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An Introduction To CraftBukkit/Spigot Permissions

Updated

This tutorial will cover the basics of Craftbukkit and Spigot Minecraft permission systems, permission nodes, and permission plugins. Using Craftbukkit permissions, you can grant groups and players access to specified commands and other abilities that require permissions.

Permission Nodes

  • By default, players do not have access to most commands on the server. Admins can grant players Minecraft OP status, but it is not ideal for most servers because it gives the player access to all server commands. As a replacement for Minecraft OP, Craftbukkit has a permission system that most plugins implement.
  • Permission Nodes are a method of defining what commands/abilities a player can perform on the server. The plugin developer assigns different permission nodes to different commands and actions. For example, permission node bukkit.command.kick allows a player to use Craftbukkit /kick command.
  • Permission nodes can also allow players to perform different actions, such as entering a certain area. For example, permission node worldguard.region.bypass.* allow players to bypass WorldGuard protection for regions, while permission node essentials.signs.use.buy allows players to use Essentials buy signs.
  • A list of Craftbukkit permission nodes can be found on the Official Bukkit Wiki.
  • Plugins have their own permission nodes for commands and different actions, which can typically be found on the plugin pages published by their developers.

Summary Nodes

Most permission plugins will allow the use of Summary Nodes. Summary nodes use the wildcard “*” to enable all sub-permission nodes.

Example Command Description
worldguard.region.* Allows access to all permission nodes that start with worldguard.region.
essentials.* Allows access to all permission nodes that start with essentials.
‘*’ Allows access to all permission nodes.

Permission Plugins

Although Bukkit has a permission system built in, it lacks a built-in permission management system. There are multiple permission plugins, such as PermissionsEx and GroupManager, that can be used to manage permissions on your server.

GroupManager is one of the easiest permission plugins to set up, as it comes with a pre-made set of groups that will work out of the box for most servers. It can also edit the default groups to work with the server.

If any information here is outdated, please let us know by creating a support ticket. Thank you.