Hosting and joining: a code is all it takes.

Before you start

• Everyone must be on the same version of the game. A friend on an older build is refused.
• Online play is for players aged 13 and over. For a younger player, the Play with friends button is never shown.
• Give your name in the Online tab. A blank name shows as Explorer.

Opening your world to friends

1. Press Esc to open the pause menu, then choose the Online tab.
2. Type your name, if you want a different one, then under Host click Open this world.
3. The game gets a code and shows it in large letters. Click Copy code to copy it, or Copy invite link to copy a link that opens the game straight into your world.
4. Send the code or link to your friends.

You can also open your world from the Together screen (press F2, or use the Together button in the pause menu), on the Friends tab, with Open this world to friends.

While your world is open, the list under In your world shows who is in. Click Remove beside a friend to send them out. Close your world ends the session for everyone. Keep the game running while friends play; it can be in another tab or window.

Joining a friend

There are two ways in:

• Type the code. In the pause menu's Online tab, type the code into the Join box, or use the on-screen keypad on a controller. Click Join when all six letters are in. The code is shown as ABC-DEF.
• Open the invite link. It starts the game and takes you straight into the friend's world.

Joining takes you to their world. Your own world is saved first and waits for you when you leave. To leave a friend's world, open the Online tab and choose Leave.

The code letters avoid look-alikes: there is no 0, O, 1 or I in a code.

Joining again later

The game remembers everyone you have played with, on this device, by name only. Those list in the Friends tab of the Together screen. There is no list of who is online. Star the people who are your real friends, and click Join beside a friend to use the code they gave you last time. That code works only while their world is still open.

To play again, one of you opens a world and the other joins with its code.

How many can play

The host can have eight friends in the world, nine players in all, counting the host. The Together party also holds nine. A friend who tries to join a full world is told the game is full.

When someone leaves

• A friend leaves: their player is kept by name. When they come back to your world, they find their bag and their things again.
• You close the world, or leave it: everyone who joined goes back to their own world, and is told the party has ended.
• A friend is removed: they are told they were removed, and go back to their own world.
• The connection is lost: the game says so in words, and the player goes back to their own world.

The mode and the rules

The host sets the world's game mode. A friend's Game mode choice is greyed out, and shows that the host sets it. See Game modes.

For what is shared in the world, and how parties, trades and pets work between players, see What is shared in a shared world.

Tips

• Send the invite link, not just the code: it saves your friend a step.
• If a friend cannot join, check that you are both on the same version, and that your world is still open.
• Agree on a mode before you start. Only the host can change it.

← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.