How to Set Up a FiveM Server (Complete Beginner's Guide)

Running your own FiveM server is the first step toward building a roleplay community, a racing scene, or just a private world for you and your friends. This guide walks through a clean install from scratch using the official tooling, with no prior experience required.

1. What you need first

• A machine or VPS running Windows or Linux with a solid single-thread CPU.
• A registered steam_webApiKey from the Steam developer portal.
• A FiveM license key from the Cfx.re keymaster (free).

FiveM leans hard on single-core performance, so clock speed matters more than core count. See our notes on server hosting requirements before you buy a box.

2. Download the server artifacts

Grab the latest recommended build from the Cfx.re artifacts page and unzip it into an empty folder like FXServer. Keep this folder separate from your resources and data so updates stay clean.

3. Get the cfx-server-data

Clone or download the cfx-server-data repository — it contains the baseline resources folder every server starts from. Place it next to your artifacts so you have an FXServer folder and a server-data folder side by side.

4. Write your server.cfg

Inside server-data, create a server.cfg. At minimum you need an endpoint, your license key, a hostname, and the resources you want to ensure:

• endpoint_add_tcp "0.0.0.0:30120"
• endpoint_add_udp "0.0.0.0:30120"
• sv_licenseKey yourkeyhere
• sv_hostname "My FiveM Server"
• ensure mapmanager, ensure chat, ensure spawnmanager, etc.

5. Use txAdmin to manage it

The easiest path is txAdmin, which ships with the artifacts. Launch FXServer.exe (or run.sh on Linux) and txAdmin opens a web panel that handles your config, recipes, players and live console for you. It will even generate a starter server.cfg via a deployment recipe.

6. Connect and test

Open FiveM, press F8, and type connect localhost (or your server IP). Once you're in, you're ready to start adding content — the obvious next step is dropping in some vehicles. Follow our add a custom car guide, then fill out the garage from our car packs. When you're ready to look the part publicly, a clean storefront helps — our partner FosTheme builds premium Tebex store themes.

Common first-time mistakes

• Forgetting to forward port 30120 (TCP + UDP) on your firewall/router.
• Editing server.cfg with a word processor that adds smart quotes — use a plain text editor.
• Running an ancient artifact build — newer cars need recent server builds.