Importing Saves

Copy an existing save into the saves volume, then import it from the server console. You run both steps on the machine hosting the server, not on the computer the save came from.

The farm comes over intact. The owner keeps their levels, items, money, relationships, and progress, and selects their farmer from the farmhand list as usual when they connect. The only change is that the server runs the farm with its own automated host instead of a person.

1. Copy the save folder

A save is a folder named {FarmName}_{number} (e.g. YourFarm_123456789). Copy the whole folder. On a normal install it lives here:

OS	Saves directory
Windows	%appdata%\StardewValley\Saves
macOS	~/.config/StardewValley/Saves
Linux	~/.config/StardewValley/Saves

It must land under Saves/ inside the volume, at Saves/{FarmName}_{number}. Put the save folder on the server host, then run this from the directory that contains it:

docker run --rm -v <project>_saves:/sv -v $(pwd):/backup alpine cp -r /backup/YourFarm_123456789 /sv/Saves/

INFO

Replace <project> with your prefix. Run docker volume ls to find it (e.g. server_saves).

2. Import and load it

In the server console (see Connecting to the CLI), run:

saves import YourFarm_123456789 --swap-host-to 76561198XXXXXXXXX --reload

• --swap-host-to <id> keeps the save's owner a player. The <id> is their platform id (see Finding a player's id below). Without it, the server takes over their farmer. This rewrites the save in place, so back up first.
• --reload loads the save right away instead of waiting for a restart. Use --force-reload if players are connected and you want to kick them first.

Skipped --reload? Run saves reload (or restart) to load it.

Finding a player's id

A platform id is a player's Steam64 or GOG Galaxy id, which is a long number distinct from their in-game name. Where you find it depends on the platform.

Steam. The best place is the player's Steam profile. Open it in a browser and look at the URL. If it reads steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656..., the 17-digit number after /profiles/ is the Steam64 id. If the profile uses a custom name instead (steamcommunity.com/id/somename), paste that URL into a lookup site such as steamid.io or steamid.xyz and copy the steamID64 it reports.

GOG. Use the server log: have the player connect to the server once (reaching the farmer-selection screen is enough), then look for the Client connected via Galaxy P2P (platform id ...) line — that number is their id. The ids shown on the GOG website (such as galaxyUserId in your account data) are encoded differently from the id the game presents on a connection, so they will not match.

The same Client connected via ... log line also shows a Steam player's Steam64, so the connect log works as a single lookup path for both platforms.

Good to know

• Back up the local save you are importing. A swap rewrites that folder in place. If the rewrite fails the save is left untouched, but once it succeeds there is no undo without your backup.
• Your previous server save is kept. Importing only changes which save the server loads on boot, so the old one stays in the volume.
• Importing is one-way. There is no supported way to move server progress back into a local single-player or co-op game, so import once you are ready to continue the farm on the server.
• Wrong id? Re-run the import with the correct --swap-host-to id before the save loads, and it overrides the binding. Once the save has loaded, fix it with farmhand rebind <name> <id> (or farmhand release <name> to unlock the slot entirely). As a tripwire, the import logs a warning when the supplied id already identifies another farmhand in the save — expected (and safe to ignore) when that player deliberately owns several farmers; otherwise it usually means the wrong connect-log line was copied.
• One player, several farmers. The same id may own more than one farmhand — binding an id that already owns a farmhand in the save is fine and nothing is rejected.
• Ownership travels with the save. Bindings are stored in a small file inside the save folder, so backups, restores, and moving the Saves folder to another server all keep them.

See also

• saves command reference
• Backup & Recovery