What Maintenance works with.
| Platform | Java Edition |
|---|---|
| Loaders | Paper, Folia, Sponge, Velocity, BungeeCord |
| Minecraft versions | 1.8.9, 1.12.2, 1.16.5, 1.17.1, 1.18.2, 1.19.4, 1.20.1, 1.20.6, 1.21.1, 1.21.4, 1.21.8, 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.2 |
Maintenance closes your server to everyone who lacks a bypass permission, and it makes that closure look deliberate instead of broken. While it is on, the multiplayer server list shows a custom MOTD, a custom server icon and an optional countdown, so players see "back in 20 minutes" rather than a connection refused. It runs on Paper and Folia, on the Velocity and BungeeCord proxies, and on Sponge, with builds going back to 1.8.9 and current releases covering 1.21.10 through 26.2.
What Maintenance changes
- A custom MOTD and server icon replace the normal server list entry while maintenance is on.
- Start timers and end timers flip maintenance on or off after a duration like 1h30m5s or 90s.
- A %TIMER% variable prints the remaining time inside the MOTD or the player count message.
- A whitelist file lets named players in while everyone else is held out.
- Admins with maintenance.joinnotification get told when someone tries the door.
- Message text lives in a language file, so every string is editable and translations ship for several languages.
- On Velocity and BungeeCord, /maintenance on <servername> closes a single backend server instead of the whole network.
- Multiple proxy instances can share maintenance state and the whitelist through a MySQL connection.
Which server software and proxies it runs on
Maintenance ships a separate build per platform, and those builds are not all on the same release cadence. Version 5.1.0 from May 2026 covers Paper, Folia, Velocity and BungeeCord. The Sponge and Waterfall builds have not moved in years, so treat them as legacy rather than current.
- Paper and Folia, current 5.1.0 build, 1.21.10 through 26.2.
- Velocity, current 5.1.0 build, 26.1 through 26.2.
- BungeeCord, current 5.1.0 build, 26.1 through 26.2.
- Spigot works through the Paper build, with limited functionality compared to Paper.
- Sponge, last built in September 2024 at 4.3.0 for 1.20.6 through 1.21.4.
- Waterfall, last built in September 2023 at 4.2.0 for 1.20.1.
Installation
- 1.Download the build that matches your platform. Paper, Velocity, BungeeCord and Sponge each have their own jar.
- 2.Drop the jar into the plugins folder of the server or, on a network, the proxy.
- 3.Restart. First start writes config.yml, language-en.yml and WhitelistedPlayers.yml.
- 4.Edit ping-message.messages in config.yml to set the MOTD players will see.
- 5.Run /maintenance on to test it, then /maintenance off.
Commands and permissions
Every command sits under /maintenance and needs maintenance.command to run at all. Individual actions have their own nodes, and maintenance.admin covers all of them at once. Any permissions plugin works, so LuckPerms is a reasonable pairing if you are not already running one.
- /maintenance on and /maintenance off, permission maintenance.toggle.
- /maintenance starttimer <duration> and /maintenance endtimer <duration>, permission maintenance.timer.
- /maintenance schedule <delay> <duration>, permission maintenance.singleserver.timer.
- /maintenance aborttimer cancels a running timer, permission maintenance.timer.
- /maintenance dump collects server information for a bug report, permission maintenance.dump.
- maintenance.bypass lets a player join while maintenance is on.
- maintenance.singleserver.bypass.<server> does the same for one backend server on a proxy.
Questions about Maintenance.
5 questions
How do I install the Maintenance plugin?
Download the jar for your platform, since Paper, Velocity, BungeeCord and Sponge each get a separate build. Put it in the plugins folder and restart. On a proxy network, install it on the proxy only, never on the backend servers. First start creates config.yml, a language file and WhitelistedPlayers.yml, and you set the maintenance MOTD under ping-message.messages.
Does the Maintenance plugin work on Spigot?
Yes, through the Paper build, but with limited functionality compared to running it on Paper itself. The core behaviour of blocking joins and swapping the MOTD works. Some of the ping and component handling depends on Paper APIs that Spigot does not expose, so a Paper server gets the fuller feature set.
Does Maintenance work on Velocity and BungeeCord?
Both, and each has its own jar built from the same 5.1.0 release. The proxy builds add features the single server build does not have, including closing one backend server with /maintenance on <servername>, waiting and fallback servers, and syncing maintenance state across multiple proxy instances over MySQL.
Which Minecraft versions does Maintenance support?
The project as a whole covers 1.8.9 up to 26.2, but not every platform is current. The 5.1.0 builds from May 2026 handle 1.21.10 through 26.2 on Paper and Folia and 26.1 through 26.2 on Velocity and BungeeCord. The Sponge build stopped at 1.21.4 and the Waterfall build at 1.20.1.
Does Maintenance need a permissions plugin?
Not strictly. Operators already pass the permission checks, so a small server can run it without one. Anything more granular does need a permissions manager, because maintenance.bypass is what separates staff who can still connect during maintenance from players who cannot, and that node has to be granted to specific players or groups.
