Skyblock Servers: Setup and Best Practices

Decide your island rules first

Write these down before you install anything. Three of them are locked in forever once the first island exists.

Distance vs protection range. BentoBox lays islands out on a grid. distance-between-islands is a radius: the distance from an island's centre to the edge of its grid cell. With 400, island centres are 800 blocks apart. protection-range is also a radius: the part of that cell the owner can build in. It can grow up to the distance but never past it. Choose a generous distance now (it costs nothing; empty void is not saved to disk) and a small starting protection range that players expand by progressing.

Install BentoBox and BSkyBlock

Install BentoBox

1. Make a backup first: Backups → Create Backup.
2. Open Minecraft Plugins, search BentoBox and choose the download icon on its row. Install plugins
3. Start the server, wait until the console says Done, then Stop it. BentoBox creates plugins/BentoBox/ with its config.yml and an empty addons folder.

Install the BSkyBlock addon

BentoBox addons are not normal plugins. They go in plugins/BentoBox/addons/, never in plugins/.

1. Go to download.bentobox.world on your computer. It lists every official game mode and addon with a matching version. (The same jars are published on Modrinth by the BentoBox team.)
2. Download BSkyBlock, and the feature addons you picked from the table below.
3. In the panel open Files → plugins → BentoBox → addons.
4. Choose Upload and select the jars. Or copy a jar's download link and use Pull from URL.
5. Do not start yet. Set up the island options in the next step first.

/bbox catalog in game shows the official addon catalog with download links, which is handy for spotting addons you have not installed yet. It does not install them for you.

Choose your addons

Every addon page states which BentoBox version it needs. Keep BentoBox and all addons on matching versions; when you update BentoBox, update the addons in the same go.

Configure BSkyBlock before the first start

1. Start the server once with BSkyBlock in the addons folder, wait for Done, then Stop it. This creates plugins/BentoBox/addons/BSkyBlock/config.yml and the worlds bskyblock_world, bskyblock_world_nether and bskyblock_world_the_end.
2. Open plugins/BentoBox/addons/BSkyBlock/config.yml in Files and change the settings below.
3. If you changed anything in the world: section, delete the three bskyblock_world folders in Files before starting again, so they are regenerated with your settings. Nobody has an island yet, so nothing is lost.
4. Start the server.

The settings that matter

bskyblock:
  command:
    island: island is skyblock sb
    admin: bsbadmin bsb skyblockadmin sbadmin sba
    new-player-action: create
    default-action: go
world:
  friendly-name: BSkyBlock
  world-name: bskyblock_world
  difficulty: NORMAL
  distance-between-islands: 400
  protection-range: 50
  start-x: 0
  start-z: 0
  island-height: 80
  sea-height: 0
  max-islands: 0
  default-game-mode: SURVIVAL
  nether:
    generate: true
    islands: true
    roof: true
    spawn-radius: 25
  end:
    generate: true
    islands: true
    dragon-spawn: false
island:
  max-team-size: 4
  max-coop-size: 4
  max-trusted-size: 4
  max-homes: 1
  reset:
    reset-limit: 3
    leavers-lose-reset: true
    kicked-keep-inventory: false
    on-join:
      money: false
      inventory: true
      health: true
      hunger: true
      exp: true
      ender-chest: true
    on-leave:
      money: false
      inventory: false

Below island: you'll also find create-island-on-first-login. Leave it off if you have a spawn or lobby that explains the server first; turn it on for "join and play straight away" servers.

Check it worked

1. Join the server and run /island. You should be asked to pick an island (or get the default one) and be teleported onto it.
2. Run /island info to see your island's protection range and centre.
3. Run /bentobox version in the console: BentoBox, BSkyBlock and each addon should be listed with versions.

Build a spawn and a custom starter island

The spawn island

New players and visitors need somewhere to land.

1. Fly to an empty spot in bskyblock_world far from 0,0, or use the default island you just created.
2. Build your spawn: rules signs, a tutorial path, NPC shops later.
3. Stand where players should appear and run /bsbadmin setspawn. This turns that island into the protected spawn island. /island spawn now takes players there.

