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Dedicated Game Servers

Godot

Run a Godot dedicated server as a Rivet Actor with the container runner and connect clients over WebSockets.

Rivet runs a Godot dedicated server export as a Rivet Actor: one actor per match, cold-started on demand and shut down when the match ends. The export ships in a container with the container runner as its entrypoint. Your Godot project does not link against RivetKit.

The container runner proxies HTTP and WebSocket traffic only, so use Godot’s built-in WebSocketMultiplayerPeer instead of ENet. No plugins or engine changes are required.

Steps

Prerequisites

  • Godot 4.x with Linux export templates installed
  • Docker running locally
  • A Rivet Cloud namespace with a secret token (sk_) and a public token (pk_)

Configure the Server

Listen on the port from the PORT environment variable. The container runner sets PORT for each actor it launches. Use the dedicated_server feature tag to branch between server and client code in one project:

extends Node

const DEFAULT_PORT := 7770

func _ready() -> void:
	if OS.has_feature("dedicated_server"):
		_start_server()

func _start_server() -> void:
	var port_env := OS.get_environment("PORT")
	var port := int(port_env) if port_env != "" else DEFAULT_PORT

	var peer := WebSocketMultiplayerPeer.new()
	var err := peer.create_server(port)
	if err != OK:
		push_error("Failed to listen on port %d: %s" % [port, error_string(err)])
		get_tree().quit(1)
		return

	multiplayer.multiplayer_peer = peer
	print("Server listening on port %d" % port)

The server side needs nothing else: the container runner connects to it at ws://127.0.0.1:<PORT>/ with a plain WebSocket handshake.

Configure the Client

Clients reach an actor through the Rivet gateway at a URL that carries the actor ID and your public token in the path. WebSocketMultiplayerPeer.create_client accepts a full URL, so no extra configuration is needed:

func connect_to_match(actor_id: String, public_token: String) -> void:
	var url := "wss://api.rivet.dev/gateway/%s@%s/" % [actor_id, public_token]

	var peer := WebSocketMultiplayerPeer.new()
	var err := peer.create_client(url)
	if err != OK:
		push_error("Failed to connect: %s" % error_string(err))
		return

	multiplayer.multiplayer_peer = peer

Export the Server

Add a Linux export preset. Under Resources, set Export Mode to Export as dedicated server so the build strips visual assets and sets the dedicated_server feature tag. Export to build/server.x86_64.

Write the Dockerfile

Wrap the export with the container runner. Run the server with --headless so it starts without a display.

FROM debian:bookworm-slim
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates curl && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

RUN curl -fsSL https://releases.rivet.dev/rivet/latest/container-runner/rivet-container-runner-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl \
        -o /usr/local/bin/rivet-container-runner \
    && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/rivet-container-runner

COPY build/ /game/
WORKDIR /game
RUN chmod +x /game/server.x86_64

ENTRYPOINT ["rivet-container-runner", "--", "./server.x86_64", "--headless"]

If the server logs a missing shared object at startup, add that library to the apt-get install line.

Deploy

npx @rivetkit/cli deploy \
	--token "$RIVET_CLOUD_TOKEN" \
	--instance-request-concurrency 1 \
	--drain-on-version-upgrade false \
	--dockerfile Dockerfile

--instance-request-concurrency 1 runs one match per container. --drain-on-version-upgrade false lets running matches finish when you deploy a new version.

Create a Match and Connect

Your backend or matchmaker creates one actor per match with the secret token, then hands the actor ID to players:

curl -X POST "https://api.rivet.dev/actors?namespace=my-namespace" \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_xxxxx" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
	-d '{"name":"game","key":"match-1234","runner_name_selector":"default","crash_policy":"destroy"}'

Players call connect_to_match(actor_id, "pk_xxxxx"). The first connection cold-starts the container; the gateway holds the connection until the server’s port opens.

Next Steps

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