Beginner Updated September 25, 2026

Start a Garry's Mod server

Deploy a Garry's Mod Sandbox server on SLASHPLAY, join it from Steam or the console, invite your friends and stop it again when you're done.

Written by Jonathan, Co-founder of SLASHPLAY LinkedIn

This guide takes you from zero to a live Garry’s Mod Sandbox server on gm_construct that your friends can join, then shows you how to stop it so it stops costing anything. It takes a couple of minutes, and nobody has to host from their own PC.

Before you start

  • A SLASHPLAY account. Sign in at slashplay.gg/dashboard with Discord or Steam. See Create your account.
  • Tokens on your team. A SMALL Garry’s Mod server costs 3 tokens an hour ($0.03). New accounts start with 6 tokens, enough for about two hours. See How tokens work.
  • Garry’s Mod installed through Steam, for you and everyone who joins.

Steps

  1. Open Deploy. Sign in and click the Deploy tab in the top bar. Find Garry’s Mod and click Deploy on its card.
  2. Pick a region. Every server runs in EU - Germany today. The other regions are coming soon: choosing one lets you vote for it. See Regions.
  3. Pick a size. SMALL (1 CPU, 2 GB) is fine to start. Pick MEDIUM if you expect big builds with lots of props. There’s only one version, so the window doesn’t ask for one.
  4. Deploy. Click Deploy · 3/HR (the number follows the size you picked). You land on the Servers tab and the server shows Starting. It’s usually live within a minute or two.
  5. Join. When the card says Live, click Launch in Steam. Steam starts Garry’s Mod and joins your server.
  6. Invite friends. Click Invite link on the card and send them that page’s URL. They don’t need a SLASHPLAY account.
  7. Stop when you’re done. Click Save & Stop on the card. Next time, press Restore.
The Save & Stop button on a live server card
Shown on a CS2 server. The card looks and works the same for Garry's Mod.

Joining from the console

If Launch in Steam doesn’t work for you, join by hand:

  1. Turn on the console once: in Garry’s Mod, open Options → Keyboard → Advanced and tick Enable developer console.
  2. Click Copy on the server card. It copies the whole connect line, for example:
connect GrandOspreyFeather.slashplay.gg:30057
  1. In the game, press ~ (the key under Esc), paste the line and press Enter.

If you turn on a join password, the copied line includes it, like connect address; password yourpassword.

What your friends see

The invite page shows the server’s status and address and tries to launch Garry’s Mod for them automatically. They can also click Launch in Steam, or Copy connect and follow Steam not working? Join from the in-game console. If the server is still starting, the page says so and updates when it’s live. See Connecting and inviting.

What happens next

While the server is live, your team’s balance pays for it by the minute. Save & Stop saves the server’s addons, Lua files, data and config, shuts it down and stops the hourly cost. Restore brings it back with the same files, with a new address and invite link.

Troubleshooting

The server has said Starting for a few minutes. Slow boots are retried automatically. If it ends up Crashed, you weren’t charged: press Restore or deploy again. See Troubleshooting.

Launch in Steam does nothing. Make sure Steam is running, then click again. Your browser asks before opening Steam: tick Always allow. Or join from the console.

Players see missing textures or error models. The server uses content that isn’t on their game. Everyone needs the same addon content installed, for example by subscribing to the same Workshop items.

Friends can’t connect after I restored the server. The address changed. Copy it again from the card, or send the new invite link.