Make your own starter island

The default island works, but a custom one makes your server feel like yours. BentoBox saves islands as blueprints and groups them into bundles that players choose from.

1. Build the island somewhere empty in bskyblock_world. Put one bedrock block at the centre: BentoBox centres the island on it. Include a chest with starter items (lava bucket, ice, sapling, bone meal, some food), and a sign explaining /island help.
2. Stand at one corner and run /bsbadmin blueprint pos1 (short form /bsb bp pos1).
3. Stand at the opposite corner, diagonally across and higher up, and run /bsbadmin blueprint pos2.
4. Stand where players should spawn on the island and run /bsbadmin blueprint origin.
5. Run /bsbadmin blueprint copy. Use /bsbadmin blueprint copy air only if the island will be pasted into water or rock.
6. Test it: fly somewhere empty and run /bsbadmin blueprint paste. Check it looks right, then remove the test copy.
7. Run /bsbadmin blueprint save island. Saving as island replaces the default island after you confirm; any other name creates a new blueprint. Repeat for nether-island and end-island if you built those too.

Blueprints are saved as .blueprint files in plugins/BentoBox/addons/BSkyBlock/blueprints/. Rename blueprints and bundles only in the game, never by renaming files.

Offer several islands (bundles)

1. Run /bsbadmin blueprint with no arguments to open the Blueprint Manager.
2. Click the green banner (bottom left) and type a bundle name in chat, e.g. desert.
3. Click a blueprint below the grey panes so it glows, then click the green pane to set the Overworld island. The red pane is the Nether island and the yellow pane the End island; both are optional.
4. Right-click the bundle icon to add a description; click an item in your inventory to set its icon.
5. Click the picture icon to make the bundle require a permission. The permission is bskyblock.island.create.<bundle name>, e.g. bskyblock.island.create.desert. Give it to a rank in step 9.

The default bundle cannot be deleted. Every bundle needs an Overworld blueprint.

Set up island levels and block values

The Level addon counts every block on an island and turns the total into a level. Players use it to compete, and other addons use it as a requirement.

1. Restart once after installing Level so it creates plugins/BentoBox/addons/Level/config.yml and blockconfig.yml.
2. In config.yml, check these:

levelcost: 100
level-calc: blocks / level_cost
levelwait: 60
zero-new-island-levels: true
nether: false
end: false
deathpenalty: 100
underwater: 1.0

3. In blockconfig.yml, blocks: sets what each block is worth (whole numbers; unlisted blocks are 0), and limits: caps how many of a block count:

limits:
  cobblestone: 10000
  netherrack: 1000
blocks:
  diamond_block: 300
  emerald_block: 300
  iron_block: 15
  beacon: 300
  cobblestone: 1
  hopper: 0

Set farm blocks (hoppers, observers) low or zero so players aren't rewarded for building lag. Values only change future calculations: tell players to run /island level again.

Commands: players use /island level, /island top and /island value (hold a block to see its worth). Admins use /bsbadmin level <player> and /bsbadmin top remove <player> to remove a cheater from the top ten.

Set up challenges

Challenges are the backbone of Skyblock progression: "collect 64 cobblestone", "build a farm", "reach level 50".

1. Restart after installing Challenges. It starts with no challenges at all.
2. Run /bsbadmin challenges to open the admin menu.
3. Choose the option to load the default challenges: 5 levels and 57 challenges, a solid base to edit. Or use Import Template for a template file, or the Web Library icon to download a community set.
4. Edit any challenge in the menu: its requirements, rewards (items, money, XP, commands), whether it's repeatable and how many times, and whether it's deployed (visible).
5. Players open them with /island challenges.

Reward commands have no leading /, and [player] is replaced with the player's name, e.g. lp user [player] permission set bskyblock.island.maxhomes.2 true. This is how you give permanent perks for finishing a challenge level.

store-island-data in Challenges' config.yml decides whether challenges are shared by the whole island team (true) or tracked per player (false). Decide before launch.

After editing challenge files by hand, run /bsbadmin challenges reload.

Ore generators (MagicCobblestoneGenerator)

Vanilla cobblestone generators make only cobblestone. MagicCobblestoneGenerator replaces that output with a weighted mix of blocks, in tiers that players unlock: a starting generator, then coal, iron, gold, diamond and so on.

