Start a Minecraft Parkour server

A Parkour server gives players courses to run. This guide uses Parkour by A5H73Y, a free, open-source plugin that has been maintained since 2012, to build a lobby and a first course on a Paper server. The plugin describes itself as tracking times and deaths on a leaderboard and rewarding players who complete a course. For an endless random course instead, see the Infinite Parkour guide.

Checked against Parkour 7.2.8 on Paper 26.2, October 2026.

What you need

• A Paper server on Minecraft 26.2. The plugin's page lists versions from 1.10 up to 26.2, and it runs on Paper, Purpur and Spigot.
• A world used for parkour. The plugin's guide recommends a dedicated world, although it supports several worlds.

Switch to Paper

In JAR Manager, choose Paper, pick 26.2 and press Apply change. Keep Take a backup first ticked and press Confirm & reinstall. Change your Minecraft version or mod loader walks through it.

Install the plugin

1. Open the Plugins tab and stay on Store.
2. In the source chip row at the top of the tab, choose Modrinth and search for Parkour. Pick the result by A5H73Y, since many plugins share the name.
3. Press Install and restart from the Console tab.

The plugin creates its files on start-up and then it is ready to go.

Create the lobby

The lobby is where players choose a course, and where they return when they finish or leave one. Stand where you want it and run this once:

/pa create lobby

Use /pa lobby to teleport back to it. To make more lobbies, such as easy and hard, add a name: /pa create lobby [name].

Build your first course

1. Build the course and decide where checkpoints go.
2. Stand at the start, face the direction players should look, and run /pa create course <name>. The name is how you refer to the course afterwards.
3. Stand at each checkpoint and run /pa create checkpoint <course>. This places a pressure plate for you. There is no limit on checkpoints, and by default players must reach them in order.
4. Make a finish. Run /pa kit to get the default ParkourKit items, then place the item named Finish Block where the course ends. If you prefer, set TreatLastCheckpointAsFinish under OnCourse to true in config.yml, and the last checkpoint finishes the course.
5. Try the course blocks with /pa test, which switches on test mode so you can see how each ParkourKit block behaves. Run /pa test again to switch it off.
6. When it is ready, run /pa setcourse <course> ready. Players cannot join a course that is not ready unless you set EnforceReady under OnJoin to false.

Players join with /pa join <course>, a join sign, or an AutoStart plate created with /pa create autostart <course>.

Change the settings

Open File Manager and edit config.yml in the plugin's folder under plugins. Parkour says changes usually apply when you save, though some need a full restart. Settings that come up often:

• OnFinish.EnablePrizes defaults to true. It must be true for any prize to be given.
• CourseDefault.Prize.Material defaults to DIAMOND with an Amount of 1. Set Amount to 0 to stop the default diamond.
• OnLeave.TeleportToLinkedLobby sends players to a course's linked lobby instead of the default one.
• Other.Display.JoinWelcomeMessage set to false hides the welcome message.

Permissions

By default, no permission is needed to use Parkour signs. The plugin only checks parkour.basic.signs and parkour.basic.commands if you set Other.Parkour.SignUsePermissions or Other.Parkour.CommandUsePermissions to true. Staff nodes include parkour.basic.create, parkour.admin.course, parkour.admin.delete and parkour.admin.reset, and parkour.admin.* grants all the admin ones. Set up LuckPerms lets you give them to a staff group.

If something goes wrong

• Players cannot use the signs. The plugin's FAQ points to the spawn-protection property or another plugin. In the Config Editor, lower Spawn protection (blocks) if the signs are near spawn.
• Players cannot join a course. It may not be set to ready. Run /pa setcourse <course> ready.
• Players cannot join the server. Check the whitelist switch on the Players tab.