Set up EssentialsX Protect and AntiBuild

EssentialsX Protect and EssentialsX AntiBuild are two optional modules for EssentialsX on Paper and Purpur. Protect switches world behaviour on or off, such as creeper damage, fire spread and PvP. AntiBuild decides who may place and break blocks or use items. Neither one protects a region of the map, so for claimed plots use Set up WorldGuard on your Minecraft server.

Checked against EssentialsX 2.22.0, built for Minecraft 26.1.2, October 2026.

Install the modules

Both modules need the main EssentialsX plugin, and every EssentialsX jar should be the same version. Set up EssentialsX on your Minecraft server covers the core plugin.

1. Open Plugins, under Content in the panel menu, and search EssentialsX with Modrinth selected.
2. Click Install on EssentialsX, then on EssentialsX Protect, EssentialsX AntiBuild, or both.
3. Open Console and click Restart, or Start if the server is stopped.

If Install says there is no build for your Minecraft version, set Game version to Any version and install it. Watch the Console on the next start, because a build made for an older Minecraft may not load.

Switch world behaviour with Protect

Protect has no config file of its own. Its settings sit under the protect: heading in plugins/Essentials/config.yml, which you open in the File Manager. Under prevent:, a switch set to true stops that behaviour. These ship already on: fire-spread, lava-fire-spread, lightning-fire-spread and enderdragon-blockdamage. The rest ship off. For example:

protect:
  prevent:
    creeper-explosion: true
    tnt-explosion: true
  disable:
    pvp: true

• creeper-explosion: true stops creeper explosions completely.
• Under prevent:, spawn: holds one switch per mob, such as creeper: true, to stop that mob spawning.
• disable: holds damage and weather switches, including pvp, fall, drown and firedmg.
• With pvp: true, players who hold the essentials.protect.pvp permission can still fight each other.

Control building with AntiBuild

AntiBuild reads the same file. Two switches in it matter most, and both default to true: protect.disable.build and protect.disable.use. With them on, anyone without the essentials.build permission can neither build nor use items.

With LuckPerms, this console command lets everyone build:

lp group default permission set essentials.build true

Set up LuckPerms on your Minecraft server explains groups. For finer control, use nodes such as essentials.build.place.<material> and essentials.build.break.<material>.

Further down the file, these lists take Bukkit material names, separated by commas, from the Bukkit API Material list, which EssentialsX's own config.yml links:

• protect.blacklist.placement and protect.blacklist.usage: blocks nobody may place and items nobody may use. They default to LAVA,TNT,LAVA_BUCKET and LAVA_BUCKET.
• protect.alert.on-placement and protect.alert.on-use: staff with essentials.protect.alerts get a message when someone does it.
• protect.blacklist.break, piston and dispenser: blocks that cannot be broken, pushed by pistons or dispensed. They start empty.

Staff who must skip a blacklist can have essentials.protect.exemptplacement, essentials.protect.exemptbreak or essentials.protect.exemptusage.

Apply and test

1. Edit plugins/Essentials/config.yml and click Save.
2. Restart from the Console tab.
3. Join with an account that is not an operator, because operators hold essentials.build by default, and try the behaviour you changed.

If it does not work

• Nothing changes. The config says each section works only with its module installed. Check Installed in Plugins for EssentialsX Protect or EssentialsX AntiBuild.
• The Console says Essentials Protect is in emergency mode. The main EssentialsX plugin is missing or failed to load. Fix that first, then restart.
• The server fails to read the file. YAML breaks on tabs and uneven indentation. Find and fix YAML and JSON config errors shows how to find the line.