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Getting Started

Requirements

tip

With the release of Minecraft 1.18, Paper now requires Java 17 to run. If you don't already have Java 17, it's easy to download and install.

Paper VersionRecommended Java Version
1.8 to 1.11Java 8
1.12 to 1.16.4Java 11
1.16.5Java 16
1.17.1-1.18.1+Java 17

Migrating to Paper

From Vanilla

Migrating from Vanilla is easy, but there are some differences, namely in world saves. Paper (and CraftBukkit and Spigot) separate out each dimension of a world (nether, the end, etc.) into separate world folders.

Paper will handle this conversion for you automatically. No additional consideration is required.

From Craftbukkit or Spigot

Paper is a drop in replacement for both CraftBukkit and Spigot, you don't need to make any changes.

Downloading Paper

Paper provides runnable server jars directly from our website's downloads page.

Click on the build number to download a file.

Running The Server

To run the server, simply start it up like any other Java application.

Open your terminal, navigate to the saved location, and then run java -Xms2G -Xmx2G -jar paper.jar --nogui. Ensure you replace paper.jar with the name of the jar you have downloaded.

The amount of RAM can be set by changing the numbers in the -Xms and -Xmx arguments. --nogui disables Vanilla's GUI, so you don't get double interfaces when using the command line.

For more advanced Java tuning, see Aikar's Flags.

To configure your server, see the Global Configuration and Per World Configuration pages.

Updating The Server

Updating Paper is simple! See our Update Tutorial for more information.