Set up WorldEdit on your Minecraft server

WorldEdit is an in-game map editor. You mark a region with two clicks, then fill it, replace blocks in it, copy it or undo the last change, all from chat commands. It runs on Paper and Purpur servers. This guide installs it, gives you permission to use it and walks through a first edit.

Checked against WorldEdit 7.4.6 on Paper 26.3, October 2026.

What you need

• A server on Paper (or Purpur, which is built on Paper). WorldEdit also has Fabric and NeoForge builds, which install from the Mods tab instead.
• Operator status or a permissions plugin. By default nobody can use WorldEdit until you grant access.

Install it

1. Open Plugins in the Content group of the left rail.
2. Search WorldEdit with the Modrinth button selected. Hangar lists the EngineHub build too.
3. Click Install on the WorldEdit row.
4. Restart from the Console tab (use Start there if the server is stopped), then type plugins. WorldEdit should be green.

Give yourself permission

The WorldEdit Quick Start says to make yourself an operator. In the panel, open Players under Essentials, choose the Operators tab and click Make operator. Or run op YourName in the Console.

If you use LuckPerms, grant the wildcard instead:

lp user YourName permission set worldedit.* true

Your first edit

Many WorldEdit commands start with two slashes. Run them in game, because selections belong to a player.

1. Type //wand to get the wand, a wooden axe by default.
2. Left click one corner block and right click the opposite corner. Or stand on a block and type //pos1, then move and type //pos2.
3. Fill the region: //set sandstone. Swap one block for another: //replace sandstone dirt. Clear it with //set air.
4. Undo with //undo. A number undoes that many, as in //undo 5.

To copy a build, select it, type //copy, walk to the new spot and type //paste. The copy lands relative to where you stood when you copied it, so copy a castle from the top of its wall and it pastes underneath you. For saving builds to files, see Load a schematic in WorldEdit on Minecraft.

Settings

The config is plugins/WorldEdit/config.yml. A few entries worth knowing:

• limits.max-blocks-changed.default is -1, meaning no limit. Set a number to cap how many blocks one edit can change.
• history.size is 15, the number of actions you can undo.
• saving.dir is schematics, the folder for saved builds.

Restart after you change the file. WorldEdit also has a /worldedit reload command, which needs the worldedit.reload permission.

Large edits

The WorldEdit FAQ estimates about 1 GB for the server plus 2 GB for every ten million blocks edited. Your memory follows your plan and cannot be raised with startup flags here, so keep big edits to a few million blocks at a time and set a limit as above.

Common problems

• Commands do nothing or say you lack permission. Grant worldedit.* or operator status, then try //wand again.
• Edits report 0 blocks changed. A global mask is left over. Clear it with //gmask.
• Signs and chests come out empty. Setting block data needs the worldedit.setnbt permission.
• A block will not place. Some blocks are on the disallowed list in the config. The worldedit.anyblock permission overrides it.