Getting Started with Spigot Plugin Development

By Biraj Rai November 20, 2020

Spigot is the most popular server software for Minecraft Java Edition. It is a fork of CraftBukkit with performance improvements. Writing plugins for Spigot lets you add custom features to your server.

Setup

You need:

Java 21 or higher
The Spigot API (or Paper API for better performance)
Maven or Gradle for building

Your project should have a plugin.yml file that tells Spigot what your plugin does:

name: MyFirstPlugin
version: 1.0
main: com.example.MyFirstPlugin
api-version: 1.21

Your first command

Commands are how players interact with your plugin. Here is a simple greet command:

public class MyFirstPlugin extends JavaPlugin {
    @Override
    public void onEnable() {
        getCommand("greet").setExecutor(new GreetCommand());
        getLogger().info("MyFirstPlugin enabled!");
    }
}

The command executor handles what happens when a player types /greet:

public class GreetCommand implements CommandExecutor {
    @Override
    public boolean onCommand(CommandSender sender, Command cmd, String label, String[] args) {
        sender.sendMessage("§aHello from MyFirstPlugin!");
        return true;
    }
}

Listening to events

Plugins come alive when they react to things happening in the game. Events are fired for almost everything including players joining, blocks breaking, and entities dying.

@EventHandler
public void onPlayerJoin(PlayerJoinEvent event) {
    Player player = event.getPlayer();
    player.sendTitle("§6Welcome", "§eto " + player.getName(), 10, 40, 10);
}

getServer().getPluginManager().registerEvents(new JoinListener(), this);

Building and testing

Use Maven or Gradle to build your plugin into a JAR file. Drop the JAR into your server’s plugins folder. Restart the server. Test your plugin with a friend or a second Minecraft account.

Next steps

Once you have the basics, try building something useful. A teleportation system, a home plugin, or a simple economy. Each project will teach you more about the API.

If you want to see a more complex example, check out the minigame plugin guide.