Arma Reforger admin commands (RCON and in-game)
Arma Reforger has few administration commands, and the same ones work in-game (typed in chat after #login) and over RCON (no #login needed: the RCON password authenticates you). This is the full list, with what the server replies on the current version (1.8).
Authenticating in-game
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
#login <passwordAdmin> | Grants admin rights for the session. The password is game.passwordAdmin in config.json. Typed in chat; not needed over RCON. |
#logout | Drops admin rights. |
Players
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
#players | Lists connected players. Each row is number ; identity id ; name. The number (Player#) changes every session; the identity id (UUID) is fixed per account, on PC, Xbox and PlayStation. |
#kick <Player#> | Kicks the player with that number. Replies Player 'NAME' kicked!. It does not ban: they can rejoin. |
Bans
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
#ban create <Player# | identity id> <seconds> [reason] | Bans. 0 seconds = permanent. Replies Player '<uuid>' banned!. It does not kick a connected player: run #kick afterwards. |
#ban list [page] | Lists bans 25 per page: Total bans: N | Page: X/Y and rows - <identity id> | <name>. With no bans it replies Server has no bans to list. Duration and reason are not shown. |
#ban remove <identity id> | Lifts the ban. Replies Ban removed!. |
More detail and good practice in how to ban players on Arma Reforger.
Server
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
#restart | Restarts the match (reloads the scenario). Players are disconnected for a few seconds. |
#shutdown | Stops the server process. If the hosting auto-restarts (Pterodactyl, most rented hosts), it comes back on its own. |
#roles | Shows the defined admin roles. |
What the server replies when something goes wrong
- A well-formed but inapplicable command (for instance an identity id that does not exist) replies
error '<command>'. That is not success: check the id. - An unknown command gets no useful reply. BattlEye acknowledges that it received the command before the game runs it, so "received" does not mean "done".
Commands that do not exist in Reforger
They come from Arma 3 or DayZ and people search for them, but Reforger's RCON does not have them:
say/#say/ chat messages: there is no way to write to players over RCON.#lock/#unlock: you cannot close the server to new players.#vote,#mission,#monitor: do not exist.- Player whitelist, scenario change, teleport, time of day, weather: neither over RCON nor in chat.
All of that only works with a server-side mod running inside the server and talking to the outside. Players install nothing. Reforger Ops ships an optional one (live chat and kills, messages to players, map, teleport, time and weather); without it, the panel does everything RCON allows.
The duration is in seconds, and 0 means permanent
This is the one people get wrong. #ban create <identity> <seconds> <reason> expects seconds, not minutes or hours. A day is 86400, a week 604800. And 0 does not mean "no ban": it means permanent. Bohemia's own declaration words it that way ("how long will ban exist in seconds, 0 for permanent"), and the in-game #ban command repeats it.
The ban service also rejects a blank reason. Send a ban with no reason and it is simply not applied: the reply is an invalid-input error. Always put something, even if it is generic — it is also what the player sees when they try to join.
What the server does NOT keep about a ban
The Arma Reforger ban list gives you the identity and the name the player was banned under. That is all. It does not store the reason, the duration, who banned them, or when. This catches out everyone running a server with more than one admin: a week later nobody remembers why someone is banned, and the list will not tell you.
The only way out is to keep that record somewhere else — a spreadsheet, a Discord channel, or a panel that does it for you — and keep it reconciled with what the server actually lists. One thing is certain: the server's list wins. If your own record says someone is banned and the server does not list them, that person can join.
Commands people search for that do not exist
Arma Reforger RCON has no commands to write in chat, lock the server to new players, start votes, change the scenario, move players or teleport. They are not hidden and they do not need another permission level: they do not exist. Any guide listing them is copying from Arma 3 or DayZ, which share BattlEye's protocol but not the game's commands.
All of that is only possible with a server-side mod, which is code running inside the match. Players install nothing; the mod goes in the server's mod list.
The ban list comes paginated
#ban list does not return every ban at once: it sends them 25 at a time. The first line tells you the total and which page you are on:
Total bans: 63 | Page: 1/3
- Identity Id | Banned name
- 7d6f1c2a-... | NameTo see the rest you have to ask for the following pages. If your tool keeps only the first, a server with many bans will look like it has 25 and no more — one of the worst kinds of silent error: nothing fails, it just lies.
A practical warning, too: on some versions, asking for the ban list has turned out to be the most fragile operation in Reforger's RCON. Do not request it in a loop or every time someone opens a screen; request it when you need it and keep the result.
Two different permissions, and the one almost nobody checks
The rcon block in config.json takes two levels: admin and monitor. With monitor you can look — #players works — but not act: #kick and #ban do nothing, and do not give a clear error either. It is the number one cause of "the commands do not work for me" when everything else is right.
If you are giving read-only access to something — a bot that posts the player count, say — monitor is exactly for that, and it is safer than handing out the admin one. Everything else needs admin.