This docker image provides a Minecraft Server that will automatically download the latest stable
version at startup. You can also run/upgrade to any specific version or the
latest snapshot. See the Versions section below for more information.
To simply use the latest stable version, run
docker run -d -p 25565:25565 --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
where the standard server port, 25565, will be exposed on your host machine.
If you want to serve up multiple Minecraft servers or just use an alternate port,
change the host-side port mapping such as
docker run -p 25566:25565 ...
will serve your Minecraft server on your host's port 25566 since the -p syntax is
host-port:container-port.
Speaking of multiple servers, it's handy to give your containers explicit names using --name, such as
docker run -d -p 25565:25565 --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
With that you can easily view the logs, stop, or re-start the container:
docker logs -f mc
( Ctrl-C to exit logs action )
docker stop mc
docker start mc
Looking for a Bedrock Dedicated Server
For Minecraft clients running on consoles, mobile, or native Windows, you'll need to
use this image instead:
Interacting with the server
RCON is enabled by default, so you can exec into the container to
access the Minecraft server console:
docker exec -i mc rcon-cli
Note: The -i is required for interactive use of rcon-cli.
To run a simple, one-shot command, such as stopping a Minecraft server, pass the command as
arguments to rcon-cli, such as:
docker exec mc rcon-cli stop
The -i is not needed in this case.
In order to attach and interact with the Minecraft server, add -it when starting the container, such as
docker run -d -it -p 25565:25565 --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
With that you can attach and interact at any time using
docker attach mc
and then Control-p Control-q to detach.
For remote access, configure your Docker daemon to use a tcp socket (such as -H tcp://0.0.0.0:2375)
and attach from another machine:
docker -H $HOST:2375 attach mc
Unless you're on a home/private LAN, you should enable TLS access.
EULA Support
Mojang now requires accepting the Minecraft EULA. To accept add
-e EULA=TRUE
such as
docker run -d -it -e EULA=TRUE -p 25565:25565 --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
Attaching data directory to host filesystem
In order to readily access the Minecraft data, use the -v argument
to map a directory on your host machine to the container's /data directory, such as:
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data ...
When attached in this way you can stop the server, edit the configuration under your attached /path/on/host
and start the server again with docker start CONTAINERID to pick up the new configuration.
Versions
To use a different Minecraft version, pass the VERSION environment variable, which can have the value
- LATEST
- SNAPSHOT
- (or a specific version, such as "1.7.9")
For example, to use the latest snapshot:
docker run -d -e VERSION=SNAPSHOT ...
or a specific version:
docker run -d -e VERSION=1.7.9 ...
Healthcheck
This image contains Dinnerbone's mcstatus and uses
its ping command to continually check on the container's. That can be observed
from the STATUS column of docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
b418af073764 mc "/start" 43 seconds ago Up 41 seconds (healthy) 0.0.0.0:25565->25565/tcp, 25575/tcp mc
You can also query the container's health in a script friendly way:
> docker container inspect -f "{{.State.Health.Status}}" mc
healthy
Finally, since mcstatus is on the PATH you can exec into the container
and use mcstatus directly and invoke any of its other commands:
> docker exec mc mcstatus localhost status
version: v1.12 (protocol 335)
description: "{u'text': u'A Minecraft Server Powered by Docker'}"
players: 0/20 No players online
Running a Forge Server
Enable Forge server mode by adding a -e TYPE=FORGE to your command-line.
By default the container will run the RECOMMENDED version of Forge server
but you can also choose to run a specific version with -e FORGEVERSION=10.13.4.1448.
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data -e VERSION=1.7.10 \
-e TYPE=FORGE -e FORGEVERSION=10.13.4.1448 \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
To use a pre-downloaded Forge installer, place it in the attached /data directory and
specify the name of the installer file with FORGE_INSTALLER, such as:
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data ... \
-e FORGE_INSTALLER=forge-1.11.2-13.20.0.2228-installer.jar ...
