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server.properties Editor

Every vanilla server.properties key, explained in plain language, with the real defaults. Paste your existing file in, change what you need, download it back out.

Setup

Server software and starting point

The software you run decides which keys actually do anything. A preset fills the whole form — you can still change every value afterwards.

Fills every key

Mojang's own server. Every key here applies exactly as described, and the server rewrites this file on shutdown.

Import

Start from your existing file

Paste your server.properties, or pick the file from disk — it is read locally and never leaves this page. Keys the editor doesn't recognise (mod or plugin additions) are kept and re-exported untouched.

All keys

Every server.properties setting

Each key shows its vanilla default. Anything you change is marked, so you can always see what you've actually touched.

gamemode

The mode a player gets the first time they join. Existing players keep the mode they logged out with unless force-gamemode is on.

default: survival
force-gamemode

Puts everyone back into the default mode on every login, instead of restoring the mode they left with.

false
default: false
difficulty

How hard mobs hit. On peaceful, hostile mobs never spawn and hunger cannot kill you.

default: easy
hardcore

Locks difficulty to hard and drops players into spectator permanently when they die. There is no in-game way back.

false
default: false
pvp

Whether players can damage each other directly. Indirect damage — TNT, lava, fall traps — works either way.

true
default: true
allow-flight

An anti-cheat switch, not a permission. Off means a survival player who stays airborne for about five seconds is kicked. Creative flight is unaffected.

false
default: false
allow-nether

Off makes nether portals do nothing. Players already in the Nether stay there until they log out.

true
default: true
enable-command-block

Command blocks run at operator level, so anyone who can place one can effectively run any command.

false
default: false
spawn-animals

Natural spawning of passive mobs. Existing animals stay and breeding still works.

true
default: true
spawn-monsters

Natural spawning of hostile mobs. difficulty=peaceful already stops them regardless of this.

true
default: true
spawn-npcs

Whether villagers spawn naturally in generated villages. Existing and bred villagers are unaffected.

true
default: true

Output

server.properties

Vanilla defaults, unchanged.

Preview

#Minecraft server properties
#Generated with the Wespner server.properties editor
accepts-transfers=false
allow-flight=false
allow-nether=true
broadcast-console-to-ops=true
broadcast-rcon-to-ops=true
bug-report-link=
difficulty=easy
enable-command-block=false
enable-jmx-monitoring=false
enable-query=false
enable-rcon=false
enable-status=true
enforce-secure-profile=true
enforce-whitelist=false
entity-broadcast-range-percentage=100
force-gamemode=false
function-permission-level=2
gamemode=survival
generate-structures=true
generator-settings={}
hardcore=false
hide-online-players=false
initial-disabled-packs=
initial-enabled-packs=vanilla
level-name=world
level-seed=
level-type=minecraft\:normal
log-ips=true
max-chained-neighbor-updates=1000000
max-players=20
max-tick-time=60000
max-world-size=29999984
motd=A Minecraft Server
network-compression-threshold=256
online-mode=true
op-permission-level=4
pause-when-empty-seconds=60
player-idle-timeout=0
prevent-proxy-connections=false
pvp=true
query.port=25565
rate-limit=0
rcon.password=
rcon.port=25575
region-file-compression=deflate
require-resource-pack=false
resource-pack=
resource-pack-id=
resource-pack-prompt=
resource-pack-sha1=
server-ip=
server-port=25565
simulation-distance=10
spawn-animals=true
spawn-monsters=true
spawn-npcs=true
spawn-protection=16
sync-chunk-writes=true
text-filtering-config=
text-filtering-version=0
use-native-transport=true
view-distance=10
white-list=false

Checks

Anything risky?

Nothing looks risky.

No setting here stands out as dangerous or unusually expensive.

Good to know

Three things that catch people out

It is a Java properties file, not plain text. Colons, equals signs and # inside a value must be escaped with a backslash, and anything outside plain ASCII is written as a \u escape. That is why vanilla writes level-type=minecraft\:normal, and why a § colour code in your MOTD becomes \u00A7. This editor handles both directions for you.

The server rewrites the file on shutdown. Edit it while the server is running and your changes are overwritten when it stops. Stop the server, edit, then start it.

Missing keys are not an error. Anything absent falls back to its default and gets written back in on the next start, so a partial file is fine — use "only export changed keys" if you would rather keep a short one.

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