Self-hosted Aternos server manager & keep-alive dashboard. A single Rust binary (~2.3 MB) that keeps your free Aternos Minecraft server online 24/7 and gives you a modern web panel to control it — no browser automation, pure HTTP.
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- Automatic queue confirmation — when your turn comes up Aternos opens a ~30 second window and drops you to the back of the queue if nobody answers. This is the step that makes unattended 24/7 possible, and the reason keep-alive scripts sit in the queue forever.
- Signs in for you — set up with your Aternos account and aterkeep obtains the session cookie itself, then renews it when it expires. No DevTools, no monthly copy-paste.
- Keep-alive loop — polls every 30 s, restarts the server automatically when it goes offline (toggleable)
- Anti-idle bot — a Minecraft client that joins when the server is up so it isn't shut down for being empty
- Web dashboard — live status, queue position, start/stop/restart controls, auto-start switch
- Server console — watch the live server log from your browser
- Settings editor — read & change
server.propertiesdirectly from the panel - Player list — see who is online in real time
- Request inspector — every HTTP call with its JSON response (educational)
- 14 languages — picked during setup, switchable any time from the header
- Password-protected panel — login required, every endpoint behind a session cookie
- Encrypted session — AES-256-GCM; the key is derived from your password and never stored on disk
aterkeep is a single self-contained binary — one file, no runtime to install.
It does shell out to curl, which ships with Windows 10+, macOS and most
Linux distributions (pkg install curl on Termux). That is the only external
requirement. The Android APK carries its own static curl, so there is nothing to
install there either.
The anti-idle bot is compiled into the binary — no Node.js, no npm. It used to be a Node program, which is why older docs mention installing Node; that is no longer true anywhere.
| Platform | Notes |
|---|---|
| Windows | 10/11 — aterkeep.exe, double-click or run from PowerShell/cmd. |
| Linux | x86_64 — ./aterkeep. |
| macOS | Apple Silicon — ./aterkeep. |
| Android | arm64 — install the APK; it runs the daemon in a foreground service. A Termux route exists for shell users. |
- Windows, Linux, macOS, or Android (Android: the APK, or Termux if you want a shell)
- Rust toolchain (only needed to build from source; release binaries ship without it)
Download the right binary for your OS from the Releases page:
| OS | Asset |
|---|---|
| Windows 10/11 | aterkeep-windows.exe |
| Linux x86_64 | aterkeep-linux-amd64 |
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | aterkeep-macos-arm64 |
| Android (arm64/arm32/x86_64) | aterkeep-android.apk — install and run, no shell needed |
| Android (Termux) | aterkeep-android-arm64 / -armv7 / -x86_64 — the bare daemon binary |
| — | aterkeep-extras.zip — autostart installers and docs |
aterkeep-extras.zip is optional; grab it if you want the autostart scripts. The
anti-idle bot is inside the binary, so nothing extra is needed for it.
Linux aarch64 and macOS Intel are not prebuilt — building them needs access to the private engine crate, so they are unavailable to buyers today. Do not plan around them.
On Linux/macOS/Android, make it executable after downloading:
chmod +x aterkeepThis repo is source-available: it contains the binary crate (rust/) and pulls the
keep-alive engine from aterkeep-core, a
private crate. Building from source requires access to that private crate.
# requires read access to github.com/KaramelliS/aterkeep-core (git credential helper / PAT)
cargo build --release
# binary: target/release/aterkeep (aterkeep.exe on Windows)For everyone else, use Option A (prebuilt binary) — the release build is identical and needs no source access.
Run the binary and open http://127.0.0.1:4041 — the setup wizard walks you through three steps: panel language, panel password, Aternos session.
./aterkeep # Windows: aterkeep.exeYou choose a password during setup. It does double duty:
- it protects the panel (anyone reaching the panel can control your server), and
- it encrypts your Aternos session — the encryption key is derived from it with PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 (600 000 iterations) and is never written to disk.
There is no recovery. The password is not stored anywhere. If you forget it, the encrypted session cannot be opened again — delete
config/and set up afresh.
Two ways. The first is the one you want.
Type your Aternos username and password. aterkeep signs in over plain HTTP and obtains the session cookie itself — no browser, no DevTools, no copying. If your account has more than one server the wizard asks which to keep alive; otherwise it picks the only one and detects its address.
