CAD/MDT for FiveM: How to Set One Up and Keep It Running

Your FiveM server has cars, uniforms, an MLO for the station, and eleven scripts you forgot you installed. What it probably does not have is a working record of anything that happened last night.

That is the gap a CAD/MDT fills. Here is how to add one to a FiveM server, what connects to what, and where most communities go wrong.

Why FiveM Servers Run a CAD/MDT

The FiveM population is not small. Cfx.re reported a peak of 250,801 concurrent players across its projects, and FiveM cleared 200,000 concurrent players on Steam during 2025 as interest in Grand Theft Auto roleplay stayed high ahead of the next entry in the series. Take Two reported more than 215 million units of GTA V shipped by the close of its fiscal 2025.

Those numbers matter to you for one reason. Player expectations have moved. Someone who joins your server has probably played on a community running a full CAD, and a server that manages calls by typing in a Discord channel now reads as unfinished.

If you are new to the terminology, start with the breakdown of what a CAD/MDT system is and come back.

How a CAD/MDT Sits Alongside FiveM

It runs outside the game

The CAD is a web application. It stores your citizens, vehicles, warrants, calls, and units in a database that has nothing to do with your game server. Officers keep it open in a browser, usually on a second monitor or alt tabbed.

That separation is the point rather than a limitation. Your records survive a server restart, an artifacts update, or a full rebuild of your FiveM resources. Nothing in your server.cfg changes and nothing new competes for frames.

What that means in practice

You are not installing anything into the game, so there is no load order to get wrong, no NUI to break, and no script conflict to debug on the Cfx.re forums. Officers switch to the browser to run a plate, file a report, or update their status.

If you already run an in game dispatch script that throws alerts, the two coexist. Just decide which one owns the call queue, because two systems both claiming it produces duplicate alerts and a lot of annoyed officers.

Setting It Up Without Breaking Your Shift

Before your first patrol

Decide your departments and settle on four or five ranks, not fifteen. Get your roster in. That is genuinely most of it, because there is no server side install to plan around.

The first patrol

Run one shift with a small group and nothing else configured.

Watch what people fumble. Officers will tell you within twenty minutes which button they expected somewhere else. Fix those, then invite everyone.

Communities that ship a CAD in a weekend keep it. Communities that spend a month building the perfect report template usually never launch at all.

What Changes for Your Officers

The visible change is small. Alt tab, run a plate, mark yourself out on a stop, go back to driving. The workflow change underneath is larger.

Status becomes real. When an officer marks themselves out on a traffic stop, that state exists for everyone instead of scrolling past in a chat channel. Calls stop evaporating. A report filed on Monday is still searchable in March, so recurring characters develop actual histories instead of resetting every session.

Self dispatch when nobody is dispatching

Most FiveM servers have no dispatcher online most of the time. That is not a discipline problem, it is a supply problem. Dispatching is unglamorous and your volunteers want to drive.

So the system has to do it. PlateNet CAD/MDT routes calls automatically, which means it attaches an available unit to a call, honors priority so a pursuit outranks a noise complaint, marks units stale when they sit in one status too long, and lets any officer claim an unassigned call straight from the MDT. Self dispatch stops being improvised and starts behaving like a queue.

The full mechanics live in the automatic dispatch and call routing guide.

Common FiveM CAD/MDT Mistakes

Building too much before launch

Custom charge codes, twelve report types, a penal code you transcribed from a real statute book. None of that survives contact with a Friday night patrol. Launch with defaults and let your officers pull features out of you.

Ignoring the admin side

The CAD is a moderation tool as much as a roleplay tool. Audit logs tell you who deleted a warrant. Permission tiers keep a new cadet out of the records purge button. If your system makes those things hard to reach, your staff will not use them, and you lose the evidence trail exactly when you need it. The server administration guide covers how to set that up once and leave it alone.

Treating it as FiveM only

Plenty of communities run a FiveM server and a Roblox division and a Discord roleplay channel. Picking a system that only understands FiveM means rebuilding your roster three times. See running a CAD/MDT across roleplay platforms.

Planning only as far as the current game

Nobody knows what the next Grand Theft Auto release means for FiveM, and communities are quietly making bets about it. The decision that survives either outcome is keeping your roster and records outside the game client, which the guide to planning a community around GTA 6 works through.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a CAD/MDT a FiveM script?

No. PlateNet is a web application with its own database. Nothing goes into your resources folder and nothing changes in server.cfg. Officers use it in a browser alongside the game.

Does a CAD/MDT cause server lag?

Not one that runs outside the game. There is no resource on your server consuming a tick, so your frame times are exactly what they were before.

Can I run a CAD/MDT for free on FiveM?

Yes. Free tiers cover small communities well. You typically start paying when you need more members, deeper permission control, or custom branding.

Does a CAD/MDT work with QBCore or ESX?

Yes. A web based CAD does not depend on your framework at all, so it works alongside QBCore, ESX, or a custom base without touching any of them.

What happens if the CAD goes down mid patrol?

Your game server keeps running, because the two are completely separate. Roleplay continues, you just lose the record of anything that happened while it was down. Ask about uptime history before you migrate a large community.