Live player count integration

01 Add the endpoint to your listing

On your listing edit page, enter a publicly reachable HTTPS URL in Live player count URL. C.O.P.S. checks it in the background approximately every two minutes and keeps the last valid result only for a short freshness window.

The endpoint must not require authentication headers or cookies. Test the URL directly in a browser or with a simple HTTP client before adding it to C.O.P.S.

02 JSON response

Use this when your server or database query produces a count:

<?php

// Replace this with the query used by your server/database.
$playersOnline = 42;

header('Content-Type: application/json');

echo json_encode([
    'players_online' => (int) $playersOnline
]);

Expected response:

{"players_online":42}

Other JSON fields are allowed and ignored. The count must be the top-level players_online value.

03 Plain number response

The endpoint can return only the integer instead:

<?php

// Replace this with the query used by your server/database.
$playersOnline = 42;

header('Content-Type: text/plain');

echo (int) $playersOnline;

Expected response:

42

04 Response rules

• HTTPS is required and the endpoint must be publicly reachable by C.O.P.S.
• The accepted range is 0–9999; zero is a valid count.
• Plain-text responses must contain only the integer, apart from surrounding whitespace.
• Do not output HTML, debugging messages, warnings, labels, floats, or other text.
• Do not require authentication headers or cookies.
• Temporary failures result in an unknown live count rather than being treated as zero.

For example, 42 players, <b>42</b>, 42.0, and an HTML page are not valid responses.