Using the console: sending commands to your server

The Console tab shows your server’s live log and lets you type commands straight into it — the same as sitting at the machine typing into its terminal. Commands typed here run with full permissions, so you can do things from the console that no player can, including granting operator to yourself.

It needs the server running

The input is disabled while the server is stopped or asleep — there is nothing listening yet. Start the server first; once it connects, commands go straight through. The log stays readable either way.

Typing commands

• The leading slash is optional in the console: time set day and /time set day do the same thing.
• Commands that need a player — like gamemode creative — must name one in the console, since you are not a player there: gamemode creative Steve.
• Target selectors work: @a is every player, @p the nearest, @r a random one. give @a bread 16 gives everyone bread.
• There is no command history — arrow-key recall is not available, so retype rather than reaching for the up arrow.
• One command at a time. Output appears in the log a moment later, not as a direct reply under what you typed.

Managing players

• op <name> / deop <name> — grant or remove operator. The Players tab does the same with a form, and lets you pick the op level.
• whitelist add <name> / whitelist remove <name> / whitelist list.
• kick <name> [reason] — disconnect someone; they can rejoin.
• ban <name> [reason] / pardon <name> — ban and unban. ban-ip and pardon-ip do the same by address.
• list — who is online right now.
• tp <player> <target> — teleport one player to another, or to coordinates.

The world and the game

• time set day and weather clear — for when it is 3am and raining and nobody can see anything.
• difficulty peaceful (or easy, normal, hard).
• gamerule keepInventory true — players keep items on death. gamerule on its own lists the rules; the World tab’s Options editor changes them with a form.
• defaultgamemode survival — the mode new players start in.
• setworldspawn — move the world spawn (it uses your position, so in the console give coordinates: setworldspawn 0 64 0).
• seed — print the world seed.
• say <message> — broadcast a message to everyone, shown as coming from the server.
• save-all — write the world to disk now. The server also saves on its own, and always saves before it goes to sleep.

Checking performance

• tick query — tick timings, built into Minecraft 1.20.3 and newer on every loader.
• tps / mspt — Paper and Purpur.
• forge tps / neoforge tps — Forge and NeoForge, per dimension.

What those numbers mean, and what to do when they are bad, is in Why is my server lagging?.

Reading the log

Each log line starts with a time and a level. INFO lines are normal. WARN lines are worth a glance but rarely mean anything is broken — many mods log warnings on every start. ERROR lines, and long blocks of text starting with Caused by:, are the ones that matter when something goes wrong.

The line that starts with Done ( means the server has finished starting and players can join. If the server stops before printing it, the reason is above — Why won’t my Minecraft server start? walks through the usual messages.

Plugins and mods add their own commands

Most plugins and many mods add commands — EssentialsX on Paper adds hundreds, for example. They are typed into the console exactly the same way. If a command says Unknown command, check you spelt it right and that the plugin or mod providing it actually loaded: search the log for its name.