1. Restart after installing. The addon reads plugins/BentoBox/addons/MagicCobblestoneGenerator/generatorTemplate.yml.
2. Edit the template. Each tier lists its blocks with weights, and its requirements:

tiers:
  coal_generator:
    name: "&r&lCoal Generator"
    icon: "COAL_ORE:1"
    type: COBBLESTONE_OR_STONE
    priority: 1
    requirements:
      island-level: 20
      purchase-cost: 500.0
    activation-cost: 0.0
    blocks:
      COBBLESTONE: 65
      STONE: 15
      GRAVEL: 5
      COAL_ORE: 15

3. Template edits don't apply by themselves: run /bsbadmin generator import (or Import Template in the /bsbadmin generator menu).
4. Players open /island generator to see, buy and switch generators.

requirements can include an island level, a purchase cost (needs Vault), a permission or biomes. The number of generators a player can have active at once comes from the permission bskyblock.stone-generator.active-generators.<number>.

Balancing: ores are the main source of money. Start ore weights low (diamond ore 1–2%) and check what a busy island earns per hour before raising them.

Economy, shops, upgrades, warps and limits

Economy

1. Install VaultUnlocked (the maintained Vault fork) or Vault, and EssentialsX, from Minecraft Plugins. EssentialsX provides the economy; Vault connects plugins to it.
2. In plugins/Essentials/config.yml set starting-balance (e.g. 100) and the currency-symbol.
3. Restart and run /balance to check.

BentoBox uses the economy automatically while use-economy: true is set in plugins/BentoBox/config.yml.

An admin shop

Players need somewhere to sell farm output and buy things they can't make (sand, dirt, saplings).

• EconomyShopGUI is free (a paid Premium edition adds a GUI editor and stock limits). ShopGUI+ is paid.
• Price ores and farm items so a mid-game island earns enough to buy upgrades in days, not minutes. Sell prices should be well below buy prices, or players buy and resell for profit.
• Watch /baltop in the first week. If one player is far ahead, a price is wrong.

Player-run shops: QuickShop-Hikari or ChestShop, found through warp signs.

Upgrades

The Upgrades addon lets players spend money, island levels or items on rewards: a bigger protection range, higher block and entity limits (from the Limits addon), commands (for example, adding a team slot permission), spawner boosts and crop growth boosts.

1. Restart after installing, then open /bsbadmin upgrade to create upgrades and their tiers. Prices and rewards are set in this menu, not in config.yml.
2. Players open /island upgrade.
3. If an upgrade raises a Limits limit, list that block or entity under block-limits-upgrade or entity-limits-upgrade in Upgrades' config.yml (only the names matter) so Limits' own permission limits don't fight with it.

A sensible first set: range 50 → 75 → 100 → 150, hopper limit 16 → 32 → 64, team size via a command reward.

Warps

Players put [Welcome] on the top line of a sign on their island; the lines below become the description. Everyone finds it with /island warps or /island warp <player>. By default an island must reach level 10 before its owner can make a warp sign (change it in Warps' config.yml).

Limits

Limits caps how many of a block or mob an island can have. Set it up before launch; adding limits later means players already over the limit keep what they have.

plugins/BentoBox/addons/Limits/config.yml:

gamemodes:
- BSkyBlock
blocklimits:
  HOPPER: 32
  OBSERVER: 32
  PISTON: 32
  STICKY_PISTON: 32
  SPAWNER: 10
  COMPARATOR: 32
entitylimits:
  ARMOR_STAND: 20
  CHICKEN: 30
  COW: 30
  PIG: 30
  SHEEP: 30
  VILLAGER: 20
  ITEM_FRAME: 64
entitygrouplimits:
  Monsters:
    icon: ROTTEN_FLESH
    limit: 150
    entities:
    - ZOMBIE
    - SKELETON
    - CREEPER
    - SPIDER
    - ENDERMAN
    - WITCH

Limits apply separately in each dimension: a hopper limit of 32 allows 32 in the Overworld, 32 in the Nether and 32 in the End. Use blocklimits-nether: and blocklimits-end: to set those lower.

