Server Console

When you run SteelMC in a terminal, the console doubles as a command line. Log output scrolls above an input line where you can type commands, which run as the console sender. Console commands bypass player permission checks.

Stopping the Server

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+C	Shut down gracefully once the input line is empty
Ctrl+Q	Shut down gracefully, whatever is on the input line

Ctrl+C checks these cases in order:

1. If text is selected, it copies the selection.
2. If the input line has text, it clears the line.
3. If the input line is empty, it shuts the server down.

To stop the server while typing a command, press Ctrl+C twice or Ctrl+Q once.

The stop command also shuts the server down. Every route goes through the same graceful shutdown, which saves world and player data before the process exits. The console also writes its command history to disk at this point.

Signals

SteelMC also shuts down gracefully when the operating system asks it to stop. That covers running it as a service, in Docker, or without an interactive terminal.

Platform	Handled signals
Unix	SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGHUP
Windows	Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Break, closing the console window, logoff, system shutdown

Only the first signal starts a shutdown. Later signals are ignored until the save finishes, so a second Ctrl+C will not cut the save short.

Caution

SIGKILL (kill -9) and force-killing the process from a task manager cannot be handled. Anything not yet saved is lost.

Editing the Input Line

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Run the current command
Left / Right	Move the cursor
Home / End	Jump to the start or end of the line
Backspace / Delete	Delete the character before or after the cursor
Insert	Toggle overwrite mode (block cursor while active)
Esc	Clear the input line

Selecting and Copying

Shortcut	Action
Shift+Left / Shift+Right	Grow or shrink the selection one character at a time
Shift+Home	Select from the cursor to the start of the line
Shift+End	Select from the cursor to the end of the line
Ctrl+A	Select the whole line
Ctrl+C	Copy the selection
Ctrl+X	Cut the selection

Typing, Backspace, or Delete with an active selection replaces or removes the selected text. Pressing Left or Right clears the selection and moves the cursor to its start or end.

Copying uses the OSC 52 terminal escape sequence, so it only works in terminals that support it, such as kitty, WezTerm, Alacritty, iTerm2, and Windows Terminal. Some terminals and multiplexers like tmux need OSC 52 clipboard access turned on. To paste, use your terminal’s usual paste shortcut.

Note

Ctrl+C only copies when something is selected. Otherwise it clears the input line, or shuts the server down if the line is already empty.

Command History

Shortcut	Action
Up / Ctrl+P	Previous command
Down / Ctrl+N	Next command
Ctrl+R	Search history

History is saved to history.txt inside the log directory (log.log_path, default ./.logs) and persists across restarts. The console keeps the last log.max_history commands (default 50).

Reverse Search

Press Ctrl+R to search your history backwards, like in Bash. The prompt changes to show what you are searching for:

(reverse-i-search)`give': give @s diamond 64

As you type, the input line shows the newest command that contains your query, with the matching part highlighted. If nothing matches, the prompt says failed reverse-i-search and the last match stays on screen.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+R	Jump to the next older match
Backspace	Remove the last character from the query
Enter	Run the matched command
Tab	Keep the match on the input line so you can edit it
Esc / Ctrl+C / Ctrl+G	Cancel the search and restore the line you had before

Other keys, such as the arrow keys or Home, also keep the match and then do their usual action. After you take a match, Up and Down continue through the history from that command.

Command Completion

Press Tab to show suggestions for the command you are typing. While suggestions are open:

Shortcut	Action
Up / Ctrl+P	Highlight the previous suggestion
Down / Ctrl+N	Highlight the next suggestion
Tab	Insert the highlighted suggestion and close the list

The list updates as you type or move the cursor.