Terms of Use
Version 2026-10-18 · Privacy
These terms are between Cynic Hosting LLC (“we”, “us”, the “Licensor”) and the person or organisation that installs or runs Osmium (“you”, the “operator”). Osmium is the Rust game server modding framework made by Cynic Hosting LLC. By installing Osmium, activating a server, or running it, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not install or run Osmium.
Contact: support@cynic-hosting.com
1What Osmium is, and who may use it
1.1Osmium is proprietary software owned by Cynic Hosting LLC. It is not open source and is not offered under any open-source licence. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved.
1.2Anyone may download and install Osmium. There is no invitation, no account and no per-server link to ask us for. You install it, and on first use you accept these terms (section 5), which registers that acceptance with us once and issues your licence. After that, no further contact with us is required for Osmium to keep running, ever.
1.3In these terms “Osmium” means the framework in every form (source and compiled), its installers, console and in-game commands, release bundles, documentation, and the services we run for it, including activation and analytics (section 10) and the release servers. A “server” means one Rust game server installation.
2Your licence
2.1Subject to these terms, we grant you a licence to install and run Osmium on servers that you operate. The licence is limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable.
2.4The licence is perpetual. Once your server has activated (section 5), its licence does not expire, does not need renewing, and is checked only on your server: it keeps working whether or not our services exist. We have no technical means to withdraw, suspend or switch off a licence on your server. Breaching these terms can still end your right to use Osmium (section 12).
2.2One licence covers one server. You may not move a licence to another server, or share a licence, a server key, an analytics token or download credentials with anyone else.
2.3The licence covers the compiled builds we release to you. It gives you no right to the source code.
3What you may not do
3.1You may not copy, redistribute, publish, resell, rent, lend, lease, host for others or sublicense Osmium or any part of it.
3.2You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or deobfuscate Osmium, or try to extract its source code, algorithms, keys or name maps, except where the law expressly allows it despite this term, and then only to the extent it allows.
3.3You may not circumvent, disable, spoof, tamper with or interfere with activation, the licence, the acceptance of these terms (section 17), release signatures, or any other protection in Osmium, or help anyone else to. You may not send us false analytics or use another server’s analytics token. Turning a category of section 6 off, or blocking Osmium’s network access after your server has activated, is your choice and is not a breach.
3.4You may not remove or alter copyright, trademark or licence notices.
3.5You may not use Osmium, or what you learn from it, to build, train or improve a competing modding framework or product.
3.6You may not use Osmium in a way that breaks the law or the terms that Facepunch Studios sets for running Rust servers.
4Third-party plugins and your responsibilities
4.1Osmium can load plugins written by other people. You are responsible for every plugin you install: for its licence, its behaviour, its safety and its effect on your server and players. We do not review, endorse or support third-party plugins and do not promise that any plugin works with Osmium or keeps working after an update.
4.2You are responsible for your server and your players: for running it lawfully, for your own rules and moderation, and for giving your players any privacy notice or consent the law requires for what you and your plugins do with their data. Osmium’s own data collection (section 6) does not include your players’ identities, but you decide what your plugins and configuration do.
4.3You must keep your server key and your analytics token secure. Tell us promptly if you think either was exposed.
5First use and activation
5.1The first time Osmium runs on a server, it asks you to accept these terms. When you accept, Osmium contacts us once to record your acceptance and the version you accepted, together with the server’s identity, and to collect your licence and your server’s analytics token (6.11). That activation is the only contact Osmium requires: after it succeeds, your perpetual licence is on the server and Osmium keeps working whether or not it can reach us again.
5.2A server that cannot reach us on first use still starts: Osmium runs unactivated, prints a clear notice in the console, and works while you activate it. Activation is required within a grace window you can set (72 hours by default). During the grace window everything runs. If activation cannot complete because our activation service is down (it answers with a server error, or the network in front of it reports it down), the grace countdown pauses until we answer again, for at most 30 days in all. It keeps counting when our service cannot be reached for other reasons (for example, when your network blocks it) or when activation is refused (for example, because these terms are not accepted). When the window ends without activation, Osmium stops loading plugins and modules, but the game server itself keeps running as ordinary Rust until you activate: nothing on the server is deleted, and Osmium loads again once activation succeeds.
5.3Each server has its own key. A server that is reinstalled with its key and activates again gets the same licence. We may refuse an activation that we believe breaks these terms. Once a licence is issued we cannot suspend or revoke it on your server (2.4).
5.5A server that runs a licence from Osmium 0.3 keeps it: current Osmium accepts it, perpetually, with no time limit. The first time such a server can reach us, Osmium exchanges it once for the perpetual licence described here and collects the server’s analytics token (6.2). The old licence keeps working whether or not that exchange happens.