Players see their limits with /island limits and fix a wrong count with /island limits recount. Admins recount an island with /bsbadmin limits calc <player>.

Ranks and permissions with LuckPerms

Install LuckPerms from Minecraft Plugins and restart. Run these in the console (no /). BentoBox reads permission numbers from the end of a node; the highest number a player has wins. Number-based permissions are read when the island owner is online.

The default group

Most BSkyBlock player permissions are on by default. Add the few that are not, and decide what normal players may do:

lp group default permission set bskyblock.island.home true
lp group default permission set bskyblock.island.warp true
lp group default permission set bskyblock.island.addwarp true
lp group default permission set bskyblock.challenges true
lp group default permission set bskyblock.stone-generator true
lp group default permission set bskyblock.stone-generator.active-generators.1 true
lp group default permission set bskyblock.island.fly false
lp group default permission set bskyblock.island.deletehome true

Paid or earned ranks

lp creategroup vip
lp group vip parent add default
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.island.maxhomes.3 true
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.team.maxsize.6 true
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.coop.maxsize.6 true
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.island.range.75 true
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.island.fly true
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.island.limit.hopper.48 true
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.stone-generator.active-generators.2 true
lp group vip permission set bskyblock.island.create.desert true

lp creategroup mvp
lp group mvp parent add vip
lp group mvp permission set bskyblock.island.maxhomes.5 true
lp group mvp permission set bskyblock.team.maxsize.8 true
lp group mvp permission set bskyblock.island.range.100 true

Give a player a rank with lp user <name> parent add vip. Check what they have with lp user <name> permission check bskyblock.team.maxsize.6.

Staff

lp creategroup helper
lp group helper parent add default
lp group helper permission set bskyblock.mod.info true
lp group helper permission set bskyblock.mod.tp true

lp creategroup mod
lp group mod parent add helper
lp group mod permission set bskyblock.mod.bypassprotect true
lp group mod permission set bskyblock.mod.bypasslock true
lp group mod permission set bskyblock.mod.bypassban true
lp group mod permission set bskyblock.mod.team true
lp group mod permission set bskyblock.admin.why true

lp creategroup admin
lp group admin parent add mod
lp group admin permission set bskyblock.admin.* true
lp group admin permission set bentobox.admin.* true

bskyblock.admin.* includes deleting islands. Give it only to people you trust with the whole server. /bentobox perms in the console prints every BentoBox permission your installed addons register.

Teams, coop, visitors and protection flags

Team ranks

Players manage their team with /island team invite <player>, /island team coop <player>, /island team trust <player>, promote, demote and kick, and keep unwanted visitors out with /island ban <player>.

Island settings (what each rank may do)

Each island owner sets, in /island settings, the lowest rank allowed to break blocks, open chests, use doors, hurt animals and so on. The defaults for new islands come from default-island-flags in BSkyBlock's config.yml, where numbers are ranks: 0 visitor, 200 coop, 400 trusted, 500 member, 900 sub-owner, 1000 owner.

Sensible defaults: visitors may use doors, buttons and pressure plates (so they can tour), but not chests, furnaces, hoppers, animals or redstone.

World settings (admins)

/bsbadmin settings opens server-wide switches for the whole Skyblock world, for example whether creepers damage blocks, whether endermen pick up blocks, whether visitors keep their inventory on death, and whether pistons push across island edges. Hide flags players shouldn't touch by Shift + left-clicking them in the settings menu (stored under hidden-flags).

protection.invincible-visitors lists damage types that can't hurt visitors (falling into the void included), so griefers can't trap and kill guests. Keep it.

Performance: keep farms from lagging

Skyblock servers lag from automatic farms, mob grinders and item piles, not from the void. Do all of this before launch.

server.properties

config/paper-world-defaults.yml

hopper:
  cooldown-when-full: true
  disable-move-event: false
tick-rates:
  mob-spawner: 2
entities:
  spawning:
    per-player-mob-spawns: true
    alt-item-despawn-rate:
      enabled: true
      items:
        cobblestone: 300
        netherrack: 300
        cobbled_deepslate: 300
chunks:
  entity-per-chunk-save-limit:
    experience_orb: 16
    arrow: 16
    snowball: 8
environment:
  optimize-explosions: true
misc:
  redstone-implementation: ALTERNATE_CURRENT

Limits and Level

• The Limits values in step 8 are your main defence. Raise them as rewards, never remove them.
• Keep levelwait at 60 seconds or more and concurrent-island-calcs: 1 in Level's config.