Those credentials are stored inside config/session.enc, under the same
AES-256-GCM encryption as the cookies, keyed off your panel password. They are
sent to aternos.org and nowhere else. They exist for one purpose: when the
session expires, aterkeep logs in again by itself and you never notice.
Two accounts can't use this:
- Two-factor authentication enabled — the login needs a code aterkeep can't produce.
- Aternos demands a captcha — it turns this on adaptively.
Both are reported as their own message, not a generic failure, and both mean using the second method.
-
Open https://aternos.org, log in, and open your server's panel.
-
Press F12 → Network → F5 to reload.
-
Click any
aternos.orgrequest → Headers → Request Headers → copy the wholecookie:line. -
Switch to Console, run this and copy the output:
window.AJAX_TOKEN
-
Paste both into the wizard and press Install and start.
ATERNOS_SESSION is an HttpOnly cookie, so no JavaScript (including
document.cookie) can read it — copying it from the Network tab is the only way.
Your server id is detected automatically from the ATERNOS_SERVER cookie in
what you paste; you never type it.
Sessions set up this way cannot renew themselves, so you will be doing this again in 30 days (see below).
If you generate the session elsewhere, write a session.json:
{
"token": "PASTE_AJAX_TOKEN",
"sec": "PASTE_GENERATE_AJAX_TOKEN_VALUE",
"cookies": [
{ "name": "ATERNOS_SESSION", "value": "PASTE_SESSION_VALUE" },
{ "name": "ATERNOS_SERVER", "value": "PASTE_SERVER_ID" }
]
}Then import it (you will be asked for the panel password):
./aterkeep import session.json # Windows: aterkeep.exe import session.json./aterkeep # Windows: aterkeep.exeBecause the key is derived from your password and never stored, aterkeep asks for the password on every start. When running unattended (systemd, Docker, Termux boot script), pass it through the environment instead:
ATERKEEP_KEY='your-panel-password' ./aterkeepThen open http://127.0.0.1:4041 and log in.
To have it come back after a reboot, use the installers in
docs/AUTOSTART.md — a scheduled task on Windows (with
the password protected by DPAPI, so a copied config/ folder still won't
decrypt), a systemd unit on Linux, Termux:Boot on Android. Each one states
plainly what storing the password costs you, and how to skip it.
Everything lives in a single config/ folder next to the binary — nothing is
scattered around:
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
config/aterkeep.json |
Language, port, bind address, password verifier (salted PBKDF2 hash) |
config/session.enc |
Your Aternos session, AES-256-GCM encrypted |
config/bot.json |
Anti-idle bot settings |
config/bot-status.json |
Bot's live status (written by the bot) |
Set ATERKEEP_DIR to move this folder elsewhere.
Never share the
config/folder, and never post screenshots of the setup screen. Even encrypted, it contains your session — and your cookies grant access to your Aternos account.
| Tab | What it does |
|---|---|
| Status | Server state badge, address, last check, start/stop/restart, auto-start switch, live log, request inspector |
| Console | Server log stream (auto-refreshes every 10 s) |
| Settings | Edit server.properties values and save them to the server |
| Players | Online player list |
The auto-start switch is important: when it's OFF the daemon never restarts the server, so you can stop it and leave it stopped. Pressing Stop turns it off automatically.
Aternos issues its session cookie with Max-Age=2592000 — exactly 30 days,
measured from the login response, not guessed. It can end sooner if you sign out
elsewhere or change your password.
Set up with an account: nothing to do. When the cookies lapse the daemon logs in again, writes a fresh session and carries on. You'll see one line in the log.
Set up by pasting cookies: the panel shows a SESSION badge and a banner
saying the session expired — not a stopped server, which is what it used to look
like — with a button that drops you back into the wizard. Switching to the
account method at that point ends the chore for good.
The panel also shows session age next to the loop state, and after the first expiry, how long the previous session lasted. Aternos doesn't publish a number, so aterkeep measures your own.
