When Is the Next Rust Wipe? Force Wipe Dates & How to Wipe

Wiping is the rhythm Rust runs on. Every server on the planet resets once a month whether its owner likes it or not, and most reset more often than that on a cadence the owner picks. This guide covers the whole subject: when the forced wipe lands and why it is unavoidable, the difference between a map wipe and a blueprint wipe, what actually survives, how to choose a schedule for your own server, and how to run or schedule a wipe from your panel without touching a single file.

Is Rust wiping today? If the countdown above has run out, yes — every Rust server in the game is wiping right now. On any other day it depends on which server you play: the first Thursday of the month is the only date Facepunch forces, and every other wipe is the owner's own schedule, so check their Discord or the server description.

When Rust Force Wipes: The Monthly Update Schedule

Facepunch ships its monthly update on the first Thursday of every month at 19:00 UK time, and that patch forces a wipe on every Rust server. There are no exceptions and no opt-out. The UK observes British Summer Time, so in UTC that lands at 18:00 from late March to late October and 19:00 UTC the rest of the year — it's the UK clock time that stays fixed, not the UTC one.

The next one lands Thursday 3 September 2026 at 18:00 UTC, and here is the schedule through early 2027:

That fixed 7:00 PM UK time works out to 2:00 PM Eastern, 1:00 PM Central and 11:00 AM Pacific year-round, since US clocks shift on almost the same dates as UK clocks.

Further east the wipe crosses midnight. In eastern Australia it lands on Friday morning — 4:00 AM AEST, or 5:00–6:00 AM AEDT over the southern summer, depending on how the date falls against the two countries' daylight-saving changeovers. If you play on or run an Oceania server, plan around Friday rather than Thursday.

Why the wipe is forced

It is worth understanding the mechanism, because it explains why no owner can skip it:

1. The update bumps the network protocol. Each monthly build increments Rust's protocol number, so clients on the old version can no longer connect. Every server has to update to stay online.
2. The old save becomes incompatible. Last month's world was written against the old build, and the new server binary will not load it.
3. A fresh world generates instead. The map, every base and all loot are gone the moment the server updates.

The map wipe is a side effect of the update, not a setting. Blueprints are the one part the owner still controls on force-wipe day.

Your server must update within 24 hours

Once the patch lands, players on the new client cannot join a server still running last month's build. Schedule the wipe ahead of time so it happens automatically rather than turning into a scramble.

Force Wipe vs Map Wipe vs Blueprint Wipe

"Wipe" gets used loosely for three different things.

A map wipe resets the world but leaves the tech tree, so players rebuild quickly. A blueprint wipe puts everyone back to a rock. A force wipe is the monthly event that imposes the map wipe on everyone at once — and most, though not all, servers wipe blueprints the same day, which is why force-wipe day reads as the real fresh start.

Facepunch's own official servers wipe blueprints monthly. A blueprint wipe is only strictly required when Facepunch changes the item or blueprint system, which historically happens every few months and on no fixed cadence. On any other month it is a convention, not a rule.

Force-wipe day is the busiest day in Rust

Because every server resets at once, the first Thursday of the month is the highest-population, most competitive day of the cycle — fresh maps, even footing, everyone racing to build. If you want a full server, that is the day.

What Survives a Wipe

On the server side, Oxide and Carbon permissions, groups and plugin configuration live in the data folder and survive map and blueprint wipes. Your VIP groups and their perks are still there afterwards, though it is worth confirming after a forced wipe.

Things worth doing before the clock runs out: spend resources rather than losing them, screenshot a base design you want to rebuild, agree a spawn plan with your team, and check the server's blueprint policy so you know whether you are planning around an existing tech tree.

Choosing Your Server's Wipe Schedule

The monthly force wipe is the only one you must run. Everything else is your call, and it defines your server's character more than any other setting.

Most vanilla and modded servers run a weekly map wipe with blueprints kept until the monthly force wipe resets everything. Advertise your cadence in the server name or description — players filter on it, and "Weekly | BP Optional" tells them everything they need in four words.

