Getting started

How Apex works

Licence checks, in-memory code, heartbeats and what happens when something goes wrong.

Loader + in-memory code#

The resource you install is only a small loader. When it starts:

It reads your key from apex.key (or the apex_key convar).
It downloads the anticheat code from apex-anticheat.com and runs it in memory. Nothing is written to disk.
The client part is sent to every player in small chunks when they join.

Because the code lives in memory, you always run the newest version and nobody can copy or edit the anticheat from your server files.

Every few seconds the server sends a heartbeat to Apex. It:

validates your licence,
delivers your dashboard settings (detections, whitelists, webhooks, staff) to the server,
sends live data back (players, positions, console, events),
picks up commands you give from the dashboard (kick, ban, restart a resource…).

Settings you change in the dashboard reach the server within seconds — no restart needed.

The dashboard shows Online with the Apex version when a heartbeat arrived recently, otherwise Offline.

Situation	What happens
Apex can't be reached when the resource starts	The loader retries for a while. If it still can't connect, run `restart ApexAC` once Apex is reachable again (check the status page).
Apex becomes unreachable while running	The resource keeps retrying; your server keeps running normally.
Invalid, expired or suspended licence	The console shows a red NO VALID LICENSE banner and the anticheat stays disabled.

Updates are released on our side. Your server picks them up the next time the resource starts (restart ApexAC or a server restart).