- No key file on disk. The AES-256-GCM key that protects
config/session.encis derived from your password at every start (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 600 000 iterations, per-install random salt) and only ever lives in memory. Copying theconfig/folder gets an attacker nothing without the password. - The panel requires a login. Every API endpoint is behind a session cookie
(
HttpOnly,SameSite=Strict). The password verifier stored inconfig/aterkeep.jsonuses a different salt from the encryption key, so the stored hash cannot be turned back into the key. - The keep-alive engine (
aterkeep-core) is a private crate — its source is not in this repo, only compiled into the release binary. Aternos endpoint/cookie/HTML strings are compile-time encrypted (litcrypt) so they never appear as plaintext in the binary; the release binary is also fully stripped (strip = true, LTO,panic = abort) - The dashboard binds to
127.0.0.1by default — nothing is exposed to the network. If you changebindinconfig/aterkeep.json, the panel password becomes your only defence; use a strong one and prefer a VPN or reverse proxy with TLS.
Be realistic about the threat model: the protection holds while the daemon is not running under your account. Once you have entered the password, the decrypted session lives in the process's memory, and anyone with administrator access to that machine (or malware running as your user) can read it. Keep the host clean.
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
Panel shows SESSION |
The Aternos session expired → press Refresh cookies in the banner, or switch to account login so it renews itself. |
| Server keeps stopping | That's normal: Aternos pauses empty servers after ~60 s idle. Keep the daemon running; it restarts within about a minute. For truly uninterrupted uptime, keep a Minecraft client/bot connected. |
| Forgot the panel password | Cannot be recovered — it is never stored. Delete the config/ folder and run setup again with a fresh session. |
decrypt failed (yanlis key?) on start |
Wrong password, or ATERKEEP_KEY is set to the wrong value. |
| Won't start in the background | The password cannot be prompted for without a terminal — set ATERKEEP_KEY in the service's environment, or use the installers in the autostart guide. |
| Should start on boot | See docs/AUTOSTART.md — scheduled task (Windows, DPAPI-protected), systemd unit (Linux), Termux:Boot (Android), each with its security tradeoff spelled out. |
| Panel says the Aternos session expired | The cookies aged out — this is not a server fault. Press Refresh cookies in the banner and paste a fresh cookie: header. |
| Port 4041 busy | A previous instance is still running. Kill it (pkill aterkeep / Task Manager), or change port in config/aterkeep.json. |
| Running on Android? | Install the APK. Prefer a shell? Termux guide. |
aterkeep, sunucuyu ayakta tutmak için gömülü bir anti-idle botu barındırır — gerçek bir oyuncu gibi bağlanır, görünmez (spectator + vanish) modda AFK kalır ve koparsa otomatik yeniden bağlanır. Böylece sunucu boş olduğu için durmaz.
Bot binary'nin içinde: kurulacak bir şey yok. (Eskiden mineflayer tabanlı bir Node.js programıydı; Node bir APK'nın içine sığmadığı için telefonda hiç çalışmıyordu ve masaüstünde de Node + geniş bir npm ağacı istiyordu. Yerel Rust istemcisiyle değiştirildi.)
- Sunucu cracked olmalı (
online-mode=false— Aternos ücretsiz sunucuları varsayılan böyledir) - Sürüm 1.21.11 veya daha düşük (bot protokol 774 konuşuyor)
- Botun gizlenebilmesi için operatör yetkisi. Yetki yoksa bot spawn'da görünür durur — sunucuyu ayakta tutmaya devam eder ama görünmez olmaz, panel de bunu açıkça söyler.
Bot'ı panel üzerinden açıp kapatırsınız; daemon config/bot.json'u yazar, bot durumunu config/bot-status.json'a raporlar. Elle çalıştırıp teşhis için: aterkeep bot-probe <host> [port]. Ayrıntılı doküman: docs/BOT.md.
Aternos' own support documentation says:
"Trying to bypass Aternos system by using bots, scripts, or other tricks to keep your server on 24/7 is against our rules… The system automatically checks for artificial activity." — 24/7 Hosting
That describes this product. Using aterkeep may get your server or your Aternos account suspended or deleted. There is no way for us to prevent that, and the anti-idle bot makes the activity easier to spot, not harder.
This is sold as-is, for use on accounts you control and are willing to risk. If that is not acceptable to you, do not buy it — a paid Minecraft host is the supported way to run a server around the clock.
aterkeep is commercial software — it is not open source.
The source is published for transparency and evaluation only. Personal, non-commercial use is permitted. Redistribution, resale, derivative works and commercial use are not permitted. See LICENSE for the full terms.
Commercial use, redistribution, white-labelling and source access to the
keep-alive engine (aterkeep-core) are available under a paid commercial licence.
Contact: berlaylc2138@gmail.com
Independent project — not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Aternos GmbH or Mojang Studios.