Hosting a server for friends

What a small community server will require and what is already known about it

Warning

The server tools are not released and the protocol is not designed. This page holds only what is already decided

What you will need

The server tools. They will be open source, under MIT. It is the same code the official server runs. You can build your server on these tools or on anything based on them
The full build of the game for everyone who connects. Builds from Google Play and the App Store cannot connect to community servers. The full build is on GitHub and on the project's site
A publishing profile. A PublishProfile file decides which levels your server accepts. More - Publish profiles
A machine for the server. The system requirements, the runtime, the ports and the way to start it are not known yet

The profile sets which licenses are accepted, where a level may fetch files from and how large it may be. No code has to change for that

The official server runs the standard preset, set in its server config. Start from it and loosen or tighten it to suit you

Moderation. The developers do not moderate community servers. The EULA of the full build tells every player so
No commercial use. A level is licensed under CC BY-NC by default, and its author may pick another license. Follow each level's own license. A CC BY-NC level may be hosted and shared for free, but you may not charge for it or earn from it in any other way
Rights to the resources. A level can carry other people's music and images. How strictly to check that is up to your profile. But a complaint about someone's work will come to you. The rules of the official server - Licensing policy for user levels

The permission to share non-commercially comes from each level's author, not from the game. So the developers cannot grant an exception

What already exists for a larger server - Running and extending a public server