To download a Forge installer from a custom location, such as your own file repository, specify
the URL with FORGE_INSTALLER_URL, such as:
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data ... \
-e FORGE_INSTALLER_URL=http://HOST/forge-1.11.2-13.20.0.2228-installer.jar ...
In both of the cases above, there is no need for the VERSION or FORGEVERSION variables.
In order to add mods, you have two options.
Using the /data volume
This is the easiest way if you are using a persistent /data mount.
To do this, you will need to attach the container's /data directory
(see "Attaching data directory to host filesystem”).
Then, you can add mods to the /path/on/host/mods folder you chose. From the example above,
the /path/on/host folder contents look like:
/path/on/host
├── mods
│ └── ... INSTALL MODS HERE ...
├── config
│ └── ... CONFIGURE MODS HERE ...
├── ops.json
├── server.properties
├── whitelist.json
└── ...
If you add mods while the container is running, you'll need to restart it to pick those
up:
docker stop mc
docker start mc
Using separate mounts
This is the easiest way if you are using an ephemeral /data filesystem,
or downloading a world with the WORLD option.
There are two additional volumes that can be mounted; /mods and /config.
Any files in either of these filesystems will be copied over to the main
/data filesystem before starting Minecraft.
This works well if you want to have a common set of modules in a separate
location, but still have multiple worlds with different server requirements
in either persistent volumes or a downloadable archive.
Replacing variables inside configs
Sometimes you have mods or plugins that require configuration information that is only available at runtime.
For example if you need to configure a plugin to connect to a database,
you don't want to include this information in your Git repository or Docker image.
Or maybe you have some runtime information like the server name that needs to be set
in your config files after the container starts.
For those cases there is the option to replace defined variables inside your configs
with environment variables defined at container runtime.
If you set the enviroment variable REPLACE_ENV_VARIABLES to TRUE the startup script
will go thru all files inside your /data volume and replace variables that match your
defined environment variables. Variables that you want to replace need to be wrapped
inside ${YOUR_VARIABLE} curly brackets and prefixed with a dollar sign. This is the regular
syntax for enviromment variables inside strings or config files.
Optionally you can also define a prefix to only match predefined enviroment variables.
ENV_VARIABLE_PREFIX="CFG_" <-- this is the default prefix
There are some limitations to what characters you can use., Type, Allowed Characters, -----, -------------------, Name, 0-9a-zA-Z_-, Value, 0-9a-zA-Z_-:/=?.+, Here is a full example where we want to replace values inside a database.yml.
...
database:
host: ${CFG_DB_HOST}
name: ${CFG_DB_NAME}
password: ${CFG_DB_PASSWORD}
This is how your docker-compose.yml file could look like:
version: '3'
# Other docker-compose examples in /examples
services:
minecraft:
image: itzg/minecraft-server
ports:
- "25565:25565"
volumes:
- "mc:/data"
environment:
EULA: "TRUE"
ENABLE_RCON: "true"
RCON_PASSWORD: "testing"
RCON_PORT: 28016
# enable env variable replacement
REPLACE_ENV_VARIABLES: "TRUE"
# define an optional prefix for your env variables you want to replace
ENV_VARIABLE_PREFIX: "CFG_"
# and here are the actual variables
CFG_DB_HOST: "http://localhost:3306"
CFG_DB_NAME: "minecraft"
CFG_DB_PASSWORD: "ug23u3bg39o-ogADSs"
restart: always
rcon:
image: itzg/rcon
ports:
- "4326:4326"
- "4327:4327"
volumes:
- "rcon:/opt/rcon-web-admin/db"
volumes:
mc:
rcon:
Running a Bukkit/Spigot server
Enable Bukkit/Spigot server mode by adding a -e TYPE=BUKKIT -e VERSION=1.8 or -e TYPE=SPIGOT -e VERSION=1.8 to your command-line.
