Applying recipes

Create a server from a recipe

nwm server create <name> --recipe <source> [flags]

nwm fetches and validates the recipe first, resolves variables and secrets, then installs the server (using the recipe's branch unless you pass --branch) and applies the recipe. If applying fails after the server was installed, fix the problem and run nwm recipe apply instead of creating it again.

Apply to an existing server

nwm recipe apply <source> [-s server] [flags]

The server has to be stopped. Applying again is safe: packages are reinstalled or updated, config values are merged and services are recreated only when their definition changed.

Upgrade

nwm recipe upgrade [-s server] [flags]

Applies the server's recipe again from the source it was created with and picks up the newest version that matches its version constraint. Variables from the original apply are reused, --var changes them. If the version and content did not change, nwm says so and does nothing.

Flags

These flags work for server create --recipe, recipe apply and recipe upgrade:

Flag	Effect
--var name=value	Set a variable, repeatable
--secret name=value	Set a secret instead of generating or asking, repeatable
--no-services	Do not start the recipe's services now (they still start with the server)
--no-hooks	Do not run hooks
-y, --yes	Run hooks of remote recipes without asking
--refresh	Download the registry index again

What happens

nwm applies a recipe in this order, showing a progress line per step:

1. Secrets: generate missing random secrets, ask for prompt secrets
2. Vault packages and asset packs through the server's own CLI
3. Git and recipe packages and asset packs
4. C modules
5. Files, templates are rendered
6. Configuration: merge config values into Config.toml, enable resources, write .env
7. NanosSharp, if requested and not installed yet
8. Record the recipe, launch arguments and services in the server's nwm.toml
9. Services are started and nwm waits until they are ready
10. Hooks run, after confirmation for remote recipes

What gets recorded

The server's nwm.toml stores what was applied, so later commands know about it:

args = ['--log_level', '2']

[recipe]
source = '@dasdarki/roleplay@^1'
name = '@dasdarki/roleplay'
version = 'v1.2.0'
commit = 'a3058d40d148f2ebf08c224de2bb4e4d1c90fb25'
applied_at = 2026-11-05T21:10:49+01:00

[recipe.variables]
port = '7790'

[[service]]
name = 'postgres'
image = 'postgres:17'
ports = ['5432']

nwm server start reads args and starts the services. nwm recipe upgrade reads recipe.