Set up OpenInv on your Minecraft server

OpenInv lets staff open another player's inventory or ender chest as a chest screen, even when that player is offline, and edit what is inside. It is a plugin, so it runs on Paper or Purpur and installs from the Plugins tab.

Checked against OpenInv 5.3.5, which lists Paper 1.21.11 and 26.1.2 to 26.3 on its Modrinth page, October 2026.

What you need

• A Paper or Purpur server. Vanilla servers have no Plugins tab, so switch software in JAR Manager first (see Change your Minecraft version or mod loader).
• A Minecraft version the plugin lists. OpenInv builds are tied to specific Minecraft versions, so the Game version filter in the Plugins tab, which starts on your server's version, matters here.

Install it

1. Open the Plugins tab and leave the Modrinth button selected. The plugin is also on Hangar.
2. Search for OpenInv and click Install.
3. Restart from the Console tab with Restart.
4. Type plugins in the Console. OpenInv should be listed.

Give yourself access

Operators hold OpenInv's permissions by default. The master node openinv declares no default in the plugin's plugin.yml, so Bukkit gives it to operators only, and it grants the other nodes, apart from access levels 2 to 4 and the equal-access overrides. To make yourself an operator, open the Players tab, choose Operators and click Make operator, or run op <name> in the Console (see Whitelist players and set operators). For other staff, use a permissions plugin such as LuckPerms.

The master node is openinv, and every other node sits under it. Grant openinv.inventory.edit instead of its two child nodes, for example.

Commands

These run in the game, since they open a screen for you:

• /openinv [player] opens a player's inventory. Aliases: /oi, /inv, /open.
• /openender [player] opens an ender chest. Alias: /oe.
• /clearinv [player] and /clearender [player] clear one. You must type the exact name.
• /searchinv <material> [minAmount] lists online players holding an item. /searchender does the same for ender chests.
• /silentcontainer opens containers without the animation or sound. /anycontainer opens containers that a cat or a block is blocking. Both take on, off or check.

The inventory screen mirrors the player's. The first four rows are the main inventory with the hotbar at the bottom. The last row holds armour from the helmet on the left, then the off hand, then slots that drop items as if the player had dropped them.

Permissions worth setting

• openinv.inventory.open.self and openinv.inventory.open.other allow viewing. openinv.inventory.edit.self and .other allow editing. A staff member with only the open nodes gets a read-only view.
• openinv.enderchest.open.other and openinv.enderchest.edit.other do the same for ender chests.
• openinv.access.offline lets someone open offline players. openinv.access.online and openinv.access.crossworld cover online players and players in other worlds.
• openinv.access.level.1 to .4 rank staff. Someone can open players of a lower level than their own. For equal levels, the settings.equal-access option in plugins/OpenInv/config.yml decides: allow, deny or view. The default is allow.

The wiki warns that Bukkit has no permissions for offline players, so do not grant openinv.access.offline to anyone you want to restrict.

Settings

plugins/OpenInv/config.yml is short. settings.disable-offline-access is false by default. settings.command.open.no-args-opens-self is false. settings.command.searchcontainer.max-radius is 10. Edit the file in the File Manager, then restart. OpenInv's plugin.yml lists no reload command.

Common problems

• No permission. Check that you hold one of the open nodes for the target, .self or .other.
• You cannot edit. You have the open node but not the edit node.
• The plugin does not load. Version 5.3.5 lists 1.21.11 and 26.1.2 to 26.3. A server on another version needs a build that lists it, which you can find on the plugin's Modrinth page.