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data \
-e TYPE=SPIGOT -e VERSION=1.8 \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
If you are hosting your own copy of Bukkit/Spigot you can override the download URLs with:
- -e BUKKIT_DOWNLOAD_URL=
- -e SPIGOT_DOWNLOAD_URL=
You can build spigot from source by adding -e BUILD_FROM_SOURCE=true
NOTE: to avoid pegging the CPU when running Spigot, you will need to
pass --noconsole at the very end of the command line and not use -it. For example,
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data \
-e TYPE=SPIGOT -e VERSION=1.8 \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server --noconsole
You can install Bukkit plugins in two ways...
Using the /data volume
This is the easiest way if you are using a persistent /data mount.
To do this, you will need to attach the container's /data directory
(see "Attaching data directory to host filesystem”).
Then, you can add plugins to the /path/on/host/plugins folder you chose. From the example above,
the /path/on/host folder contents look like:
/path/on/host
├── plugins
│ └── ... INSTALL PLUGINS HERE ...
├── ops.json
├── server.properties
├── whitelist.json
└── ...
If you add plugins while the container is running, you'll need to restart it to pick those
up:
docker stop mc
docker start mc
Using separate mounts
This is the easiest way if you are using an ephemeral /data filesystem,
or downloading a world with the WORLD option.
There is one additional volume that can be mounted; /plugins.
Any files in this filesystem will be copied over to the main
/data/plugins filesystem before starting Minecraft.
This works well if you want to have a common set of plugins in a separate
location, but still have multiple worlds with different server requirements
in either persistent volumes or a downloadable archive.
Building an image with plugins
You can also create your own Docker images by extending the itzg/minecraft-server image.
The image contains an ONBUILD trigger that will copy a plugins.yml file from you build directory and download any plugins specified in it.
You can read about the ToF-BuildTools and how to use them here.
You can also find an example with a custom image in the examples dir.
Running a PaperSpigot server
Enable PaperSpigot server mode by adding a -e TYPE=PAPER -e VERSION=1.9.4 to your command-line.
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data \
-e TYPE=PAPER -e VERSION=1.9.4 \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
NOTE: to avoid pegging the CPU when running PaperSpigot, you will need to
pass --noconsole at the very end of the command line and not use -it. For example,
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data \
-e TYPE=PAPER -e VERSION=1.9.4 \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server --noconsole
If you are hosting your own copy of PaperSpigot you can override the download URL with:
- -e PAPER_DOWNLOAD_URL=
You can install Bukkit plugins in two ways...
An example compose file is provided at
examples/docker-compose-paper.yml.
Using the /data volume
This is the easiest way if you are using a persistent /data mount.
To do this, you will need to attach the container's /data directory
(see "Attaching data directory to host filesystem”).
Then, you can add plugins to the /path/on/host/plugins folder you chose. From the example above,
the /path/on/host folder contents look like:
/path/on/host
├── plugins
│ └── ... INSTALL PLUGINS HERE ...
├── ops.json
├── server.properties
├── whitelist.json
└── ...
If you add plugins while the container is running, you'll need to restart it to pick those
up:
docker stop mc
docker start mc
Using separate mounts
This is the easiest way if you are using an ephemeral /data filesystem,
or downloading a world with the WORLD option.
There is one additional volume that can be mounted; /plugins.
Any files in this filesystem will be copied over to the main
/data/plugins filesystem before starting Minecraft.
This works well if you want to have a common set of plugins in a separate
location, but still have multiple worlds with different server requirements
in either persistent volumes or a downloadable archive.
Running a Server with a Feed-The-Beast (FTB) / CurseForge modpack
Enable this server mode by adding a -e TYPE=FTB or -e TYPE=CURSEFORGE to your command-line,
but note the following additional steps needed...
You need to specify a modpack to run, using the FTB_SERVER_MOD or CF_SERVER_MOD environment
variable. An FTB/CurseForge server modpack is available together with its respective
client modpack on https://www.feed-the-beast.com under "Additional Files." Similar you can
locate the modpacks for CurseForge at https://minecraft.curseforge.com/modpacks .
