TAB and scoreboards

Two of the fastest ways to make a server look run-well cost almost nothing: a tidy tab list (the player list you see holding Tab) with rank prefixes and a header, and a sidebar scoreboard showing live stats down the right of the screen. The TAB plugin does both, plus nametags and a bossbar, from one config. This guide gets you a clean result and explains the pieces so you can shape your own.

What TAB controls

TAB is a bundle of related display features, all edited from /plugins/TAB/:

You don't have to use all of it. Most servers want the tab list and the scoreboard, and leave the rest off.

A clean tab list

TAB's main file is /plugins/TAB/config.yml. Two pieces give you 90% of the result:

• Header and footer — a few lines of text above and below the player list. Server name, a website, an online-player count. These are global.
• Per-group prefix and suffix — TAB reads your permission groups (from LuckPerms) and lets you give each a tabprefix/tabsuffix, so admins show up with [Admin] in a color and members plainer.

Because TAB supports PlaceholderAPI, the header can show live values — %online% players, the time, a MOTD line. Install PlaceholderAPI first, test the placeholder with /papi parse me ..., then drop it into TAB's config.

🎯 Good to know: Rank prefixes in the tab list usually come from your permissions plugin, not from TAB directly — TAB reads the groups LuckPerms defines. Set your rank ladder up first (LuckPerms ranks) and TAB has something to sort and color.

A sidebar scoreboard

The scoreboard is a named objective shown on the right. In TAB you define a title and a list of lines, each line being text — often with placeholders — that updates live. A typical survival scoreboard:

Title:   MY SERVER
Line 1:  Player: %player_name%
Line 2:  Balance: $%vault_eco_balance%
Line 3:  Online: %online%

Each line is just a string in TAB's scoreboard config, and the values fill in via PlaceholderAPI per player. Keep it short — a handful of lines reads better than a cluttered wall.

⚠️ Heads up: TAB's config layout — file names, section names, whether the scoreboard lives in config.yml or its own file — has changed across major versions. The concepts above (header/footer, per-group prefixes, scoreboard title + lines) are stable; the exact keys are not. Follow the TAB wiki for your installed version rather than copying an old config wholesale.

The no-plugin option

If all you want is a quick sidebar and you'd rather not add a plugin, vanilla Minecraft has a built-in scoreboard system driven by the /scoreboard command (/scoreboard objectives add, then display it in the sidebar slot). It's fiddly and static compared to TAB, but it needs nothing installed. For anything with prefixes, sorting, or live per-player values, TAB is far less work.

Applying changes

After editing TAB's files, run /tab reload to apply without a full restart (or restart the server). Watch the console for TAB reporting a clean reload — a YAML typo will show up there, and the plugin configs guide covers reading those errors.

Verify it works

Join the server and hold Tab: your header, footer, and rank prefixes should be there, players sorted by rank. The scoreboard should sit on the right with its lines filled in — if a line shows a raw %placeholder%, that's a PlaceholderAPI issue, not a TAB one (check /papi list).

Troubleshooting

• Prefixes are missing or all the same — TAB pulls them from your permission groups; make sure LuckPerms has the groups and prefixes set, or define them in TAB's per-group section.
• Placeholders show as raw text — PlaceholderAPI isn't installed, or the expansion providing that value isn't loaded. See PlaceholderAPI.
• /tab reload throws an error — a YAML mistake in TAB's config. The console names the line; YAML without tears explains the common ones.
• Config keys don't match any guide — you're on a different TAB major version. Check the plugin's own wiki for your version; the concepts carry over, the keys don't.

Next steps

• PlaceholderAPI
• Building a rank ladder with LuckPerms
• Chat plugins