LuckPerms: setting up ranks and permissions on your Minecraft server

Introduction

LuckPerms is the standard permissions plugin for Paper, Spigot and Purpur Minecraft servers: it lets you create ranks (player, VIP, moderator, admin), give them precise rights and assign them to players, without ever giving op to anyone but the owner. This guide covers installation, building a rank hierarchy, chat prefixes and the web editor, with the exact commands.

Installing LuckPerms on your server

LuckPerms is a plugin: it needs a Paper, Spigot or Purpur server (not Vanilla, nor Forge or Fabric for this version).

1. From the panel. On serv-minecraft, open your server's Plugins tab, search for "LuckPerms" and click Install. The file is placed in the plugins folder.
2. By hand. Download the Bukkit version from the official site luckperms.net and upload the .jar to plugins with the panel's file manager.
3. Restart the server (no /reload). In the console, the line "Successfully enabled" confirms it loaded.

Add Vault too: it is the bridge that lets other plugins (chat, economy, shop) read LuckPerms ranks. The other useful plugins are listed in our guide to must-have Minecraft server plugins.

Groups, permissions and inheritance

• A permission (or "node") is a named right, such as essentials.home or worldedit.*. Each plugin documents its own.
• A group is a rank: a bundle of permissions. Every player starts in the default group.
• Inheritance saves you from copying everything: vip inherits from default, mod inherits from vip, and so on.

All commands start with /lp in game, or lp without the slash in the panel console, which has every right.

Building a rank hierarchy step by step

An example with three ranks above default:

lp creategroup vip
lp creategroup mod
lp creategroup admin
lp group vip parent add default
lp group mod parent add vip
lp group admin parent add mod
lp group vip setweight 10
lp group mod setweight 20
lp group admin setweight 30

The weight decides between ranks when a player has several: the heaviest wins, especially for the prefix.

Then give each group its rights:

lp group default permission set essentials.home true
lp group vip permission set essentials.sethome.multiple true
lp group mod permission set essentials.kick true
lp group mod permission set coreprotect.lookup true
lp group admin permission set worldedit.* true

To remove an inherited right, set it to false on the group concerned.

Giving a rank to a player

lp user PlayerName parent add vip
lp user PlayerName parent set mod
lp user PlayerName parent addtemp vip 30d
lp user PlayerName info

parent add adds a rank, parent set replaces all the player's ranks, addtemp gives a rank for a set time (handy for a one-month VIP). info shows the current ranks and prefix.

To promote in one command, create a track: lp createtrack staff, then lp track staff append vip, lp track staff append mod, lp track staff append admin. After that, lp user PlayerName promote staff moves the player up one step.

Chat prefixes and the web editor

lp group vip meta setprefix 10 "&6[VIP] "
lp group mod meta setprefix 20 "&2[Mod] "
lp group admin meta setprefix 30 "&c[Admin] "

LuckPerms stores the prefix but does not display it: you need a chat plugin that reads it through Vault, such as EssentialsX Chat or LPC. Without one, the prefix does not show.

To manage everything with the mouse, type lp editor: LuckPerms gives you a link to a web editor where you tick permissions, drag players between groups and edit prefixes. Click "Save", then paste the lp applyedits … command it shows into the console.

To find a permission's name, lp verbose on shows live every permission checked when a player types a command. lp verbose off to stop.

Frequently asked questions

Does LuckPerms work on a Vanilla server?

No. You need Paper, Spigot or Purpur. There are separate Fabric, Forge and NeoForge versions, and BungeeCord and Velocity versions for networks.

Should moderators still get op?

No. Op gives absolutely every right. Create a mod group with only the commands they need and keep op for the owner.

Why is my prefix not showing?

A chat plugin (EssentialsX Chat, LPC) or Vault is missing. Also check the weight: if the player has two ranks, the prefix with the highest priority wins.

How do I see a player's ranks?

lp user PlayerName info in the console or in game.

How do I remove a rank?

lp user PlayerName parent remove vip. The player keeps their other ranks and falls back to default if none are left.

How do I give a temporary rank?

lp user PlayerName parent addtemp vip 7d: the rank disappears on its own after 7 days. Durations accept m, h, d, w and mo.

Where does LuckPerms store its data?

By default in an H2 database, in plugins/LuckPerms. For a network of several servers, switch to MySQL or MariaDB in config.yml.

How do I back up my ranks?

lp export backup creates a file in the plugin folder, lp import backup restores it. Also keep the plugins/LuckPerms folder in your backups.

What does the luckperms.* permission give?

Full control of LuckPerms, and so the ability to give yourself every right. Only give it to trusted administrators.

In short

Install LuckPerms and Vault, create your groups with lp creategroup, chain them with parent add, grant rights with permission set, then assign ranks to players. The web editor (lp editor) does the rest with the mouse. The serv-minecraft Plugins plan is built for this kind of server: Paper, 12 GB of RAM and 6 vCPU for €8.99 a month, with one-click plugin installs from the panel.