There are a couple of options for obtaining an FTB/CurseForge modpack.
One options is that you can pre-download the server modpack and copy the modpack to the /data
directory (see "Attaching data directory to host filesystem”).
Now you can add a -e FTB_SERVER_MOD=name_of_modpack.zip to your command-line.
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data -e TYPE=FTB \
-e FTB_SERVER_MOD=FTBPresentsSkyfactory3Server_3.0.6.zip \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
Instead of pre-downloading a modpack from the FTB/CurseForge site, you
can you set FTB_SERVER_MOD (or CF_SERVER_MOD) to the server URL of a modpack, such as
docker run ... \
-e TYPE=FTB \
-e FTB_SERVER_MOD=https://www.feed-the-beast.com/projects/ftb-infinity-lite-1-10/files/2402889
or for a CurseForce modpack:
docker run ... \
-e TYPE=CURSEFORGE \
-e CF_SERVER_MOD=https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/enigmatica2expert/files/2663153/download
Using the /data volume
You must use a persistent /data mount for this type of server.
To do this, you will need to attach the container's /data directory
(see "Attaching data directory to host filesystem”).
If the modpack is updated and you want to run the new version on your
server, you stop and remove the container:
docker stop mc
docker rm mc
Do not erase anything from your /data directory (unless you know of
specific mods that have been removed from the modpack). Download the
updated FTB server modpack and copy it to /data. Start a new container
with FTB_SERVER_MOD specifying the updated modpack file.
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data -e TYPE=FTB \
-e FTB_SERVER_MOD=FTBPresentsSkyfactory3Server_3.0.7.zip \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
Fixing "unable to launch forgemodloader"
If your server's modpack fails to load with an error like this:
unable to launch forgemodloader
then you apply a workaround by adding this to the run invocation:
-e FTB_LEGACYJAVAFIXER=true
Using a client-made curseforge modpack
If you use something like curseforge, you may end up creating/using modpacks that do not
contain server mod jars. Instead, the curseforge setup has manifest.json files, which
will show up under /data/FeedTheBeast/manifest.json.
To use these packs you will need to:
- Specify the manifest location with env var
MANIFEST=/data/FeedTheBeast/manifest - Pick a relevant ServerStart.sh and potentially settings.cfg and put them in
/data/FeedTheBeast
An example of the latter would be to use https://github.com/AllTheMods/Server-Scripts
There, you'll find that all you have to do is put ServerStart.sh and settings.cfg into
/data/FeedTheBeast, taking care to update settings.cfg to specify your desired version
of minecraft and forge. You can do this in the cli with something like:
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AllTheMods/Server-Scripts/master/ServerStart.sh
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AllTheMods/Server-Scripts/master/settings.cfg
$ vim settings.cfg #update the forge version to the one you want. Your manifest.json will have it
$ chmod +x ServerStart.sh
$ docker run -itd --name derpcraft \
-e MANIFEST=/data/FeedTheBeast/manifest.json \
-v $PWD/ServerStart.sh:/data/FeedTheBeast/ServerStart.sh \
-v $PWD/settings.cfg:/data/FeedTheBeast/settings.cfg \
-e VERSION=1.12.2\
-e TYPE=CURSEFORGE\
-e CF_SERVER_MOD=https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/your_amazing_modpack/files/2670435/download\
-p 25565:25565\
-e EULA=TRUE\
--restart=always\
itzg/minecraft-server
Note the CF_SERVER_MOD env var should match the url to download the modpack you are targeting.
Running a SpongeVanilla server
Enable SpongeVanilla server mode by adding a -e TYPE=SPONGEVANILLA to your command-line.
By default the container will run the latest STABLE version.
If you want to run a specific version, you can add -e SPONGEVERSION=1.11.2-6.1.0-BETA-19 to your command-line.
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data -e TYPE=SPONGEVANILLA \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
You can also choose to use the EXPERIMENTAL branch.
