Using the Console Command Box Effectively

The command box at the bottom of the Console tab lets you talk directly to your running server, and learning a few habits makes it one of the most useful tools in the panel.

3 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

The command box at the bottom of the Console tab lets you talk directly to your running server, and learning a few habits makes it one of the most useful tools in the panel.

The top of the Console is the live log, where you watch the server start, see players join and leave, and read any errors. At the very bottom is a text box that says Enter a command…. Whatever you type there and send with Enter (or the Send button) goes straight to the server as a command, exactly as if you were typing into the game's own server console. The same console, in a smaller window, sits on your server's Overview.

Server commands, not computer commands

An important thing to understand: these are the game server's commands, not operating-system or SSH commands. Typing ls or dir does nothing useful here. What works depends entirely on the game you are running. Where you find the exact list varies:

• Many games respond to help typed in the box, which prints the available commands to the log.
• The game's own wiki or documentation lists its full admin command set.
• Some behaviours are set in Startup settings on the Settings tab rather than typed as commands.

Commands you will use a lot

The exact words differ per game, but most servers have an equivalent of these:

• A save command to write the world to disk, for example save-all in Minecraft.
• A list or players command to see who is online.
• A broadcast command to message everyone, for example say Welcome to the server.
• Kick and ban commands to moderate players.
• A stop command to shut the server down cleanly, which does the same job as the Stop button.

Habits that make it easier

1. The box only works while the server is running. If the box says Start your server to send commands, it is off; press Start at the top of the page first.
2. You can press the Up arrow in the box to bring back commands you typed earlier, which saves retyping long ones.
3. Read the log reaction after every command. The server almost always prints a confirmation or an error, and that line tells you whether it worked.
4. You can select and copy text from the log, or use the buttons above it to copy or download what is shown, which is handy when you want to paste an error into Discord for help. Type into the search box above the log to show only the lines that match.
5. Want more room? The buttons above the log also expand the console or pop it out into its own window.

A couple of cautions

• Do not paste passwords, tokens or private keys into the command box. The log is visible to anyone who can see the console, including people you invited through People.
• Before running a bulk or destructive command, such as one that clears entities or resets an area, take a backup on the Backups page. Restoring overwrites current files, so a fresh backup is your undo button.
• If a command does nothing at all, it is usually a typo or a command the game does not recognise. Run help and check the spelling rather than repeating it.

Once you are comfortable typing commands by hand, you can automate the ones you run on a timer, like a nightly save or announcement, with a Command step in Scheduled tasks.

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

• console
• commands
• admin
• basics

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