Lock chests with LocketteX on Minecraft

LocketteX locks chests, other containers, doors, gates and trapdoors with a sign. A player puts a sign with a tag on the first line next to the block, and from then on only that player, and anyone they add, can open it.

Checked against LocketteX 1.8.0, the latest release on its SpigotMC page (May 2023), whose page lists tested versions up to 1.20, October 2026.

Check your version first

LocketteX has not had an update since May 2023. Its start-up code reads the server version from the name of the CraftBukkit package, and Paper stopped versioning that package in Minecraft 1.20.5. In a test on Paper 26.3 the plugin stopped with an error when it started. Purpur is based on Paper, so on Paper or Purpur 1.20.5 and newer the package name has no version either and the same code fails the same way.

So on a current server, use a maintained plugin instead. Bolt, described on its Hangar page as a protection plugin for individual blocks and entities, lists Paper 1.20.6 to 26.2 for version 1.2.22. Search for it on Hangar in the Plugins tab. The rest of this guide is for a server you are keeping on Minecraft 1.20.4 or older.

What you need

• Paper or Purpur on Minecraft 1.20.4 or older. Change the version in JAR Manager (see Change your Minecraft version or mod loader); that reinstalls the server with the selected jar. The world is kept, but configuration files may be reset, so take a backup first.
• Nothing else. Vault, Towny, GriefPrevention, WorldGuard and several claim plugins are optional hooks.

Install it

The plugin's page is on SpigotMC, which the Plugins tab does not search, so install the jar by hand.

1. Download the jar from the plugin's SpigotMC page.
2. Open File Manager, go into the plugins folder and click Upload files.
3. Use Restart on the Console tab, then check the Installed view of the Plugins tab.

Protect a chest

1. Place a chest or double chest.
2. Put a sign on one side with [Protect] on the first line.
3. The sign recolours itself and shows your name, and the chest is locked to you.

/protect is the short name for /lockettex. While you look at your protection sign, /protect add <player> gives that player access and /protect remove <player> takes it away. /protect reload reloads the config. Players need lockettex.create to make protections, and lockettex.admin lets someone open any protected block. The plugin does not set a default for either permission, so Bukkit leaves them to operators and on a fresh install only operators can create protections: a player who writes [Protect] on a sign without lockettex.create has the sign broken. Grant lockettex.create to your players with a permissions plugin such as LuckPerms (see Set up LuckPerms on your Minecraft server), or set Permissions.ignore-creation-permission to true in config.yml to let everyone protect.

Configuration

The plugin writes config.yml and messages.yml into plugins/LocketteX. Options worth checking:

• GeneralSettings.enabled-worlds lists world, world_nether and world_the_end by default. If your world folder has another name (the World folder setting in the Config Editor), add it, or signs there will do nothing.
• GeneralSettings.use-economy and price-creation. When Vault and an economy plugin are installed, every protection charges the player price-creation, 500 by default. Set use-economy to false to make protections free.
• GeneralSettings.shift-click-with-sign-to-protect and only-owner-can-break-sign change how protecting and breaking work.
• GeneralSettings.protect-from-hoppers.enabled stops hoppers pulling items out of protected containers. Its comment warns of a performance cost and says it only works when the inventory move event for hoppers is enabled in the Spigot configuration.
• GeneralSettings.protect-from-explosions and Expiration.enabled with disable-protection-after-x-days cover explosions and old protections.
• SignSettings.sign-id-line is the tag, [Protect] by default.

Edit the files in File Manager, then run protect reload in the Console.

Common problems

• Signs do nothing. Check enabled-worlds and the tag on the first line.
• The plugin is missing from the Installed view. Read the Console for an error at start, and check the Minecraft version against the section above.
• Old signs stopped working. The Spigot page warns not to change the owner line number after signs exist.