Just change it with SPONGEBRANCH, such as:
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data ... \
-e TYPE=SPONGEVANILLA -e SPONGEBRANCH=EXPERIMENTAL ...
Running a Fabric Server
Enable Fabric server mode by adding a -e TYPE=FABRIC to your command-line.
By default the container will run the latest version of Fabric server
but you can also choose to run a specific version with -e FABRICVERSION=0.5.0.32.
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data -e VERSION=1.14.3 \
-e TYPE=FABRIC -e FABRICVERSION=0.5.0.32 \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
To use a pre-downloaded Fabric installer, place it in the attached /data directory and
specify the name of the installer file with FABRIC_INSTALLER, such as:
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data ... \
-e FABRIC_INSTALLER=fabric-installer-0.5.0.32.jar ...
To download a Fabric installer from a custom location, such as your own file repository, specify
the URL with FABRIC_INSTALLER_URL, such as:
$ docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data ... \
-e FORGE_INSTALLER_URL=http://HOST/fabric-installer-0.5.0.32.jar ...
In both of the cases above, there is no need for the VERSION or FABRICVERSION variables.
In order to add mods, you have two options.
Using the /data volume
This is the easiest way if you are using a persistent /data mount.
To do this, you will need to attach the container's /data directory
(see "Attaching data directory to host filesystem”).
Then, you can add mods to the /path/on/host/mods folder you chose. From the example above,
the /path/on/host folder contents look like:
/path/on/host
├── mods
│ └── ... INSTALL MODS HERE ...
├── config
│ └── ... CONFIGURE MODS HERE ...
├── ops.json
├── server.properties
├── whitelist.json
└── ...
If you add mods while the container is running, you'll need to restart it to pick those
up:
docker stop mc
docker start mc
Using separate mounts
This is the easiest way if you are using an ephemeral /data filesystem,
or downloading a world with the WORLD option.
There are two additional volumes that can be mounted; /mods and /config.
Any files in either of these filesystems will be copied over to the main
/data filesystem before starting Minecraft.
This works well if you want to have a common set of modules in a separate
location, but still have multiple worlds with different server requirements
in either persistent volumes or a downloadable archive.
Running with a custom server JAR
If you would like to run a custom server JAR, set -e TYPE=CUSTOM and pass the custom server
JAR via CUSTOM_SERVER. It can either be a URL or a container path to an existing JAR file.
If it is a URL, it will only be downloaded into the /data directory if it wasn't already. As
such, if you need to upgrade or re-download the JAR, then you will need to stop the container,
remove the file from the container's /data directory, and start again.
Force re-download of the server file
For VANILLA, FORGE, BUKKIT, SPIGOT, PAPER, CURSEFORGE, SPONGEVANILLA server types, set
$FORCE_REDOWNLOAD to some value (e.g. 'true) to force a re-download of the server file for
the particular server type. by adding a -e FORCE_REDOWNLOAD=true to your command-line.
For example, with PaperSpigot, it would look something like this:
docker run -d -v /path/on/host:/data \
-e TYPE=PAPER -e VERSION=1.14.1 -e FORCE_REDOWNLOAD=true \
-p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE --name mc itzg/minecraft-server
Using Docker Compose
Rather than type the server options below, the port mappings above, etc
every time you want to create new Minecraft server, you can now use
Docker Compose. Start with a
docker-compose.yml file like the following:
minecraft-server:
ports:
- "25565:25565"
environment:
EULA: "TRUE"
image: itzg/minecraft-server
container_name: mc
tty: true
stdin_open: true
restart: always
and in the same directory as that file run
docker-compose up -d
Now, go play...or adjust the environment section to configure
this server instance.
Server configuration
By default the server configuration will be created and set based on the following
environment variables, but only the first time the server is started. If the
server.properties file already exists, the values in them will not be changed.
