A quick guide to joining your Palworld server and the quirks around the server list and passwords.
Server not showing up in the server list
Steam's master server list for Palworld is huge, and it can take 5–10 minutes for your server to propagate after a restart. If you can see player stats for your server in the control panel, that means querying is working and it's a 'valid' server that will eventually show up in the browser.
If you don't want to wait, just direct connect using your IP and port – that always works.
Note: console players (Xbox / PS5) can only find servers via the in-game community server browser, not by direct IP. Crossplay has been stable since v0.5.0 and is on by default across Steam, Xbox, PS5 and Mac.
Server password and direct connecting
Older versions of Palworld had a bug where joining a password-protected server via direct IP would throw you back to the main menu with "Incorrect password". That has since been fixed – if you're still seeing it, update your game through Steam and you'll be good.
To directly connect to your Palworld server, open the game, click the little checkbox next to the IP textbox, enter your password and connect.