Installation

One lineCopy Anchor Link

On Linux and macOS:

curl -fsSL https://cdn-mutecloud.mutebefehl.de/install.sh | sh

On Windows in PowerShell:

irm https://cdn-mutecloud.mutebefehl.de/install.ps1 | iex

There are builds for Linux on x86_64 and aarch64, macOS on Apple Silicon and Intel, and Windows on x86_64. The installer detects system and architecture by itself and uses the native build on an Apple Silicon Mac even when the shell runs under Rosetta. It picks the binary matching the platform, fetches it from the stable channel, verifies it against the published SHA-256 checksum and places it in ~/mutecloud, on Windows in %USERPROFILE%\MuteCloud. If the checksum does not match, it aborts and leaves nothing behind. Then it starts the setup in the same window.

There are no prerequisites beyond an operating system. Java, server software and the unpacker are built in. Two cores and one gigabyte of RAM are enough for the cloud itself.

The installer is controlled through environment variables: MUTECLOUD_DIR for the directory, MUTECLOUD_CHANNEL for the channel, MUTECLOUD_START=0 to install without starting.

SetupCopy Anchor Link

The setup starts right after the installer and can be run again at any time with mutecloud setup. It first asks for the language, then checks whether the machine has enough cores, memory and disk space and can reach the internet. From the free memory it derives a suggestion for the memory pool, which it offers again at the end.

Next you choose between a new network and joining an existing one, as described in Adding a node. For a new network it asks for the target directory, the Minecraft version and server software, the proxy and the first groups. Move through the lists with the arrow keys, select with space and confirm with enter. Which group players land on when they join is set later by fallback in the group file, see Groups.

Finally the setup asks for the network and node name, the port of the control interface and the memory pool, sums everything up and only applies it once you confirm. On Linux it then offers to set MuteCloud up as a systemd service, otherwise it can start the cloud right away in the same window.

mutecloud init produces the same result without the dialog. Afterwards the directory looks like this:

mutecloud              the binary
mutecloud.toml         settings for this node
groups/*.toml          one file per group
layers/<name>/         templates, stacked on top of each other
runtimes/              downloaded Java runtimes
cache/                 server software
run/                   working directories of ephemeral servers
static/                working directories of persistent servers
logs/                  log books
dumps/                 saved crashes

RunningCopy Anchor Link

cd ~/mutecloud
./mutecloud run

Started in the foreground, MuteCloud presents its console with the mutecloud> prompt. When it runs in the background, ./mutecloud console attaches to the same prompt, and individual commands can be issued directly, for example ./mutecloud service.

As a systemd service:

[Unit]
Description=MuteCloud
After=network-online.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/opt/mutecloud/mutecloud run --root /opt/mutecloud
WorkingDirectory=/opt/mutecloud
Restart=on-failure
User=mutecloud
TimeoutStopSec=120
KillMode=mixed

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

KillMode=mixed matters. Without it systemd sends the signal to every server at once when stopping; the servers then end behind the cloud's back, it reports crashes, and the proxy no longer says goodbye to the players. With mixed the cloud shuts its servers down itself, one after another.

UpdatingCopy Anchor Link

./mutecloud update            # look for a newer version
./mutecloud update --install  # install it
./mutecloud update --rollback # back to the previous one

Every release is signed, and the signature is verified before any file is replaced. The installation history is recorded in update.log.