If you would like to override the server configuration each time the container
starts up, you can set the OVERRIDE_SERVER_PROPERTIES environment variable like:
docker run -d -e OVERRIDE_SERVER_PROPERTIES=true ...
This will reset any manual configuration of the server.properties file, so if
you want to make any persistent configuration changes you will need to make sure
you have properly set the proper environment variables in your docker run command (described below).
Server name
The server name (e.g. for bungeecord) can be set like:
docker run -d -e SERVER_NAME=MyServer ...
Server port
The server port can be set like:
docker run -d -e SERVER_PORT=25565 ...
Difficulty
The difficulty level (default: easy) can be set like:
docker run -d -e DIFFICULTY=hard ...
Valid values are: peaceful, easy, normal, and hard, and an
error message will be output in the logs if it's not one of these
values.
Whitelist Players
To whitelist players for your Minecraft server, pass the Minecraft usernames separated by commas via the WHITELIST environment variable, such as
docker run -d -e WHITELIST=user1,user2 ...
If the WHITELIST environment variable is not used, any user can join your Minecraft server if it's publicly accessible.
Op/Administrator Players
To add more "op" (aka adminstrator) users to your Minecraft server, pass the Minecraft usernames separated by commas via the OPS environment variable, such as
docker run -d -e OPS=user1,user2 ...
Server icon
A server icon can be configured using the ICON variable. The image will be automatically
downloaded, scaled, and converted from any other image format:
docker run -d -e ICON=http://..../some/image.png ...
Rcon
To use rcon use the ENABLE_RCON and RCON_PASSORD variables.
By default rcon port will be 25575 but can easily be changed with the RCON_PORT variable.
docker run -d -e ENABLE_RCON=true -e RCON_PASSWORD=testing
Query
Enabling this will enable the gamespy query protocol.
By default the query port will be 25565 (UDP) but can easily be changed with the QUERY_PORT variable.
docker run -d -e ENABLE_QUERY=true
Max players
By default max players is 20, you can increase this with the MAX_PLAYERS variable.
docker run -d -e MAX_PLAYERS=50
Max world size
This sets the maximum possible size in blocks, expressed as a radius, that the world border can obtain.
docker run -d -e MAX_WORLD_SIZE=10000
Allow Nether
Allows players to travel to the Nether.
docker run -d -e ALLOW_NETHER=true
Announce Player Achievements
Allows server to announce when a player gets an achievement.
docker run -d -e ANNOUNCE_PLAYER_ACHIEVEMENTS=true
Enable Command Block
Enables command blocks
docker run -d -e ENABLE_COMMAND_BLOCK=true
Force Gamemode
Force players to join in the default game mode.
-
false - Players will join in the gamemode they left in.
-
true - Players will always join in the default gamemode.
docker run -d -e FORCE_GAMEMODE=false
Generate Structures
Defines whether structures (such as villages) will be generated.
-
false - Structures will not be generated in new chunks.
-
true - Structures will be generated in new chunks.
docker run -d -e GENERATE_STRUCTURES=true
Hardcore
If set to true, players will be set to spectator mode if they die.
docker run -d -e HARDCORE=false
Snooper
If set to false, the server will not send data to snoop.minecraft.net server.
docker run -d -e SNOOPER_ENABLED=false
Max Build Height
The maximum height in which building is allowed.
Terrain may still naturally generate above a low height limit.
docker run -d -e MAX_BUILD_HEIGHT=256
Max Tick Time
The maximum number of milliseconds a single tick may take before the server watchdog stops the server with the message, A single server tick took 60.00 seconds (should be max 0.05); Considering it to be crashed, server will forcibly shutdown. Once this criteria is met, it calls System.exit(1).
Setting this to -1 will disable watchdog entirely
docker run -d -e MAX_TICK_TIME=60000
Spawn Animals
Determines if animals will be able to spawn.
docker run -d -e SPAWN_ANIMALS=true
Spawn Monsters
Determines if monsters will be spawned.
docker run -d -e SPAWN_MONSTERS=true
Spawn NPCs
Determines if villagers will be spawned.
docker run -d -e SPAWN_NPCS=true
View Distance
Sets the amount of world data the server sends the client, measured in chunks in each direction of the player (radius, not diameter).