Rust Console Edition

Rust Console Edition is a separate product on its own patch cycle. It also wipes monthly, but it does not follow the PC first-Thursday schedule. If you play on PlayStation or Xbox, check the in-game announcements or official Rust Console channels rather than the dates above.

When does Rust Console Edition wipe?

The calendar date moves, but the rule does not. Double Eleven publish it in the official Rust Console Edition FAQ:

Two differences from PC are worth being clear about. Console wipes on the last Thursday, not the first, so the two versions almost never wipe on the same day — if you play both, they are separate events on separate dates. And console's time is pinned to UTC rather than to the UK clock: through British Summer Time 18:00 UTC is 19:00 UK, the same wall-clock hour PC uses, but in winter it lands an hour earlier at 18:00 UK.

Blueprints work differently too. Double Eleven's stated position, in their wipe announcement, is to "avoid wiping them as much as possible", so a console wipe is a map wipe — buildings, loot and player activity reset, blueprints stay — unless they announce a blueprint wipe, which makes it a full wipe. There is no monthly blueprint convention on console the way there is on PC.

Running a Wipe From the Panel

Every managed Rust game server includes a built-in Rust Wipe tool that handles the whole sequence — stopping the server, removing the right save files for the wipe type you chose, optionally rolling a new map, and starting back up. You never open the File Manager or the console.

Use a manual wipe when you want to reset right now, for example after testing on a fresh server or for an off-cycle reset.

1. Open your Rust server in the panel and go to the Wipe tab.
2. Choose the wipe type. A map wipe is the most common; a map and blueprint wipe matches the monthly forced wipe.
3. If you want a new map layout, set the seed and size options first.
4. Start the wipe and confirm.

The tool stops the server, performs the wipe and starts it again. Watch the Console tab to see it come back on the new map.

The server goes offline during a wipe

A manual wipe takes the server down for the length of one restart, so run it at a quiet hour if you can.

Scheduling Recurring Wipes

This is the real reason to use the tool. Set it once and the server wipes on time every cycle without you being online.

1. In the Wipe tab, create a new scheduled wipe.
2. Set the date and time for the first wipe.
3. Set the timezone to match your community. If your players are US East Coast, pick Eastern so 2:00 PM means 2:00 PM for them, not for the host's location.
4. Choose the wipe type, the same options as a manual wipe.
5. Set the recurrence if it should repeat, so the next wipe queues automatically after each run.
6. Save the schedule.

The upcoming wipe now shows in the tool, and you can cancel it any time before it runs.

A common setup is a weekly map wipe plus a monthly map-and-blueprint wipe timed to Facepunch's first-Thursday forced wipe.

The tool converts wipe times for you

Because the timezone is set on the wipe itself, you never have to convert your community's wipe time into server time by hand.

Custom Maps, Seeds and Sizes

A wipe is the moment to change your map. The seed and world size determine the layout for the whole cycle, and rotating them keeps a server feeling new.

When you set up a wipe you can:

• Keep the current seed, so only the buildings reset and the layout stays the same
• Set a specific seed and size to load a known-good map you want to run again
• Randomize the seed for a fresh, unpredictable layout each time

Seed and size apply to procedurally generated maps, and both are set on the Startup tab — see How to Change Map and Map Size for what each value does and the ranges to stay inside. If you run a custom map by URL instead, that is set on the same tab.

Using the custom sizes and seeds list

Rather than randomising blindly, most owners keep a short list of seeds and sizes they have tested. The tool takes your own pool of size and seed pairs and picks from it on each wipe, giving you variety without the risk of a bad roll.

1. Test seeds on a staging server, or preview them with a Rust map viewer, before adding them.
2. Note the world size each seed was generated at — the same seed produces a different map at a different size.
3. Add the size and seed pairs to the list in the Wipe tool.
4. Let the tool rotate through them on each scheduled wipe.

