Edit bukkit.yml, spigot.yml and Paper config

Paper keeps its settings in several YAML files, and none of them appear in the Config Editor, which only edits server.properties. You change them by opening the file in the File Manager. This guide shows where each file lives, how to edit one safely and which settings belong where.

Checked against Paper 26.3, October 2026.

Which servers have these files

They belong to Paper. Folia is a Paper fork and Purpur is built on top of Paper, so look for the same files on them. On a new server, start it once and refresh the File Manager, and they will be there. On Vanilla, use the Config Editor instead (Minecraft server.properties explained).

Where the files are

From Minecraft 26.1 each dimension has its own paper-world.yml. Older versions kept it in the folder of each world.

Edit a file safely

1. Open the Backups tab and press Create backup. Create and restore backups has the steps.
2. Open the File Manager, double-click the file, or select it and press Edit.
3. Change one value at a time. YAML cares about spaces, so keep the indentation exactly as it is and never use tab characters.
4. Press Save. A dot beside the file name means there are unsaved changes.
5. Press Restart on the Console tab. Paper's documentation tells you to restart rather than use /reload, which it deprecates for removal.

Paper does have /paper reload for its own files, but the documentation calls it unsupported, and it does not reload spigot.yml, so a restart is the dependable way.

If the server will not start after an edit, read the Console for the error, then undo your change. Find and fix YAML and JSON config errors helps with a bad indent.

Examples of what lives where

Defaults below are from Paper's own documentation.

• bukkit.yml: settings.allow-end: true loads The End. spawn-limits.monsters: 70 caps how many monsters spawn. ticks-per.autosave: 6000 is the time between full saves, and -1 turns autosave off.
• spigot.yml: under world-settings.default, mob-spawn-range: 8 is how many chunks from a player mobs can spawn, and item-despawn-rate: 6000 is how many ticks a dropped item lasts. view-distance: default takes the value from server.properties.
• config/paper-global.yml: collisions.enable-player-collisions: true lets players collide with each other.
• config/paper-world-defaults.yml: anticheat.anti-xray.enabled: false is the switch behind Stop X-ray cheating on your server, and chunks.delay-chunk-unloads-by: 10s delays chunk unloads by ten seconds.

A brand new server writes paper-world-defaults.yml on its first start with optimize-explosions: false. When the file already exists at install time, our installer sets optimize-explosions: true in it on Paper, Purpur and Folia.

Change one world only

For one world or dimension, put the option in that dimension's paper-world.yml, repeating only the keys you change. Paper's documentation says not to copy the whole defaults file. In spigot.yml, add a key under world-settings named after the world's folder, as in world-settings.survival for a folder called survival.