Install Minecraft plugins on Paper or Purpur

Plugins add commands, permissions, land protection, economies and minigames to a Paper or Purpur server. They run only on the server, so your players join with a normal copy of Minecraft and install nothing.

Before you start

1. Take a backup. A broken plugin can stop the server from starting. Create one in the Backups tab, as How to create and restore backups shows. Without a recent one, the store asks first (No backup yet).
2. Check the server runs Paper or Purpur. Those show a Plugins tab under Content in the panel menu. A Mods tab means a mod loader, and no tab means Vanilla. Switch in the JAR Manager (under More): see Change Minecraft server version or loader.

Install a plugin from the store

1. Open your server in the dashboard and select Plugins.

2. Type the plugin's name in the search box. Results come from Modrinth, and the version filter below the search box starts on your server's Minecraft version. EssentialsX (commands and homes), LuckPerms (permissions) and CoreProtect (rollback) are good first picks.

3. Click Install on the plugin's row. Its name links to its Modrinth page.

4. If a prompt lists add-ons the plugin needs, click Install all (it shows a count) to add them too. Upload any greyed-out name by hand: the store has no download for it.

5. When the message confirms the plugin is installed, open the Console tab and click Restart, or Start if the server is stopped. Plugins load only at startup.

6. Wait for the Done line, then type plugins into the console. Green names are running, red ones switched themselves off, and a missing name didn't load.

   

Manage the plugins you have

Click Installed next to the search box to list every plugin jar in the plugins folder, including ones you uploaded.

• Disable renames the jar to end in .disabled, so the server skips it. Enable switches it back on.
• The bin button deletes the jar after you click Confirm. The plugin's settings folder stays.

Restart from the Console tab to apply either change.

Update a plugin

The store has no update button, but reinstalling fetches the newest build that lists your Minecraft version. If the plugin's Modrinth page shows none, keep the one you have.

1. Take a backup in the Backups tab.
2. In Installed, click the plugin's bin button, then Confirm.
3. Click Store, find the plugin and click Install.
4. Restart from the Console tab. The plugin's folder stays, so your settings carry over.

Upload a plugin that isn't in the store

Some plugins aren't on Modrinth. Add those by hand.

1. From the plugin's official page, get the .jar built for Paper, Spigot or Bukkit on your Minecraft version.

2. In the File Manager, double-click the plugins folder. If it isn't there, start the server once to create it.

3. Delete any older jar of the same plugin, so the server doesn't find two copies.

4. Click Upload and pick the jar, or drag it onto the file list.

   

5. Restart from the Console tab and check it with plugins.

Change a plugin's settings

On its first start, a plugin usually creates a folder named after itself inside plugins, with a config.yml in it.

1. Stop the server from the Console tab. Some plugins save their settings on shutdown and would overwrite your edit.
2. In the File Manager, open plugins/<PluginName> and double-click config.yml.
3. Make your change and click Save.
4. Start the server. When the Console shows the Done line with no error naming the plugin, the change is live.

Apply changes with a restart rather than the reload command, which Paper warns can leave plugins broken.

If a plugin breaks the server

1. In the Console tab, scroll up to the first error. The lines around it usually name the plugin.
2. In Plugins, click Installed and Disable that plugin. This works while the server is stopped. If the list is empty or won't load, delete the plugin's jar from plugins in the File Manager.
3. Start the server and wait for the Done line.
4. If it still fails, restore your backup from the Backups tab.

Common plugin errors

• Unknown/missing dependency plugins - install the plugin named in the brackets, then restart.
• Unsupported API version - the plugin was built for a newer Minecraft version. Install does this when Modrinth has no build that lists yours: it fetches the newest build instead. Upload a build for your version, or update the server in the JAR Manager.
• No plugin file is available when you click Install - Modrinth has no Paper, Purpur, Spigot, Bukkit or Folia download for that plugin. Pick another plugin, or upload one by hand.