What is Citadel?

Citadel is a complete DayZ server platform in two halves:

The Citadel Agent — a local app on the machine that hosts your DayZ servers: SteamCMD installs, mod management, every economy/Expansion editor, the only visual Quest Creator for DayZ, RCON, restart scheduling, and 50+ admin actions. Local-first by design.
Citadel Cloud — an optional remote layer that pairs with the Agent: a real-time Live Ops Console for your whole fleet, a shared cheater ban database with human-approved appeals, AI-assisted moderation, and automated restarts & messaging that keep running even when your PC is asleep.

Together they replace the mess of RCON clients, FTP, manual config editing, and scheduler scripts most admins stitch together — and add cross-server superpowers when you want them.

The Problem

Managing a DayZ server traditionally means juggling disconnected tools:

An RCON client for player kicks/bans
FTP or file-sync for types.xml edits
SteamCMD scripts for mod updates
Notepad for init.c, cfgspawnabletypes.xml, trader configs
A third-party scheduler for restarts
A Discord webhook glued together by hand

Nothing talks to anything else. Changes in one tool don't propagate. There's no audit trail.

The Solution

Citadel runs on the same Windows box as your DayZ server and gives you a single dashboard for:

Surface	What you do there
Desktop app	Real-time server control, player management, live map, RCON console, file editing
Web dashboard	Same UI, also accessible from other machines on your LAN or remotely
Discord bot	Admin commands, live status embeds, kill feed
`@CitadelAdmin` in-game mod	Server-side command execution and event logging
Expansion mod integration	Full config editors for Expansion quests, traders, markets, party settings
Economy editors	Types, Events, Spawnable Types, Spawn Points, Globals, Limits Definition
Citadel Cloud (optional)	Browser Live Ops Console for your whole fleet, the Trust Network ban database + appeals, AI RCon copilot, and cloud-driven scheduled restarts/messages

Key principles

The Agent is local-first. It runs as a Windows service on your server box — your configs, mods, and player data stay on your disk, with no vendor between you and your files. Citadel Cloud is the one optional layer you can add on top for fleet-wide ops and the ban network (see below); the Agent never depends on it.
One installer. Download, click next, done. The installer bundles Node.js, NSSM, the backend service, and the desktop app.
Subscription-funded, not ad-funded. Citadel is a paid product ($9.99/mo or $99.99/yr) with no upsells, feature gates, or tracking. The subscription covers ongoing development and a lightweight license-verification service at citadels.cc. See Citadel License.
Multi-server from day one. Unlimited DayZ servers per installation.
Editors match DayZeEditor depth, not its UI. All the Expansion configs, trader tables, and economy edits you'd expect — in a modern dashboard instead of WinForms.

Tech stack

Backend: Node.js 18+ (20.x LTS recommended), Express, Socket.IO, BattlEye RCON
Frontend: React 18, Vite 6
Desktop app: Electron 34 (wraps the frontend, adds native menus + system tray + auto-update)
Sidecar: Node.js + Chokidar, file-based IPC to the DayZ mod
DayZ mod: @CitadelAdmin (EnScript)
Discord bot: discord.js v14
Data: JSON file-based storage — no database required on your end
License signing: RS256 JWTs issued by citadels.cc, verified locally by the app

What it isn't

Not a game-server host. Citadel manages your DayZ server; it doesn't run one for you. You still need your own Windows box with the DayZ server installed.
Local-first. Your DayZ configs, player data, mod files, and operations stay on your machine. The only network calls to citadels.cc are license activation and a periodic verify check.

Carve-out for Citadel Cloud subscribers: the optional Citadel Cloud add-on enables Cloud Bans, which by design submits the SteamIDs and reason categories of your local bans to the shared community pool so other Cloud-protected servers can pick them up. Nothing else is sent — no player names, server names, mod lists, or chat. See the Citadel Cloud guide for full detail on what is and isn't shared.
Independent. Citadel is its own product with its own architecture — not a reskin of any other tool.

Getting Started — subscribe, install, activate in 10 minutes
Architecture — how the pieces fit together
Prerequisites — Windows version, DayZ server requirements