Minecraft MOTD Generator
Colour the message players see under your server's name, check it in the game's own font, and copy it straight into your server. Java Edition.
Not an official Minecraft product. Not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft. The preview follows the current Java client's server list, and a future version can change it. Its font, server icon and signal bars are Mojang's.
Tips for a MOTD that gets clicks
- Put your server's name or its best hook on line 1, short enough to read at a glance.
- Use line 2 for what makes you different: the game mode, the version, a fresh map, your Discord.
- Stick to two or three colours. A bright, bold first line over a softer second line reads best.
- Centre both lines for a tidy look, with the Centre buttons in step 2.
- Keep obfuscated text for decoration: scrambled letters cannot be read, so never scramble your server's name.
- A symbol or two, like ★ or ⚔, catches the eye. The Symbols button in step 2 only offers ones the game draws properly.
MOTD not showing? Check these
- Restart the server. It only reads the MOTD when it starts.
- Seeing &6 or §6 as text? The MOTD went into the wrong place: pick where it is going in step 3 and copy that version.
- Seeing  in front of your colours? The server is older than 1.20. Use A server.properties file in step 3, which works on every version.
- Still the old MOTD? Press Refresh in the game's multiplayer screen, which shows the last one it fetched until then.
- Bedrock players joining through Geyser only see the 16 colours and bold. Custom colours show as the nearest of the 16.
FAQ
The message of the day: the two lines under your server's name in the multiplayer server list. It is the motd setting in server.properties, which the server reads when it starts, so a new MOTD shows after a restart.
Pick Play Your Way in step 3 and copy the MOTD. Then open the Config Editor tab, paste it into Server list message under World, save and restart the server. The Design in MOTD generator button next to that field opens this page with your current MOTD already filled in.
Almost always because they are ampersands. The server only reads the section sign, §. & codes are a plugin's convention, turned into § by the plugin before the game sees them, so &6 typed into server.properties arrives as the letters &6. Pick Play Your Way or A server.properties file in step 3: every § there is escaped as \u00A7, which server.properties reads the same on every version.
Put \n between the lines: in server.properties that is a backslash and an n, not a real line break, and the generator writes it for you. Formatting runs on across it, so a second line that should be plain starts with §r, which the generator also adds.
On Paper and Purpur, 1.16 and up, yes: pick Paper or Purpur in step 1 and the toolbar gets a custom colour and a gradient. Vanilla, Fabric and Forge only show the 16 colours, so for those the generator uses the nearest of the 16 instead.
Each line gets 267 pixels in the server list: about 44 ordinary lower-case letters, more of the narrow ones like i and l, and fewer in bold. Anything wider wraps, and the list only shows two rows, so the generator stops each line at the edge and shows how much room is left.
Only partly. Bedrock's server list shows the 16 colours and bold, but no hex, and it reads §m and §n as colours of its own rather than strikethrough and underline. If Bedrock players join through Geyser, keep the MOTD to the 16 colours and bold.