We want you to only pay for the time you actually spend playing. That's why Fern supports Wake on Connect—a feature that automatically starts up your stopped server the moment a player tries to join. No more opening the dashboard to hit "Start" every time someone wants to play.

How it Works

When your server is stopped and someone joins using your server address (endpoint) in Minecraft:

The Interception: Our routing tier catches the connection request.
The Wake-Up: We instantly spin up your server resources.
The Connection: The player is held for a moment while the server boots, then connected directly to the world.

This means you can keep your server stopped when idle, saving credits, without worrying about locking players out.

Why Combine with Idle Auto-Stop?

Wake on Connect is the perfect partner for Idle Auto-Stop.

When the last player logs off, your server automatically shuts down after your set idle limit (e.g., 15 minutes) to stop consuming credits.
When a player wants to join later, they simply connect in-game, and the server wakes back up automatically.
It enables a completely automated, hands-off experience where you only pay for active playtime.

Enabling or Disabling Wake on Connect

Wake on Connect is enabled by default for all new Java servers. You can toggle this setting anytime:

Open your server dashboard in Mission Control.
Go to Settings > Properties.
Locate the Wake on Connect toggle.
Toggle it on or off, then click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Limitations

[!IMPORTANT] Java Edition Only: Wake on Connect is currently only supported on Minecraft Java Edition server software (Vanilla, Paper, Fabric, Forge, etc.). Bedrock Dedicated servers do not support Wake on Connect at this time due to protocol differences.