Getting Your Klei Cluster Token for Don't Starve Together
A Don't Starve Together server will not start without a cluster token from your Klei account. It is free and takes about a minute to get.
2 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
Why you need one
Klei ties every dedicated server to an account. The token is how your server proves it belongs to somebody, and it is what lets the server appear in the in-game browser. This is a Klei requirement, not a GuavaHost one, so every host asks for it.
You only need to do this once. The token stays valid, and one token runs one server.
Get the token
- Go to accounts.klei.com and sign in with the account you own Don't Starve Together on.
- Open the Games section and choose Don't Starve Together.
- Find Server Settings or Game Servers.
- Press to add a new server. Give it any name you like; this is just a label on Klei's side.
- Copy the token it gives you. It is a long string starting with
pds-g^.
Copy the whole thing, including the prefix and everything after it. A token cut short is the most common reason a server refuses to start.
Put it in your server
- Sign in at customer.guavahost.com, open My servers and click Manage on your Don't Starve Together server. (Getting around your new control panel has a quick tour.)
- Go to the Settings tab and find Startup settings.
- Paste the token into Klei cluster token, replacing the placeholder
CHANGEME, and click Save next to it. - Press Restart at the top of the server page.
Every time the server starts, it writes the token from Startup settings into DoNotStarveTogether/config/server/cluster_token.txt. So pasting it into Startup settings and restarting is all it takes. You do not need to reinstall, and you will not lose your world.
It also means Startup settings is the only place to change it. If you edit cluster_token.txt in the Files tab instead, your edit is replaced with the startup value on the next start.
Check it worked
Open the Console tab after restarting. A server with a good token carries on booting and generates or loads the world.
A server without one says so plainly and stops. With the placeholder still in place, the console shows a banner reading !!!! Your Server Will Not Start !!!! along with the error E_EXPIRED_TOKEN. If you see that after pasting your token, check that you copied all of it, with nothing missing from either end, and that you restarted after saving.
Keep it private
Anyone with your token could run a server as you. Treat it like a password: do not paste it into a public Discord and do not put it in a screenshot of your Settings tab. Anyone you invite on the People page with permission to see the startup settings can see it too, so only give that permission to people you trust.
If a token has leaked, generate a new one at accounts.klei.com, paste it into Klei cluster token, save it and restart.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
- dont-starve-together
- token
- klei
- setup
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