ArchiSteamFarm: multi-account Steam card farming without the Steam client

The problem ASF solves: cards from many accounts, no Steam client

Steam trading cards drop while a game is running. Collecting them by hand means launching each game, leaving it open, and repeating that per account. The README contrasts ArchiSteamFarm with Idle Master directly: Idle Master "works only for one account at given time", requires the Steam client running in the background, and launches additional processes that imitate a game-playing status. ASF takes a different route. The README states it does not require any Steam client running in the background, does not launch additional processes, and is built to handle unlimited Steam accounts at once. It is also aimed at servers and other desktop-less machines, with cross-OS support for any operating system with a .NET Core runtime, naming Windows, Linux and macOS.

The audience follows from that. If you have one account and a desktop, the Steam client is already there and the friction ASF removes does not exist for you. ASF is for people running several accounts on a machine that has no desktop session, where installing the Steam client per account is not practical. The README also notes the project is possible thanks to SteamKit2, the library that handles the Steam network protocol, so ASF is speaking to Steam's servers directly rather than driving a client.

How ASF works: bots, config files and a plugin host

ASF automatically farms available games with card drops using any number of active accounts, built on the SteamKit2 library. The README describes the algorithm as flexible and "pushing the performance to the maximum while still allowing a lot of customization".

One setting worth understanding before you configure anything is offline farming. The README lists it as a core feature: it lets you skip in-game status so your friends do not see a fake playing status. That is a visible trade-off rather than a free option, because the account's public presence changes depending on which mode you pick.

Beyond farming, the repository layout shows the scope of the project. ArchiSteamFarm.OfficialPlugins.MobileAuthenticator, ItemsMatcher, Monitoring and SteamTokenDumper sit alongside a custom plugin example and a periodic garbage-collection example. ASF-ui is a separate module whose assets the Dockerfile builds with npm, and the README points to a hosted ConfigGenerator for building config files in a browser. The README states ASF includes a plugin system so anyone can extend it, and that it can also be used as a Steam authenticator or chat logger. The Dockerfile confirms which plugins ship in the container image by default: the PLUGINS_BUNDLED variable lists ItemsMatcher, MobileAuthenticator and SteamTokenDumper, which is a concrete answer to the common question of whether a given plugin is included or must be added.

Installing ASF and running your first bot

The README does not carry install steps; it points to the wiki and to the releases page for downloads. The repository also contains a Dockerfile and a Dockerfile.Service, and the README's badge links point at the justarchi/archisteamfarm image on Docker Hub, so a container is one supported path. Because ASF is a .NET application, the wiki is the place to check which runtime build matches your platform.

The README does not reproduce a config example; it links a hosted ConfigGenerator and the wiki's setting-up guide for building configuration.

The README describes a complex error-reporting mechanism and reliability during Steam issues and networking quirks. If you are running the container, the Dockerfile builds the ASF-ui assets with npm and the .NET SDK image in separate stages, so the image you pull already contains the web UI files.

One thing to check before your first run: the ConfigGenerator at justarchinet.github.io/ASF-WebConfigGenerator is linked from the README badges.

Ban risk, safety and what the README actually promises

The honest answer is narrower than either side of the argument suggests. The README states a "Guarantee of being VAC-free". VAC is Valve's anti-cheat system; the README pairs the claim with a focus on security and privacy and notes that ASF launches no additional processes. That is a statement about VAC specifically, made by the project about its own behaviour.

The README does not make a claim about account bans arising from card farming, and it does not document a rollback path if an account is restricted. Anyone telling you the tool is risk-free is going beyond what the project says. The decision to run it is yours, not something the README resolves.

What you can verify from the repository is the mechanism. ASF logs in through SteamKit2 and reports a playing status; it does not run the games. The offline farming feature exists partly so that status is not visible to friends. If a visible playing status is unacceptable for an account, that setting is the relevant one to read about in the wiki before you start.

Where ASF is the wrong tool

The clearest case is a single account on a desktop where the Steam client is already installed. The README's own comparison makes this explicit: Idle Master requires the client and works one account at a time, and for one account that trade-off may be perfectly acceptable. ASF's advantage is scale and headlessness, and neither applies.

A second case is anyone who wants a graphical setup wizard. ASF setup is covered by the wiki rather than a wizard. The repository includes ASF-ui and the README links a hosted ConfigGenerator, which soften this. If editing config files is a barrier, this is the wrong project for you.

A third case is expectation mismatch around the plugin system. The README says anybody can extend ASF through plugins, which is true, but the bundled set in the container image is fixed by the Dockerfile's PLUGINS_BUNDLED variable. If you need a plugin outside that set, you are building or sourcing it yourself, and the repository's example plugin directories are the starting point rather than a catalogue.

Finally, if you need a guarantee about account standing beyond the VAC statement, ASF cannot give you one. No amount of configuration changes that.

ArchiSteamFarm versus Idle Master and other alternatives

The README names Idle Master as the comparison point, and the difference is architectural rather than cosmetic. Idle Master drives the Steam client on a desktop, one account at a time, spawning processes to imitate playing. ASF speaks the Steam network protocol through SteamKit2, needs no client, and handles many accounts in one process. That is why ASF runs on a Linux server and Idle Master does not.

The cost of that architecture is configuration surface. If your problem is one account on your own PC, Idle Master's approach is simpler and its requirement of a running Steam client is not a burden. If your problem is ten accounts on a VPS, the client-based approach does not scale to it at all.

For the plugin angle, the repository contains both official plugins and custom plugin examples, and the README states a plugin system exists. That matters if your use case goes past farming into authenticator or chat logging duties, which the README lists as features ASF already includes.

Maintenance, releases and the Apache-2.0 licence

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-11-02. Recent releases are close together: 6.3.11.7 on 2026-10-25, 6.3.11.6 on 2026-10-21, and 6.3.11.5 on 2026-10-21. That release cadence matters for a tool that talks to a third-party service, because Steam changes its side of the protocol and a client library like SteamKit2 has to follow. A project that stopped shipping would eventually stop logging in.

Upgrade cost is mostly the release cadence itself. The version numbers show patch releases arriving within days of each other, so pinning to a specific build and reading the release notes before jumping is the low-effort approach. The README does not document a rollback procedure, so if you run a container, keeping the previous image tag is your own responsibility.

The licence is Apache-2.0, which is a permissive licence that generally allows commercial and private use, modification and redistribution, with conditions around notices and, in the patent clause, an explicit patent grant. This is not legal advice; if you plan to redistribute a modified ASF or ship it inside a product, read LICENSE.txt in the repository and get proper advice. The README also links to Crowdin for localization, so translations are contributed separately from the code.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt ArchiSteamFarm if you run several Steam accounts on a headless Linux box or server and want card drops collected without a Steam client, and if you are comfortable configuring it using the wiki and the ConfigGenerator. Do not adopt it if you want a one-account desktop tool with a graphical wizard, or if you expect a guarantee about account safety: the README states a guarantee of being VAC-free, not a guarantee that Valve will never act on farming accounts. Before committing, verify the current release on the releases page, read the wiki section on the farming algorithm and the offline farming setting, and test with a single bot account before adding the rest.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. JustArchiNET/ArchiSteamFarm on GitHub
3. License: Apache-2.0
4. README
5. Releases