The message of the day is one line shown to each player who joins. Set it with Message of the day on the Startup page. It can be up to 120 characters, and a new server has none. The change applies at the next start.
Set it
- Open the server and go to the Startup page.
- Find Message of the day.
- Type your line. Keep it on one line, with no line break, and no longer than 120 characters.
- Choose Save.
- Restart the server from the buttons at the top of the page.
A good message is short: the server’s name, one rule, or where to find the rest. For example: Welcome! Be kind, and ask before you build near someone else.
Remove it
Empty the field, choose Save, and restart. A server with an empty field has no message.
When it applies
The panel writes the message into the server’s settings file before every start. Because of that, a change is read at the next start, not at once. See start, stop and restart.
Do not edit it in the settings file
The Config Editor shows Message of the day in the Server settings file, locked, in the group Set by Loafhosts. It tells you to change it on Startup. A change you make by hand in serverconfig.txt is overwritten at the next start. Use Startup.
TShock has its own files
TShock keeps its own message in a file called motd.txt, in the tshock folder, beside rules.txt. Its message can use placeholders such as %map%, %onlineplayers% and %serverslots%. Open the tshock folder in Files to see it. Whether TShock shows the Startup message, its own motd.txt, or both is not checked on 1.4.5.8 as of 13 November 2026. If you run TShock and want a sure result, set the same text in both places. See TShock message of the day and rules.
If it does not work
- The old message still shows. The server has not restarted since you saved. Restart it.
- Save is refused. The message must be one line and at most 120 characters. Shorten it.
More about the game: Terraria servers.
Sources: terraria.wiki.gg: Server