Find the lag

1. Run spark tps to see whether the server is keeping up (20 TPS, MSPT under 50).
2. Run spark profiler start --timeout 300 with players online; it gives you a link when it finishes.
3. In the report, look for entities, hoppers or a specific chunk. /bsbadmin info while standing there tells you whose island it is.
4. Lower that island's limit with a permission, or ask the owner to fix the farm. Fix lag

Backups that actually restore

BentoBox keeps island data in two places: its database (who owns which island, team, levels, challenges, generators) and the world files (the blocks). They must always be restored together, from the same moment. A world restore with a newer database gives islands to the wrong owners or leaves players with no island.

Which database?

BentoBox's plugins/BentoBox/config.yml → general.database.type defaults to JSON: files in plugins/BentoBox/database/.

For a single Skyblock server, stay on JSON unless you have thousands of islands. If you do move to MariaDB: create the database on Databases (Databases), set type: MARIADB plus host, port, name, username and password in the database: section, and to keep existing data set type: JSON2MARIADB first and run /bbox migrate, then change it to MARIADB.

A backup schedule

1. Schedules → Create Schedule, name Backup every 6 hours, Minute 0, Hour */6, others *. Times are UTC. Schedules
2. Tasks: Send Command save-all, then Create Backup with a Time Offset of 10 seconds. Ignored files: logs, cache, crash-reports.
3. Run now once and check Backups shows it as successful.
4. Lock a backup on launch day and before every big change (addon update, challenge edits, price changes). Backup schedules

Restoring

Restore the whole backup, not just a world folder. Restoring only bskyblock_world from yesterday while the database is today's is how islands end up swapped.

Seasons, resets and long-term upkeep

Clearing out inactive islands

Islands of players who quit still take disk space. /bsbadmin purge <days> deletes region files that hold only islands untouched for longer than that many days (e.g. /bsbadmin purge 90). Protect an island you want to keep with /bsbadmin purge protect while standing on it. /bsbadmin purge unowned deals with ownerless islands. Lock a backup before purging.

Deleting or resetting one island

• /bsbadmin delete <player> removes a player's island (they can make a new one).
• /bsbadmin resets add <player> 1 gives a player an extra reset; /bsbadmin range set <player> 75 changes one island's protection range.
• /bsbadmin setowner <player> transfers ownership while standing on an island.

A full season wipe

Many Skyblock servers wipe every 3–6 months so the top ten is a race again.

1. Announce the date two weeks ahead. Lock a backup the day before; download it if you want an archive.
2. Stop the server.
3. In Files, delete bskyblock_world, bskyblock_world_nether and bskyblock_world_the_end.
4. In plugins/BentoBox/database/, delete the island and player data: Islands, Players, IslandLevels, ChallengesPlayerData and the generator and upgrade data folders. Keep Challenge and ChallengeLevel, which hold your challenge definitions. (On MariaDB, these are tables with the same names.)
5. Reset balances if you want a fresh economy (EssentialsX: delete plugins/Essentials/userdata/ or use your economy's reset command).
6. Start. Players get new islands; your configs, blueprints, challenges and generators stay.

Updates

• Update BentoBox and all addons together, after a locked backup, never on a busy evening.
• Read the release notes for config changes. New config keys are added automatically; renamed ones are listed in the notes.
• Before a Minecraft version update, check BentoBox and every addon list the new version. Change version

Moderation and anti-grief

• CoreProtect logs every block change, including on islands. /co inspect then click a block shows who changed it; /co rollback u:<player> t:2d r:#bskyblock_world undoes a griefer's work.
• Island protection stops visitors breaking things, but team members can grief. Encourage owners to use coop and trust before full membership, and to set /island settings carefully.
• Ban duplication exploits fast: if one player's balance jumps, check CoreProtect and the shop logs before it spreads.