It determines the server-side viewing distance.
docker run -d -e VIEW_DISTANCE=10
Level Seed
If you want to create the Minecraft level with a specific seed, use SEED, such as
docker run -d -e SEED=1785852800490497919 ...
Game Mode
By default, Minecraft servers are configured to run in Survival mode. You can
change the mode using MODE where you can either provide the standard
numerical values or the
shortcut values:
- creative
- survival
- adventure
- spectator (only for Minecraft 1.8 or later)
For example:
docker run -d -e MODE=creative ...
Message of the Day
The message of the day, shown below each server entry in the UI, can be changed with the MOTD environment variable, such as
docker run -d -e 'MOTD=My Server' ...
If you leave it off, a default is computed from the server type and version, such as
A Paper Minecraft Server powered by Docker
when TYPE is PAPER. That way you can easily differentiate between several servers you may have started.
The example shows how to specify a server message of the day that contains spaces by putting quotes
around the whole thing.
PVP Mode
By default, servers are created with player-vs-player (PVP) mode enabled. You can disable this with the PVP
environment variable set to false, such as
docker run -d -e PVP=false ...
Level Type and Generator Settings
By default, a standard world is generated with hills, valleys, water, etc. A different level type can
be configured by setting LEVEL_TYPE to an expected type, such as
- DEFAULT
- FLAT
- LARGEBIOMES
- AMPLIFIED
- CUSTOMIZED
- BUFFET
Descriptions are available at the gamepedia.
When using a level type of FLAT, CUSTOMIZED, and BUFFET, you can further configure the world generator
by passing custom generator settings.
Since generator settings usually have ;'s in them, surround the -e value with a single quote, like below.
For example (just the -e bits):
-e LEVEL_TYPE=flat -e 'GENERATOR_SETTINGS=3;minecraft:bedrock,3*minecraft:stone,52*minecraft:sandstone;2;'
Custom Server Resource Pack
You can set a link to a custom resource pack and set it's checksum using the RESOURCE_PACK and RESOURCE_PACK_SHA1 options respectively, the default is blank:
docker run -d -e 'RESROUCE_PACK=http\://link.com/to/pack.zip?\=1' -e 'RESOURCE_PACK_SHA1=d5db29cd03a2ed055086cef9c31c252b4587d6d0'
NOTE: : and = must be escaped using \. The checksum plain-text hexadecimal.
World Save Name
You can either switch between world saves or run multiple containers with different saves by using the LEVEL option,
where the default is "world":
docker run -d -e LEVEL=bonus ...
NOTE: if running multiple containers be sure to either specify a different -v host directory for each
LEVEL in use or don't use -v and the container's filesystem will keep things encapsulated.
Downloadable world
Instead of mounting the /data volume, you can instead specify the URL of
a ZIP file containing an archived world. This will be downloaded, and
unpacked in the /data directory; if it does not contain a subdirectory
called world/ then it will be searched for a file level.dat and the
containing subdirectory renamed to world. This means that most of the
archived Minecraft worlds downloadable from the Internet will already be in
the correct format.
The ZIP file may also contain a server.properties file and modules
directory, if required.
docker run -d -e WORLD=http://www.example.com/worlds/MySave.zip ...
NOTE: Unless you also mount /data as an external volume, this world
will be deleted when the container is deleted.
NOTE: This URL must be accessible from inside the container. Therefore,
you should use an IP address or a globally resolveable FQDN, or else the
name of a linked container.
Cloning world from a container path
The WORLD option can also be used to reference a directory that will be used
as a source to clone the world directory.
