s NTFS permissions.
2. Create the scheduled task
- Open Task Scheduler and choose Create Task, not the less-configurable basic wizard.
- On General, select an account that can access the RCON client and server files. Choose Run whether user is logged on or not if the machine is unattended.
- On Triggers, create a daily trigger for the first warning. For a midnight restart with a ten-minute countdown, set the trigger to 23:50. To repeat twice daily, add a second trigger or use a 12-hour repetition interval, as described by the Steam Community procedure.
- On Actions, start the batch file. Set Start in to the directory containing the script so relative paths and logs resolve correctly.
- On Conditions, clear sleep-related restrictions if the server must restart while the machine is idle. On Settings, select Do not start a new instance when a previous run is still active.
- Run the task manually once with players informed. Confirm every warning, the RCON responses, the clean process exit, and the normal server boot before enabling a recurring schedule.
3. Decide how the server starts again
Task Scheduler can launch a server wrapper after the clean exit, or the existing launcher can remain responsible for starting the process. Do not configure a second launcher unless you have verified that it waits for the old process to exit. A restart task that sends quit but has no start policy will leave the server offline after the first successful shutdown.
About the “24-hour” statement
A 2025 Steam Community guide by Quentin (AKA.HeroineHero) says, “A Project Zomboid server ends by itself after running a total of 24 hours,” and recommends at least two restarts per day. That is a community author’s operational statement, not an official Indie Stone specification or an established universal limit. Treat twice-daily restarts as a scheduling choice, not proof that every server must restart at 24 hours.
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Docker: automatic updates and restart policies
The project-zomboid-server-docker image provides an entrypoint workflow for mod updates and graceful restarts. These variables are image-specific; check the version of the image you actually run before copying them.
| Variable | Documented default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
MOD_AUTO_UPDATE |
false |
Enables the image’s automatic mod-update check. |
MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_INTERVAL |
60 minutes | Interval between update checks. |
MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_ANNOUNCE |
5 minutes | Countdown before an update restart; 0 removes the countdown. |
MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_WAIT_EMPTY |
true |
Waits for the server to become empty before restarting. |
MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_WAIT_MAX |
2 hours | Maximum time to wait for players to leave. |
When the image detects an update, its entrypoint broadcasts an in-game warning, optionally waits for an empty server, sends RCON save and quit, exits cleanly, and relies on the container restart policy to relaunch the boot flow. Setting MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_WAIT_EMPTY=false permits a restart while players remain online; setting MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_ANNOUNCE=0 removes the countdown and should be used only when an immediate maintenance interruption is acceptable.
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restart: unless-stopped
environment:
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MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_WAIT_EMPTY: "true"
MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_WAIT_MAX: "2h"
TZ: "Etc/UTC"
secrets:
- rcon_passwordThe image name and secret syntax vary by deployment, so preserve your existing image and secret configuration rather than treating this as a copy-and-paste deployment. Verify that the restart policy is active and that the entrypoint, not an external docker kill, controls shutdown. The Docker documentation warns that if RCON is unreachable during an update restart, the graceful save is skipped and the world may be only as current as its last autosave.
Panels and managed hosts
Panels with cron-style schedules
pz-panel uses standard five-field cron expressions. Its restart task broadcasts at 15, 5, and 1 minutes by default, wakes every 30 seconds, and fires each warning once per occurrence. Set TZ explicitly because containers otherwise use UTC. Its clean-stop implementation writes quit to the server rather than relying on docker stop.
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When configuring a panel task, record the expression, timezone, warning offsets, and whether the task waits for an empty server. If a panel offers both “restart” and “force stop,” select the clean restart action. A force stop belongs only in a documented emergency procedure after the normal shutdown has failed.
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GTXGaming documents a “Restart with Messages” task with warnings at 10, 5, 2, and 1 minutes, followed by a save, restart, and backup. Host Havoc documents daily or repeating scheduled restart tasks in its control panel. Supercraft’s scheduler runs in UTC and provides an example with servermsg at 15 and 5 minutes, a final restart message, and save immediately before restart.
