Create your first Paper plugin: a simple command plugin

Create your first Paper plugin: a simple command plugin

Writing a Paper plugin is a great way to customize your server with features you can’t get from existing plugins. We’ll create a tiny plugin that adds a /hello command, covering the tools you need and the structure of a typical Paper project.

What you need

• Java 17+
• Gradle or Maven (we’ll show Gradle)
• Paper API dependency
• An editor (IntelliJ IDEA recommended)

Project setup (Gradle)

Create a new Gradle project and add the Paper API:

plugins {
    id 'java'
}

group = 'com.example'
version = '1.0.0'

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
    maven { url = uri('https://repo.papermc.io/repository/maven-public/') }
}

dependencies {
    compileOnly 'io.papermc.paper:paper-api:1.20.1-R0.1-SNAPSHOT'
}

java {
    toolchain {
        languageVersion = JavaLanguageVersion.of(17)
    }
}

Basic plugin class

Create src/main/java/com/example/HelloPlugin.java:

package com.example;

import org.bukkit.command.Command;
import org.bukkit.command.CommandSender;
import org.bukkit.plugin.java.JavaPlugin;

public class HelloPlugin extends JavaPlugin {
    @Override
    public void onEnable() {
        getLogger().info("HelloPlugin enabled!");
    }

    @Override
    public void onDisable() {
        getLogger().info("HelloPlugin disabled.");
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCommand(CommandSender sender, Command command, String label, String[] args) {
        if (command.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("hello")) {
            sender.sendMessage("Hi there! Have fun on the server.");
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

plugin.yml

Create src/main/resources/plugin.yml:

name: HelloPlugin
version: 1.0.0
main: com.example.HelloPlugin
api-version: 1.20
commands:
  hello:
    description: Say hello
    usage: /hello

Build the jar

Run:

./gradlew build

The plugin jar will appear in build/libs/. Copy it to your server’s plugins/ folder and start the server.

Test in game

• Join your server and run /hello.
• You should see the friendly message.

Next steps

• Register a command executor class instead of using onCommand for larger plugins.
• Listen to events (e.g., PlayerJoinEvent) to react to gameplay.
• Add a config file to customize messages.

Tips for success

• Never run blocking I/O on the main thread. Use async tasks for database or web calls.
• Keep logs informative but not spammy.
• Start small; iterate with version control.

With this foundation, you can build commands, events, and features tailored to your server. In the next article, we’ll expand this into a /home plugin.