Browsing and installing Workshop mods
ARK: Survival Evolved has full Steam Workshop support built into the Mods tab — you don't need to touch the File Manager or upload anything by hand. Open the Mods tab, search or browse the Workshop catalog, and install mods directly.
- Go to your server's Mods tab.
- Search or browse the Workshop catalog for the mod you want.
- Click Install. Spawnly downloads the mod's files straight into your server's Workshop content folder.
- Restart the server so the game loads the newly-installed mod.
How installed mods are tracked
Spawnly doesn't keep a separate database of "your installed mods" — whatever's actually present in the server's Workshop content folder is what's running. Installing through the Mods tab and having files present on disk are the same thing from the game's point of view, which is also why removing a mod cleanly deletes it from that folder rather than just hiding it in a list somewhere.
Uninstalling a mod
From the Mods tab, find the mod in your installed list and choose Uninstall. Restart the server afterward — the mod's files are removed from the Workshop content folder and the game won't try to load it on the next boot.
Not the same on ARK: Survival Ascended
If you're used to ARK: Survival Ascended, note that it doesn't get this in-app Workshop browser — Ascended currently has no automated mod manager on Spawnly and mods have to be added manually. Survival Evolved's in-app flow described here is the more convenient of the two.
Next steps
See Installing Steam Workshop Mods for how this flow compares across other Workshop-enabled games, and set up Managing Backups & Restoring Your Server before installing anything that changes your world's balance or content.