Rust wipes explained: map wipes, blueprint wipes and how to run one

Rust servers do not keep a world forever. At regular intervals the map is wiped, and everyone starts again from nothing. That is by design: it keeps the game fresh and stops the oldest players holding unreachable advantages. As a server owner you decide when, and how, and getting the schedule right is one of the most important choices you make.

Two kinds of wipe

Wipe	What it resets	What players keep
Map wipe	The map, buildings, items, vehicles and placed objects	Blueprints they have learned
Blueprint wipe	The blueprints and research players have unlocked	Nothing carries over

A full wipe does both together. Most servers map-wipe often and blueprint-wipe less often, which lets players keep their progress between map wipes while still starting from scratch on the world.

The monthly forced wipe

Rust's developers publish a major update on the first Thursday of each month. Because the update changes the map generation and game data, every server must wipe its map at that point, and many wipe blueprints at the same time. Players expect this, and the schedule is why wipe day is such a big event for the community.

Between those dates, you can choose to wipe more often. Common patterns:

Weekly: a fast-paced, low commitment server for players who like fresh starts.
Biweekly: a balance between progress and variety.
Monthly only: a slower server for players who like to build and settle in.

Whatever you pick, publish the schedule and keep to it. Players decide where to spend time based on it.

Picking the wipe time

Choose a regular day and hour in the time zone where most of your players live. Late afternoon or early evening works better than the middle of the night, because the first hours of a wipe are the most exciting and you want people awake for them.

How to run a map wipe

Announce it. Tell players at least a day ahead, in game and on Discord.
Back up the old save if you want to keep it, using your panel's backup tools. The old save cannot be restored into a new version, so this is for records and rollbacks only.
Stop the server.
Delete the map files. In the server's identity folder, usually under server/, remove the files that match the map: the .map file and the .sav files. Keep the blueprints file if you are only map-wiping. Use the file manager to find and delete them.
Update the server if there is a new game version. See How to keep your game server updated.
Update your mods framework and plugins too, since they must match the new version. See How to install Oxide or Carbon plugins on Rust.
Change the seed or let it pick a new one, and set the size in your settings.
Start the server and watch the console for errors.

For a blueprint wipe, also delete the player blueprint database files in the same folder. Do this only when you mean to, because deleting them is permanent.

Seed and map size

Two settings decide the map:

server.seed is a number that determines the layout. The same seed and size always produce the same map, so players can look it up in map tools.
server.worldsize is the size in metres. Values from about 1,000 to 6,000 are accepted. Smaller maps concentrate players and suit fewer people, while bigger maps spread them out but take longer to generate and use more memory.

Match the size to your population. A big empty map feels dead, and a small crowded one becomes a fight over every resource node.

After the wipe

Check performance. A freshly wiped map is empty, so it runs well, and problems show later as players build. Watch the server's resource use, as in What the CPU, memory and disk numbers on your server mean.
Spread word on Discord, and make sure your name and description in the server list show the wipe date.
Keep your admin tools ready for the first rush, when bugs and cheaters appear.

A reliable wipe schedule builds a regular crowd more than any other single thing you can do.

Still stuck? Open a ticket on Discord - run /ticket in any channel, pick a department, and include your Server ID or Invoice ID so we can jump straight in.