This category is a set of per-plugin guides for the plugins nearly every Minecraft server ends up running — permissions, protection, economy, world editing, crossplay. This page is the map. It covers what a plugin actually is, the one thing your server needs before any of them will load, and the install-configure-restart loop that every guide here takes for granted so it doesn't have to repeat it.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| You need | A plugin-capable Minecraft server (Purpur, PaperSpigot, or another Plugin Servers option) |
| Plan | Any — everything in this category works on the free plan |
| Start here | Install Minecraft plugins |
What a plugin is
A plugin is a small .jar file that adds features to your server — homes and warps, land claims, ranks, mini-games, moderation tools. Plugins run on the server only; the people joining you don't download or install anything, they just see the new commands and behaviour.
That's the key difference from mods. Mods change the game itself and every player needs the matching mod installed to join. Plugins are server-side and invisible to the client. If you want mods instead, that's a different setup — see Mods and modpacks.
What "plugin-capable software" means
Plugins only load on Bukkit-family server software — the Spigot and Paper lineage. In your server's Version Changer that's the Plugin Servers group:
| Software | When to pick it |
|---|---|
| PaperSpigot | The modern standard — fast, and what most plugins are tested against |
| Purpur | Paper plus extra config knobs; a great default |
| Pufferfish / Leaf | Paper forks tuned harder for performance on busy servers |
| Spigot | The classic base — widest compatibility, fewer performance tools |
Vanilla and the mod loaders (Forge, Fabric, Quilt, NeoForge) cannot run plugins. If your server is on one of those, switch first with the software guide. If you're not sure, Purpur or PaperSpigot are the safe picks.
⚠️ Heads up: On Vanilla or a mod loader, plugins silently do nothing — they never even load. Confirm your software is in the Plugin Servers group before you install anything.
Installing is one flow — learn it once
Every guide in this category assumes you already know how to get a plugin onto your server. You do it from the panel's built-in Plugins page: search Modrinth, CurseForge, Hangar, and Spigot at once, press Install, and Falix drops the .jar into your /plugins folder — no file to download or upload. The full click-by-click walkthrough is one page:
Read that once. The rest of this category is about which plugins to run and how to use them, not how to click Install.
The loop every plugin follows
Once you know the install flow, working with any plugin is the same four-step rhythm:
- Install it from the Plugins page.
- Restart the server (Console page → Restart). Minecraft only reads
/pluginsat startup, so nothing happens until you do. - Configure it. On that first restart the plugin creates its settings folder at
/plugins/<PluginName>/, usually with aconfig.ymlinside. Open it in the File Manager editor and change what you want. - Restart again to apply your changes.
Every guide here names the exact config file and the two-to-four settings a beginner actually touches — you don't need to read all ninety lines of a config to get going.
💡 Tip: Add plugins one at a time — install, restart, confirm it loaded cleanly, test it in-game, then move to the next. When something breaks you'll know exactly which plugin did it, instead of untangling forty configs at once.
The golden rules
- One at a time. (Worth saying twice.)
- Read the console. After a restart, run
/plugins(or/pl) in the console or in-game. A plugin listed in green loaded cleanly; red means it failed. - Back up before big changes. A quick backup before you install a protection or permissions plugin turns "I broke everything" into a two-minute restore.
- Match your Minecraft version. Plugins target specific versions. When one won't enable, a version mismatch is the first thing to check.
Map of this category
Here's what each guide covers and the rough order to tackle them. The first two are the foundation almost everything else builds on.
| Guide | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| EssentialsX | Homes, warps, spawn, kits, /msg — the commands players expect |
| LuckPerms basics | Permissions: who can run which commands |
| Building a rank ladder | Ranks from default → member → mod → admin |
| CoreProtect | Log block changes and roll back grief |
| WorldEdit | Build and terraform fast |
| WorldGuard | Protect regions like spawn |
| Vault + economy | How money and plugins connect |
| ViaVersion | Let players on newer clients join |
For an opinionated shortlist of what to install and why, Essential plugins is the companion to this whole category.
Where to start
Install LuckPerms and EssentialsX first, in that order. LuckPerms gets you an admin rank so you can actually use everything else; EssentialsX gives players the day-to-day commands they expect. Everything else in the map above you can add later, when you have a reason to.
Troubleshooting
- A plugin doesn't appear in
/plugins— you probably didn't restart, or your software isn't plugin-capable. Re-check the software guide. - A plugin shows red in the list — it failed to load. Read the console from the top; the usual causes are a version mismatch or a missing dependency plugin (the console names it).
- A config change did nothing — YAML is picky, and you have to restart to apply. See Install plugins for the edit-restart loop, and always keep indentation as spaces, never tabs.
- You don't know what a setting does — every plugin documents its own config. When a guide here says "check the plugin's current docs", it means the plugin's own official page, because those details change between versions.