How to Set Up Reserved Slots for Admins and VIPs on Your CS2 Server
Keep slots open for admins and VIP subscribers so they can always get into a full server.
How Reserved Slots Work
Reserved slots hold back a portion of your server's capacity for players with a specific permission flag. When the server hits the visible player limit and a reserved-slot player connects, the server kicks a non-reserved player to make room — usually the player with the lowest score, though this is configurable.
Plugin: CS2-ReservedSlots by NockyCZ
https://github.com/NockyCZ/CS2-ReservedSlots
Installation
- Download the latest release zip from the GitHub releases page
- Extract and merge the
addons/folder intogame/csgo/on your server - Restart the server
Config file generates at:
game/csgo/addons/counterstrikesharp/configs/plugins/CS2-ReservedSlots/
Config Options
ReservedSlots — how many slots to reserve. If your server is 24-player and you set this to 2, only 22 visible slots are available to the public.
ReservedFlag — the CSS permission flag that grants reserved slot access. The standard is @css/reservation. You assign this flag in your CSS admins config.
KickType — who gets kicked when a reserved player needs a slot:
0— kick player with lowest score1— kick a random non-reserved player2— kick player with highest ping
Most servers use 0 (lowest score) since it's the most defensible if a kicked player complains.
Assigning the Flag
Reserved slot access is tied to the CSS admin system, same as your other admin flags. In your admins.json:
{
"SteamID64": "76561198XXXXXXXXX",
"Flags": ["@css/reservation"]
}
You can stack flags — a full admin might have @css/admin and @css/reservation both. A VIP subscriber might only have @css/reservation.
For more on the admin config file, see How to Become an Admin on Your CS2 Server.
Hiding Reserved Slots from the Browser
By default, if you have a 24-slot server with 2 reserved slots, the browser might show 24/24 when it's actually 22/22 public + 2 reserved. To make the server appear with the lower limit:
sv_visiblemaxplayers 22
Set this in server.cfg. This makes the server browser show 22 as the max, so public players don't see a "full" server when there are still reserved slots available to them (they'll just get kicked if a VIP shows up).
Use Cases
Admin guarantee — admins can always get in to moderate, even on a packed server.
VIP subscription tier — offer reserved slot access as a subscriber perk. Players pay for the guarantee they can always join.
Staff access — developers or community managers can get in to check on things without needing to wait for a slot.