Encore Server

Encore Server is the server-side component of the Godot Encore project, built for on-demand Godot dedicated instances.

Use this section when you need to run, operate, and scale the orchestrator itself.

In this section

• Architecture: internal design, lifecycle, and state model
• HTTP API Reference: route-by-route behavior and server config
• Templates: complete template format and authoring guidance
• Deployment: Ubuntu 24.04 production deployment with cgroup notes
• Docker: container image, environment variables, and Compose example

What the server does

• Loads template files from template_folder
• Allocates ports and tracks running instances
• Spawns and monitors game server child processes
• Exposes public routes for game clients and optional admin routes
• Provides admin API for template CRUD and binary uploads (no SSH required)
• Applies optional per-instance cgroup v2 limits when configured

Binary modes

The encore binary has two operating modes:

• Long-running server mode: encore serve
• One-shot operations mode: validation, instance/template admin, and reload