Should you use PermissionsEx on Minecraft?
PermissionsEx has had no release for years. See where it stands and how to move your groups and permissions across to LuckPerms.
PermissionsEx, often called PEX, is a permissions plugin for Minecraft servers. The project has not published a release for years. This guide explains where it stands, why we do not walk through setting it up, and how to move an existing PEX setup to LuckPerms.
Checked against PermissionsEx 1.23.4 (January 2016) and LuckPerms 5.5.88, October 2026.
Where PermissionsEx stands
- PEX 1.x. The last stable release, 1.23.4, is from January 2016.
- PEX 2.x. This is a rewrite. Its own documentation says there has never been a release of the 2.x branch, only development builds from a build server, and that the documentation is unfinished. The default branch of the repository last changed in April 2021, and GitHub marks the repository as archived.
- Other plugins. EssentialsX lists PermissionsEx as an unsupported permissions plugin and recommends LuckPerms.
As of October 2026 a search of the tab's Modrinth, Hangar and CurseForge sources finds no PermissionsEx listing. The old BukkitDev page for the project says PermissionsEx 1.23 is currently unsupported and points to LuckPerms. The GitHub button could take the 2016 jar, but we have not tested it on a current server and do not recommend building a new setup on it.
What to use instead
Use LuckPerms. It is maintained, installs from the Plugins tab in a few clicks, and covers the same ground: groups, inheritance, prefixes, temporary permissions and per-world rules. Follow Set up LuckPerms on your Minecraft server. For chat tags, add Add chat prefixes with LuckPerms. Neither PEX nor LuckPerms draws prefixes in chat itself, so a chat plugin stays part of the setup either way.
Starting fresh
If you have no PEX data to keep, skip the migration. Install LuckPerms, create each rank with lp creategroup <name>, and put players in it with lp user <name> parent add <group>. The LuckPerms guide above walks through both.
If you already have PEX data
LuckPerms can import it, but only while PermissionsEx still starts properly. The LuckPerms wiki says the migration will not work if the old setup is broken.
- Install LuckPerms and leave PermissionsEx in place.
- Download
luckperms-migration-permissionsex.jarfrom the LuckPerms migration page on your computer and upload it to thepluginsfolder with the File Manager. - Restart from the Console tab (use Start there if the server is stopped).
- In the Console, run
migrate-permissionsex. LuckPerms reports progress and tells you when it is done. - Stop the server, delete the PermissionsEx jar and the migration jar from
plugins, and start it again.
If PEX will not load, set up your groups again in LuckPerms by hand. The wiki's migration notes list the equivalent commands, and the few you will use most are:
Run only one permissions plugin. The LuckPerms wiki says it has to be the only one on the server, except during a migration. Create a backup on the Backups tab before you start.
The migration only covers the Bukkit and Spigot version of PermissionsEx, and the LuckPerms wiki says it is not perfect. Check your groups with lp listgroups afterwards.
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Related guides
Set up LuckPerms on your Minecraft server
Install LuckPerms on Paper or Purpur from the Plugins tab, give yourself access, build a first rank and use the web editor and storage settings.
Add chat prefixes with LuckPerms
Show rank prefixes in chat: set them with LuckPerms, add Vault and EssentialsX Chat, format the chat line and fix prefixes that do not show.
Set up WorldEdit on your Minecraft server
Install WorldEdit on Paper or Purpur, give yourself permission and make a first edit with the wand, set, replace, copy, paste and undo.
