Command reference
Every csm command, flag and environment variable.
Run csm with no command to open the menu. Run csm help for a short list in the terminal.
csm runs as the account that owns the servers and refuses to run as root. Only setup-host, install-deps, self-update and cleanup-all take sudo.
<server> is a server number: 1 for server-1. Where a command says so, 0 means all servers.
Servers
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
csm status | Show which servers run. |
csm start [--alternate|--binary] [server] | Start all servers, or one. |
csm stop [server] | Stop all servers, or one. |
csm restart [--alternate|--binary] [server] | Restart all servers, or one. |
csm attach <server> | Open the server console (tmux). Leave with Ctrl+B, then D. |
csm debug [--alternate|--binary] <server> | Run a server in the foreground. |
csm list-sessions | List the tmux sessions. |
csm logs <server> [lines] | Print the server log, or its last lines. |
csm logs-file <server> | Print the path of the server log file. |
csm public-ip | Print the public IP of the machine. |
--alternate starts the server with game/csm.sh, which prefers the libraries that come with CS2. --binary runs the cs2 binary directly, for troubleshooting only. Put the flag before the server number. See Launch modes.
Updates
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
csm update-game | Update CS2 on all servers after a Valve update. Stops and starts the servers. |
csm update-server <server> | Update CS2 on one server. |
csm update-plugins | Install or update Ready Up on all servers, copy your overrides and restart them. |
csm monitor | Run the update monitor once. It updates stopped servers and idle running servers. |
csm updates hold on|off | Stop or allow automatic updates by the monitor, for example during an event. Saved across reboots. |
csm updates status | Show whether updates are on hold and the idle grace period. |
csm updates grace <minutes> | How long a server must be idle before the monitor updates it. The default is 10. |
csm install-monitor-cron [interval] | Run the update monitor from your crontab. The default interval is */5 (every 5 minutes). |
csm remove-monitor-cron | Remove the update monitor cron job. |
Setup and maintenance
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
sudo csm setup-host [--skip-deps] [--skip-linger] | One-time host setup for the account you run it from: packages, lingering and csm's files. Never touches servers. |
sudo csm install-deps | Install the system packages csm needs with apt. |
sudo csm self-update | Update csm itself to the latest release. |
csm bootstrap | Install or redeploy the servers without the menu. Options come from environment variables, see Install without the menu. |
csm doctor [--yes] [--server <server>] | Find common problems and offer fixes. --yes applies all fixes without asking. |
csm fix-libv8 <server|0> | Repair a missing libv8.so: check the main install with SteamCMD and copy the game files to the server again. |
csm reinstall <server> | Delete one server and copy it again from master-install. |
csm update-config <server> | Write server.cfg and autoexec.cfg of one server again, without touching the game files. |
csm dedupe-vpk [--dry-run] [--verify] [--undo] [--allow-running] [server] | Hardlink the .vpk files of the servers to master-install to save disk space. See Save disk space. |
csm extract-map-data | Extract map preview images and icons. See Map thumbnails. |
csm extract-skin-data | Extract weapon skin images and skins.json. |
csm logdir | Show the csm log folder and the latest command logs. |
sudo csm cleanup-all [--user <name>] [--delete-user] | Delete your servers and their files. Your account stays; --delete-user deletes a dedicated service account from an older install. See Remove everything. |
RCON bans
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
csm list-bans <server> | List the IPs a server has banned for wrong RCON passwords. |
csm unban <server|0> <ip> | Remove one banned IP. |
csm unban-all <server|0> | Remove all banned IPs. |
Which commands need sudo
The menu and most commands that change something need sudo. csm help, public-ip, status, logs, attach, list-bans and extract-map-data can run without it, as long as your user can read the server files. When in doubt, use sudo.
Global flags
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-h, --help | Show the help. |
-d | Run the menu without drawing it (daemon mode). |
--copy-mode <mode> | How game files are copied from master-install to the servers: auto, reflink, rsync or legacy. |
Environment variables
Set these in front of the command, for example CSM_LAUNCH_MODE=alternate csm restart. For the update monitor, they must also be in the cron job.
| Variable | What it does |
|---|---|
CSM_LAUNCH_MODE | alternate or binary: launch mode for every start, also in updates and the monitor. |
CSM_STEAMRT | 1 forces the Steam Runtime (SteamRT3) launcher on, 0 forces it off. By default it is on for Debian 13+ and Ubuntu 25.04+. |
CSM_VPK_HARDLINK | 0 turns off VPK hardlinks. New copies are full copies. |
CSM_ROOT | Folder for csm's state, logs and servers. Default: the home folder of the account that runs csm. |
CSM_LOG_DIR | Folder for csm logs. Default <CSM_ROOT>/logs. |
CSM_COPY_MODE | The same as --copy-mode. |
CS2_USER | Whose master install the map and skin extraction reads. Default: the account running csm. |
csm bootstrap reads more variables, such as NUM_SERVERS and RCON_PASSWORD. See Install without the menu.