5.4A material change to these terms needs your acceptance again, which you give on your server (section 17).
6What Osmium sends home
6.1Osmium sends information to us only when you ask it to. Every category below is off by default. Accepting these terms at first use registers your acceptance and issues your licence (section 5); that is the one call home you make (a server upgraded from Osmium 0.3 makes the one exchange of 5.5 instead). Nothing else leaves your server unless you turn a category on, and you can turn any category off at any time.
6.2Activation (once). The first-use call in section 5.1: your acceptance of these terms and the version you accepted, and the server’s identity (its licence id, server key id, Osmium version and channel, the Rust build, and the platform: host type, operating system, glibc version, CPU model and cores, RAM). It sends the server’s IP address as we see it. It happens once; after it, Osmium does not need to contact us again to run. The one exchange of a licence from Osmium 0.3 (5.5) sends the same facts, the server id that licence names and the version of these terms accepted on the server.
6.3Error reports (off by default). If you turn this on, Osmium sends exceptions from Osmium and from your plugins with their stack traces, plugin name and version, and load failures and refusal reasons, scrubbed of player names, SteamIDs, IP addresses and chat. A repeated error is counted, not sent again. It is sent when an error happens and in a summary at start.
6.4Performance detail (off by default). If you turn this on, Osmium sends a summary of how it is running: uptime, players currently online and peak players, max players, world size and seed, server frame time, entity count, per-plugin hook time and call counts, plugin load and compile times, plugin memory allocations, the frame-time distribution, garbage-collection counts and pauses, memory and CPU use of the server process, network traffic totals and connection count (no addresses), entity counts by type, aggregate player activity (joins, leaves and session lengths, with no identities), short performance samples taken when the server lags, and the warning and error log output of Osmium and of your plugins, scrubbed of player names, SteamIDs, IP addresses and chat. It is sent as a summary (at most once every 30 minutes), and none is sent while no one is online. Log output is limited to warnings and errors, and repeated lines are counted, not sent again.
6.5Plugin and configuration upload (off by default). If you turn this on, Osmium sends the plugin files on your server and their configuration files, at start and again only when a file changes. Before upload, values that look like secrets (passwords, tokens, API keys, webhooks and connection strings) are replaced with “[redacted]”. Plugin data files, logs and Osmium’s own keys are never uploaded. Automatic redaction may not catch every secret. Do not turn this on if your configuration files hold secrets that you cannot share with us, or plugins that you have no right to share.
6.6What we never collect. In no category do we collect player names, SteamIDs, player IP addresses or chat, and we never collect RCON passwords. We collect plugin source code and plugin configuration only if you turn on 6.5, and only as described there.
6.7Why. We use this information for licensing, abuse prevention, support (including support for your own server), compatibility work, fixing bugs and improving Osmium. We do not sell it and do not use it for advertising.
6.8How long we keep it, and turning a category off.
- Error reports are kept for 180 days. Performance detail is kept for 30 days. For uploaded plugins and configuration we keep the latest copy of each file and 90 days of changes. Acceptance and activation records are kept for as long as we operate Osmium (a licence is perpetual), and afterwards for as long as the law requires.
- When you turn a category off, collection for it stops at once, and we delete that server’s stored data for it within 30 days.
- The owner of a server can ask us (section 19) for a copy of its uploaded plugins and configuration, or to delete them.
6.9The lists in 6.2 to 6.6 are the complete list of what Osmium sends home. If we add a category or change what one sends, we will change these terms first, and a change that collects more is a material change under section 17, needing your acceptance again. The same text is available on your server: run osmium.terms in the server console. The version of these terms you accepted is recorded on your server, and is sent to us only with a category you turned on.
6.10Rates. We may lower the rates and limits in 6.3 to 6.5 for everyone without a new release. We will never raise them above those limits, and we will never turn on a category that you turned off.
6.11The analytics token. At activation your server receives a token that identifies it to us for the categories in 6.3 to 6.5: whatever you turn on is sent with it, and we accept nothing without a valid one. The token is used for nothing else; it is not your licence and cannot get one. We may suspend analytics from a server (for example, if its token is misused). That stops only analytics from that server: it never affects its licence or what Osmium loads.
7Without an active licence
7.1Osmium needs a licence to load its plugins and modules. A server that has not activated within the grace window of section 5.2, or that has not accepted a materially changed version of these terms that its release requires (17.2), does not load plugins or modules, and runs as ordinary Rust. The game server keeps running throughout: nothing is deleted. When activation succeeds or the terms are accepted, Osmium loads again at the next restart. A licence that was issued never ends or expires on its own (2.4).
