Customise the Minecraft server list with MiniMOTD

MiniMOTD changes the description and related presentation shown when a Minecraft client refreshes its multiplayer server list. That status response is different from chat messages, a login announcement or the text returned by an in-game MOTD command.

Install on the endpoint players contact

Check the project's current platform downloads and game-version requirements. Choose the correct plugin or mod artifact, rather than placing a Fabric download in Paper's plugin folder. Follow the plugin installation guide for a Paper server.

On a proxy network, the public proxy normally answers the player's status request. Editing only a backend can therefore appear to do nothing. Review your proxy's ping-passthrough behaviour and decide which component owns the public response before adding another MOTD plugin.

Keep a copy of your current presentation configuration and stop normally before editing generated files. Avoid having MiniMOTD, ServerListPlus and another status plugin all trying to replace the same response; preserve a rollback copy when choosing one.

Edit the generated configuration

1. Start once and inspect Console for a successful enable. Stop before making the initial configuration change.
2. Open the main configuration generated by that release. MiniMOTD uses HOCON .conf files; the official wiki's example calls its main file main.conf.
3. Find the motds list and change one entry's line1 and line2. Begin with plain text so you can verify the file and endpoint before adding formatting.
4. Check motd-enabled and any icon settings relevant to your configuration. Preserve the surrounding braces, brackets and quotes.
5. Save and restart normally. Refresh the same saved server entry in a Minecraft client and confirm the new text.

A simple formatted first line might be <gold>Our survival server</gold>. MiniMOTD uses MiniMessage formatting; an ampersand-colour example from a different plugin is not automatically valid here. Escape markup correctly when you mean literal angle brackets.

Add an icon and predictable variation

Follow the installed release's icon requirements and put the PNG in its configured icon directory. In the documented format, an icon name refers to the filename without the .png extension, while random chooses among available icons. Test one known icon before adding a collection.

Multiple MOTD entries can be selected on different refreshes. If text seems to revert randomly, inspect every configured entry before blaming cache. Keep player counts accurate; presentation settings should not be mistaken for additional service capacity.

Troubleshoot the response players see

Check for a parse error after editing, a second status plugin, the wrong domain or an old proxy endpoint. Compare direct and domain-based connections where appropriate without exposing a private backend publicly. Do not change unrelated world or authentication settings to repair a server-list line.

Provide the plugin version, platform, public endpoint and a redacted configuration excerpt when requesting help. See Minecraft domain records. Further reading: MiniMOTD configuration, platform downloads and MiniMessage syntax.

Looking for another plugin? Browse the Minecraft plugin guide directory.