These controls are provider-specific. Before enabling one, verify the current UI labels, the timezone used by the task, the minimum interval permitted by your plan, whether backups run before or after restart, and what happens when RCON is unavailable. A provider’s “restart” button is safe only if its documentation confirms a Project Zomboid-aware save/quit path.
Safe shutdown, backups, and recovery
Use the clean command order
Send save, wait for a successful response if your client exposes one, then send quit. Do not send quit first and assume the server will flush every pending write. Keep a short delay between the final warning and save so players have time to stop moving and the message is visible.
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Back up before you automate
- Keep periodic backups of the world, server configuration, and mod list outside the live data directory.
- Use timestamped backup names and retain more than one generation so a bad save is not your only copy.
- Run the backup after a confirmed clean shutdown when the host’s documented workflow does so; do not assume a backup taken during a live write is consistent.
- Log scheduler start time, each RCON command and response, exit code, shutdown duration, and subsequent boot result.
When a restart fails
If warnings appear but the server remains online, inspect the RCON response for save and quit, then check whether another process owns the console. If the process exits but does not return, inspect the launcher or container restart policy. If the task runs at the wrong local time, compare the task timezone with the host/container timezone and daylight-saving rules. If players report missing progress, restore the newest known-good backup rather than repeatedly force-killing the server.
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If RCON is unreachable, do not immediately substitute a hard kill. Check that the server is listening on the configured RCONPort, that the password matches, and that the firewall permits the scheduler’s address. For Docker update restarts, remember that the documented fallback may skip the graceful save; schedule regular backups and investigate the connectivity fault before the next update window.
Test the complete path before going live
- Clone or select a non-production server with a disposable world.
- Enable RCON and verify that a harmless administrative command returns a response from the same machine or network that will run the scheduler.
- Run each
servermsgcommand manually and confirm that punctuation, spaces, and quotation marks display correctly in game. - Run
saveand observe the response and save timestamp. Then runquitand wait for the process to exit normally. - Confirm that the launcher, container policy, or panel starts exactly one new server process.
- Check the world after reboot, review logs and backup output, and verify that the task does not overlap when deliberately started twice.
- Only then enable the production schedule and announce the timezone and warning cadence to players.
Do not describe a script as working merely because the task reports “completed.” The useful proof is visible warnings, successful RCON responses, a clean exit, a normal boot, and an intact world.
Quick Recap
Implementation comparison
| Implementation | Warning customization | Clean-save behavior | Waiting for empty server | Timezone control | Backup/crash handling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Task Scheduler | Fully scriptable; any cadence your RCON client supports. | Your batch file must send save then quit. |
Only if the script implements a player-count check. | Windows task and machine timezone; document daylight-saving behavior. | You must add backups, logs, and a relaunch action. |
| Docker image entrypoint | Image-defined update countdown; announcement can be disabled with MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_ANNOUNCE=0. |
Entrypoint sends RCON save/quit when reachable. |
MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_WAIT_EMPTY and MOD_AUTO_UPDATE_WAIT_MAX. |
Set TZ; otherwise container defaults may be UTC. |
Restart policy relaunches the container; unreachable RCON can skip graceful save. |
| pz-panel | 15/5/1-minute defaults, with panel-specific customization. | Documented clean path writes quit, not raw SIGTERM. |
Depends on panel task settings. | UTC by default; set TZ. |
Panel and container logs; configure backups separately. |
| Managed host scheduler | Provider-defined; examples range from 10/5/2/1 to 15/5/1 minutes. | Confirm the provider’s documented save/restart sequence. | Varies by provider and plan. | May be local machine time or UTC; verify before scheduling. | Some tasks include backups; crash recovery and limits are provider-specific. |
Operational checklist
- RCON is enabled with a unique protected password.
- The RCON port is private or firewall-restricted.
- The first warning, actual restart time, and timezone are written in the task name and player notice.
- The schedule sends staged
servermsgwarnings, thensave, thenquit. - No force kill, raw SIGTERM, or
docker stopis part of the normal path. - Exactly one scheduler owns the restart and overlapping runs are prevented.
- Backups, scheduler logs, RCON responses, and boot results are retained.
- A non-production test has confirmed the complete warning-to-reboot sequence.
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