Setting Up the Clans Plugin on Your Minecraft Server

Most multiplayer Minecraft servers run on the assumption that friends will find each other in chat. That works at first, but once a server grows past a handful of regulars, organizing parties by yelling coordinates in global chat gets old. The Clans plugin gives players a proper in-game system for forming groups, sharing bases, chatting privately, and tracking kills across a leaderboard.

This guide walks through downloading the plugin, uploading it to your server, configuring the basics, and using the main commands once players are online. It is aimed at owners who already have a Minecraft server up and are comfortable opening the file manager.

What Clans Adds to a Server

Once installed, the plugin lets any player create a named group, invite others, and run a few extras that vanilla Minecraft does not ship with:

• A private chat channel for clan members.
• A shared base coordinate that the whole group can warp to.
• Per-clan statistics, including a server-wide kill leaderboard.
• Optional addons such as a shared chest and a clan rename feature.

By default, every player has access to every command, which is fine for a small friends server. If you would rather restrict who can do what, you can flip permissions on in the config and pair Clans with LuckPerms or another permission manager. We will get to that in a later section.

A heads up before downloading: the plugin has not received an update since 2020 and was officially tested on Minecraft 1.16. We have run it on 1.19 without trouble, but if you are on a much newer version and something misbehaves, dropping back to 1.16 or trying an alternative build is the quickest fix. The official addons share the same long-dormant release schedule, so expect similar version warnings if you decide to install any of them.

Downloading the Plugin

Clans is hosted on SpigotMC. To grab it:

1. Open the Clans page on the Spigot resource site.
2. Click the Download Now button in the upper right corner of the page.

1. Save the JAR somewhere easy to find on your computer, since you will be uploading it shortly.

That is the only file you need for the core plugin. If you plan to install Rename, Chest, or any of the other addons later, you can grab those from the same Spigot page when the time comes.

Installing on the Server

Before the plugin will load, your server has to be running a build that supports plugins. Spigot, Paper, and Purpur all work, along with a few less common forks. From the version dropdown in your panel settings, switch to one of those, then restart so the new server type generates its required files. Stock vanilla and Forge will not accept Bukkit plugins, so this step is not optional.

Once the server is on a plugin-friendly build, head to the file manager to push the JAR up.

1. From your panel's sidebar menu, open the FTP / file manager option.

1. Enter your password and click Login.

1. Open the plugins directory from the file list.
2. Hit Upload in the file manager and drop the Clans JAR into the upload area.

1. Wait for the progress bar to reach 100 percent, then go back to the main panel and Restart the server.

If everything went through, Clans will load on the next boot, and the plugin will create its folder under `plugins/Clans` with the default config files inside.

Getting Started In Game

Connect to your server, and you should have full access to clan commands straight away. Since permissions are off by default, no extra setup is required to start poking around. Most of the work is done through `/clan` commands typed into the chat. The plugin is built to be tailored, so almost every message, command, and behavior can be tweaked from the config files later.

Creating a Clan

In the chat, run:

`/clan create [name]`

The server will confirm the creation with a return message. Clan names are capped at 5 characters by default, which is short, but you can raise that limit in the config and even enable colored names if you set things up correctly.

Once a clan exists, you may notice that chat messages from clan members get a new prefix. The exact appearance depends on whatever chat plugin you may already be running, so the look will vary from server to server. If you use a chat manager that supports placeholders, you can pull Clans data straight into it. For servers without a separate chat plugin, the format defined inside the Clans config is enough on its own.

Managing the Group

A clan leader has a few daily responsibilities: inviting people, removing them when needed, and checking how the group is doing on the leaderboard.

Invites and Removals

To bring someone in, run:

`/clan invite [user]`

Once sent, an invite cannot be canceled, so only send them to players you actually trust.

The recipient accepts by typing `/clan accept` in chat. Anyone can walk away on their own with `/clan leave`, so the door is never locked from inside.

If a member misbehaves or you sent the invite to the wrong person, the leader can boot them with:

`/clan kick [user]`

Whether the kick is for a real reason or simply tidying up a mistake, the command works the same way.

Stats and Leaderboards

To see who is doing what inside your clan:

`/clan stats [name]`

This pulls up the member list along with a kill counter for each one. Drop the clan name and run `/clan stats` on its own, and you get the top ten groups on the server instead. That doubles as a leaderboard, which is especially useful on KitPvP or other combat-focused servers where players already care about ranking.

The look of the stats screen is configurable, so feel free to redesign it to match whatever theme your server has. If you want the same numbers showing on a hologram or sign somewhere in spawn, a placeholder plugin can pull the values across.

Sharing a Clan Base

The shared base feature is the part most players actually use day to day. It works like the `/sethome` command from other plugins, but the location is shared with the entire clan. To set one, stand where you want the base and run:

`/clan setbase`

Anyone in the clan can then return with `/clan base`. There is a 5 second delay by default, which gives other players a window to interrupt the warp in PvP. That delay lives in the config if you want to shorten it for casual servers or stretch it out for combat-heavy ones.

Editing the Config

The plugin drops several editable files into its folder: `config.yml`, `messages.yml`, plus a file per clan once players start making them. Most server owners only need to touch `config.yml`, which holds general settings, the permission toggle, and the chat format string. The per-clan files are mainly useful if you ever need to manually delete a group or hand-edit who is in it.

1. Open the FTP / file manager and log in as before.
2. Browse to `.../plugins/Clans/Settings`.

1. Click Edit next to `config.yml`.

1. Make your changes, then click Save at the top.

1. Restart the server from the main panel so the new values load.

YAML is picky about formatting, so watch your indentation and quoting. A stray space is usually the difference between a working config and a plugin that quietly refuses to load.

Commands and Permissions

If you want fine-grained control over who can do what, you will need a permission manager. LuckPerms is the usual pick, but anything that handles permission nodes will work. The catch: permissions are off by default in Clans. Open `config.yml`, set `PermissionEnabled` to `true`, save the file, and restart the server before assigning any nodes. Without that flag flipped, the plugin ignores every rule set elsewhere.

Official Addons

The plugin author shipped a small set of optional addons that bolt onto the main Clans build:

• Rename lets a leader change the clan name after creation.
• Chest gives clans a shared double chest, accessible by command.
• A handful of smaller addons sit near the bottom of the Spigot page.

Since the addons share the same long-dormant release schedule as the main plugin, expect the same version caveats. Treat each one as an experiment rather than a sure thing, especially on the newest Minecraft releases.

Troubleshooting

A few things tend to go wrong, usually right after the first install.

Players cannot create clans. The plugin probably did not load. Check that the JAR is in the `plugins` folder of the server profile you are actually booting from, and that your Minecraft version is in the supported range. If you switched server profiles at some point, it is easy to upload the file to the wrong one and not notice.

An addon does nothing. The most common cause is a version mismatch between the addon and your Minecraft build. If swapping addon versions does not help, the next thing to check is permissions. Once `PermissionEnabled` is `true`, the relevant nodes for that addon also need to be granted in your permission manager.

Permission changes are ignored. Recheck that the value in `config.yml` is exactly `true`, lowercase, with no quotes around it. YAML treats `True`, `TRUE`, and `"true"` as different values, and only one of them does what you want. After fixing the line, save and restart, since the plugin only re-reads the file on boot.

Useful References

• Clans on Spigot.
• Adding plugins to a Minecraft server.
• Connecting to and using the FTP panel.
• Installing and using LuckPerms in Minecraft.