Keep every seed at a size your plan can host comfortably. Larger maps mean more entities and higher memory use — see Rust Server Lag & Performance.

Which Files a Wipe Actually Deletes

You do not need this on our panel, but it is worth understanding what the tool is doing, and it applies if you also run Rust elsewhere. Save data lives in server/<identity>/, where <identity> is your +server.identity value.

Exact filenames carry a build-specific number and shift between Rust versions, so match the pattern rather than a literal name. Rotating save backups sit alongside the current save with a numeric suffix.

Stop the server and take a backup first

Deleting save files on a running server can corrupt what is left, and there is no undo. Stop it, back up the identity folder, then delete. If you are recovering from a bad save rather than wiping deliberately, see Trouble shooting corrupted Rust saves.

Wipe-Day Checklist

Before: announce the wipe in Discord and in the server description a few days out, confirm your blueprint policy so players can plan, and make sure your kits and VIP perks are ready for returning players — see How to setup Rust kits.

After the server is back up:

1. Open the Console and check for plugin compile errors. After a monthly forced wipe especially, Oxide or Carbon may need a moment to pull the new compatible build; our Rust egg pulls the latest on every start, so one more restart usually clears framework errors. See How to install oxide for Rust.
2. Confirm plugins loaded with oxide.plugins, or c.plugins on Carbon.
3. Verify your default and VIP groups still have their kits and perks — see Rust Oxide permissions 101.
4. Update your server description and wipe countdown so players see the correct next date.
5. Announce that the wipe is live so players come back.

FAQ

When is the next Rust force wipe?

Thursday 3 September 2026 at 18:00 UTC. Force wipes always land on the first Thursday of the month at 19:00 UK time — 18:00 UTC during British Summer Time, 19:00 UTC in winter; the table above lists the dates after that.

What time does Rust wipe?

19:00 UK time — 18:00 UTC during British Summer Time (late March to late October), 19:00 UTC the rest of the year. In US time that's 2:00 PM Eastern and 11:00 AM Pacific, year-round.

What is a force wipe in Rust?

A force wipe is the map reset that Facepunch's monthly update imposes on every Rust server at the same moment. The update increments Rust's network protocol, so players on the new client can no longer join a server running last month's build and every server has to take the patch; the new build then cannot load the old world file, so a fresh map generates in its place. That is what makes it forced — the map wipe is a consequence of updating, not a setting anyone can turn off or postpone. Blueprints are the only part still under the owner's control on the day.

What is the difference between a wipe and a force wipe?

A wipe is any reset the server owner runs. A force wipe is the monthly one Facepunch imposes on every server through the update, which cannot be skipped. You will also see it written as one word, forcewipe, or called a global wipe — all three mean the same event.

Is a global wipe the same as a force wipe or forcewipe?

Yes. "Global wipe", "forced wipe" and the one-word forcewipe all describe the same monthly Facepunch-imposed reset that hits every official and community server at once. There is no separate event.

How often do Rust servers wipe?

Every server wipes at least monthly. Beyond that it is the owner's choice — weekly is the most common cadence, with biweekly and monthly also widely used.

Do I have to wipe blueprints on force-wipe day?

No. The map wipe is mandatory; the blueprint wipe is a convention most servers follow. A blueprint wipe is only strictly required when Facepunch changes the item or blueprint system.

Will a wipe delete my players' skins?

No. Steam inventory skins are tied to the player's account, not the server, and re-apply to freshly crafted items after any wipe.

What to Read Next

• Setting up Automatic Schedules for Rust — restarts and other recurring tasks alongside your wipes
• Rust Oxide permissions 101 — the groups and perks that survive a wipe
• How to setup Rust kits — getting starter and VIP kits ready for returning players
• How to Change Map and Map Size — picking a seed and world size, and what each one changes
• Rust Server Lag & Performance — keeping a fresh map running well on wipe day
• Rust Admin Commands — the commands you will reach for when the server comes back up

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