Start a Minecraft Skywars server

Skywars is a minigame where players start in cages, loot chests and fight until one player or team is left. RealSkywars is a free, open-source plugin that adds it to a Paper server, with solo and team arenas, kits, a shop and a menu-based setup. This guide covers installing it and building your first arena.

Checked against RealSkywars 1.3 and WorldEdit 7.4.6 on Paper 26.3, October 2026. RealSkywars' Modrinth page lists Minecraft 1.14 to 26.3 for 1.3, but the version list in its README stops at 1.20.6.

What you need

• A Paper or Purpur server (its README lists Spigot, Paper and Purpur as supported). Vanilla has no Plugins tab, so switch in JAR Manager first (see Change your Minecraft version or mod loader).
• WorldEdit or FastAsyncWorldEdit. RealSkywars lists it as a hard dependency and will not load without it. Modrinth lists no dependencies for this build, so the store will not prompt you to add it. Install it yourself (see Set up WorldEdit).
• The rsw.admin permission for whoever builds the arena, which you can give with a permissions plugin (see Set up LuckPerms). The README says the major admin permissions are assigned to rsw.admin.

Install the plugins

1. Open the Plugins tab and stay on the Store view. Choose the Modrinth button.
2. Search for WorldEdit and press Install.
3. Search for RealSkywars and press Install.
4. Restart from the Console tab, then type plugins to check that both appear.

Create an arena

RealSkywars opens a menu and tries to generate a world for the arena, so run these in game rather than from the Console.

1. Run /rsw create <name> <type> <players>. For a team arena the README gives the form /rsw create <name> <type> <number of teams> <players-per-team>. Solo and team arenas are both supported. The type is default or schematic, and with schematic the arena name is the schematic's file name in the plugin's maps folder, including .schem.
2. A menu opens. Click a setting to change it, then save.
3. RealSkywars tries to generate a world and, if that works, teleports you into it. If the arena is schematic based, it pastes the schematic named in the arena name.
4. Use the items on your hotbar to place normal chests, middle chests and the cages where players start.
5. Run /rsw setspectator to set where eliminated players watch from.
6. Select the arena's boundaries with //pos1 and //pos2 (or the WorldEdit axe), and run //expand vert so the selection covers the full height.
7. Run /rsw finish to save the arena.

To use a schematic you made yourself, save it with //schem save <name> and copy the .schem file into the plugin's maps folder using the File Manager.

Let players join

• /rsw list opens the maps menu, /rsw kits the kits menu and /rsw shop the shop.
• /rsw leave leaves a match and /rsw lobby returns to the lobby.
• /rsw forcestart starts the current match early, which helps when you test.
• A join sign has [rsw] on the first line and the map name on the second. The README says to place it once the arena is fully registered. /rsw finish registers the arena, so the sign can go up straight after it. /rsw register is only needed for an arena you unregistered to edit.

Players can vote on chest tier, game time and projectiles. Each vote has its own permission node: rsw.basic, rsw.normal and rsw.epic for the chest tier, rsw.day, rsw.sunset and rsw.night for the game time, and rsw.normal-projectile and rsw.break-projectile for projectiles.

If something does not work

• RealSkywars does not load: WorldEdit is missing, so install it and restart. Check the Console log for the reason.
• A command says you lack permission: the README ties /rsw create, /rsw unregister, /rsw delete, /rsw createwaitinglobby and /rsw setwaitinglobby to rsw.admin. The other commands use their own node: rsw.join for /rsw list, /rsw edit and /rsw register, plus rsw.forcestart, rsw.kits and rsw.shop. Give the node with a permissions plugin (see Set up LuckPerms).
• Players cannot vote: each vote needs its own permission node, listed above.