For example, the following would initially clone the world's content
from /worlds/basic. Also notice in the example that you can use a
read-only volume attachment to ensure the clone source remains pristine.
docker run ... -v $HOME/worlds:/worlds:ro -e WORLD=/worlds/basic
Downloadable mod/plugin pack for Forge, Bukkit, and Spigot Servers
Like the WORLD option above, you can specify the URL of a "mod pack"
to download and install into mods for Forge or plugins for Bukkit/Spigot.
To use this option pass the environment variable MODPACK, such as
docker run -d -e MODPACK=http://www.example.com/mods/modpack.zip ...
NOTE: The referenced URL must be a zip file with one or more jar files at the
top level of the zip archive. Make sure the jars are compatible with the
particular TYPE of server you are running.
You may also download individual mods using the MODS environment variable and supplying the URL
to the jar files. Multiple mods/plugins should be comma separated.
docker run -d -e MODS=https://www.example.com/mods/mod1.jar,https://www.example.com/mods/mod2.jar ...
Remove old mods/plugins
When the option above is specified (MODPACK) you can also instruct script to
delete old mods/plugins prior to installing new ones. This behaviour is desirable
in case you want to upgrade mods/plugins from downloaded zip file.
To use this option pass the environment variable REMOVE_OLD_MODS="TRUE", such as
docker run -d -e REMOVE_OLD_MODS="TRUE" -e MODPACK=http://www.example.com/mods/modpack.zip ...
WARNING: All content of the mods or plugins directory will be deleted
before unpacking new content from the MODPACK or MODS.
Online mode
By default, server checks connecting players against Minecraft's account database. If you want to create an offline server or your server is not connected to the internet, you can disable the server to try connecting to minecraft.net to authenticate players with environment variable ONLINE_MODE, like this
docker run -d -e ONLINE_MODE=FALSE ...
Allow flight
Allows users to use flight on your server while in Survival mode, if they have a mod that provides flight installed.
-e ALLOW_FLIGHT=TRUE, FALSE
Miscellaneous Options
Running as alternate user/group ID
By default, the container will switch to user ID 1000 and group ID 1000;
however, you can override those values by setting UID and/or GID as environmental entries, during the docker run command.
-e UID=1234
-e GID=1234
The container will also skip user switching if the --user/-u argument
is passed to docker run.
Memory Limit
By default, the image declares a Java initial and maximum memory limit of 1 GB. There are several
ways to adjust the memory settings:
MEMORY, "1G" by default, can be used to adjust both initial (Xms) and max (Xmx)
memory settings of the JVMINIT_MEMORY, independently sets the initial heap sizeMAX_MEMORY, independently sets the max heap size
The values of all three are passed directly to the JVM and support format/units as
<size>[g, G, m, M, k, K]. For example:
-e MEMORY=2G
JVM Options
General JVM options can be passed to the Minecraft Server invocation by passing a JVM_OPTS
environment variable. Options like -X that need to proceed general JVM options can be passed
via a JVM_XX_OPTS environment variable.
For some cases, if e.g. after removing mods, it could be necessary to startup minecraft with an additional -D parameter like -Dfml.queryResult=confirm. To address this you can use the environment variable JVM_DD_OPTS, which builds the params from a given list of values separated by space, but without the -D prefix. To make things running under systems (e.g. Plesk), which doesn't allow = inside values, a : (colon) could be used instead. The upper example would look like this:
JVM_DD_OPTS=fml.queryResult:confirm, and will be converted to -Dfml.queryResult=confirm.
HTTP Proxy
You may configure the use of an HTTP/HTTPS proxy by passing the proxy's URL via the PROXY
environment variable. In the example compose file it references
a companion squid proxy by setting the equivalent of
-e PROXY=proxy:3128
Using "noconsole" option
Some older versions of Spigot required --noconsole to be passed when detaching stdin. You can
pass that at the end of docker run after the image name or set -e CONSOLE=FALSE.
Explicitly disable GUI
Some older servers get confused and think that the GUI interface is enabled. You can explicitly
disable that by passing -e GUI=FALSE.