7.2Nothing on the server is deleted when this happens: your world, saves, configuration, plugins and data stay where they are.
8Updates and Rust builds
8.1Osmium is updated through release channels, and updates are applied automatically by default according to the update policy you choose for your server.
8.2Osmium only runs on Rust builds that we have made a release for. When Rust updates, a matching release normally follows soon, but we do not promise a time. A server on a build without a release runs as vanilla Rust until one exists, or stays on its current build, as its settings say.
9Fees
9.1There is no fee for Osmium. We may introduce fees for Osmium, or for parts of it, by giving notice on the site. Fees apply only to releases or features made after the notice, never to a licence already issued. If you do not want to pay, you can keep the releases you have or stop using Osmium.
10Our services
10.1Activation, the exchange of 5.5 and the analytics of section 6 are served by our hub at panel.osmiummod.com. There are no accounts on it, no hosted panel and no way to link or control your server through it. Osmium’s own panel for your server runs on your server, with credentials you set.
10.2For each activated server we store its public key and server id, the licence we issued, the version of these terms accepted with when and from which address, the platform facts of 6.2, and whatever you send under 6.3 to 6.5. We keep a log of activations and of our administrative actions (for example, suspending analytics from a server) for 180 days.
10.3If you used the earlier hosted panel at panel.osmiummod.com, we keep the account and panel records we held then (section 10 of the version of these terms you accepted) only as long as the law requires or until you ask us to delete them (section 19). The hosted panel no longer exists.
11Ownership
11.1Osmium, its name, its mark and its images belong to Cynic Hosting LLC. Rust is a trademark of Facepunch Studios. Osmium is not made by, affiliated with or endorsed by Facepunch Studios.
11.2Your plugins, configuration and server data remain yours. You grant us the right to use the information described in section 6 for the purposes in 6.7. This includes plugin files and configuration files uploaded under 6.5: we use them only for those purposes, we do not publish or redistribute them, and we delete them as described in 6.8. If you turn on 6.5, you confirm that you have the right to share those files with us, including under the licences of any third-party plugins.
12Suspension and termination
12.1If you breach these terms, if we believe your use harms Osmium, other users or us, or if the law requires it, we may end your right to use Osmium, refuse new activations and suspend analytics from your servers. Because a licence is perpetual and is checked only on your server, ending your right to use Osmium does not switch it off remotely: it means you must stop using Osmium (12.3).
12.2You may stop using Osmium at any time by removing it.
12.3When the licence ends, you must stop using Osmium and delete your copies. Sections 3, 6.8, 11, 13 to 16, 18 and 19 and anything else that by its nature should continue survive the end of the licence.
13Disclaimer of warranties
13.1Osmium is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, uninterrupted or error-free operation, or compatibility with any plugin, Rust build or host. To the extent the law allows, we disclaim all of these.
13.2Osmium may change, stop working or be withdrawn.
14Limitation of liability
14.1To the extent the law allows, Cynic Hosting LLC is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, data, players or goodwill, arising from or related to Osmium or these terms, even if we were told they were possible.
14.2To the extent the law allows, our total liability for any claim arising from or related to Osmium or these terms is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for Osmium in the 12 months before the claim and 100 US dollars.
14.3Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
15Indemnity
15.1You will defend and indemnify Cynic Hosting LLC against claims, losses and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your breach of these terms, from your plugins and configuration, or from how you run your server and treat your players.
16Governing law and disputes
16.1These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Missouri, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.
16.2The state and federal courts located in Missouri have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from these terms or Osmium, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction and venue. Either of us may seek urgent relief to protect intellectual property in any court that has jurisdiction.
17Changes to these terms
17.1We may change these terms. The current version is always on the site at https://osmiummod.com/terms and in every Osmium release, and each version has a date.
17.2A material change needs your acceptance again, and you give it on your server, with no contact with us. A release that carries a materially changed version of these terms names that version and loads no plugins or modules until you accept it, in the server console (osmium.terms accept) or with your host panel’s “Accept Osmium Terms” setting; the game server keeps running meanwhile and nothing is deleted. Your acceptance and its version are recorded on your server, and are reported to us only with a category of section 6 you turned on. Other changes apply from the date of the new version. If you do not accept a change, keep the release you have, or stop using Osmium.
18General
18.1These terms are the entire agreement between you and us about Osmium and replace any earlier terms or understandings about it, except any written permission we gave you that these terms do not contradict.
18.2If a part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force, and that part is replaced by the closest enforceable one.
18.3If we do not enforce a part of these terms, that is not a waiver of it.
18.4You may not assign these terms or the licence. We may assign them to a company that takes over Osmium.
19Contact
19.1Questions about these terms, privacy requests and licence matters: support@cynic-hosting.com.