Minecraft Bedrock server.properties: The Complete Key Reference

Bedrock Dedicated Server (BDS) reads a file called server.properties, the same filename Java Edition uses. That is where the similarity ends. The two editions ship completely different key sets, and only eleven key names appear in both. Every other Java setting you paste into a Bedrock server.properties is read, not recognised, and silently ignored — no error, no warning, no effect.

This page documents every key the current Bedrock Dedicated Server accepts: name, valid values, default, and what it actually changes. For first boot, connecting and day-to-day operation see Setting up your Bedrock Minecraft server. For the Java Edition file, which is a different document entirely, see Minecraft server.properties: The Complete Reference.

This reference is current for Bedrock Dedicated Server 1.26.44.3

Every value below was read out of the server.properties and bedrock_server_how_to.html files shipped inside the official BDS 1.26.44.3 archive, the build served by Mojang's download API as of 18 August 2026. It corresponds to Bedrock Edition 26.44, released 14 August 2026. Bedrock adds and removes keys frequently, so check the comments in your own copy of the file if a key here is missing on your server.

1. How the File Works

The format is one key=value per line, and lines starting with # are comments. The server.properties inside Mojang's own BDS download is heavily commented — every key carries a short description and its allowed values — and that copy is worth keeping open while you work.

The file on your server here will not look like that

Our Bedrock egg generates server.properties fresh when the server installs, so the copy you open in the File Manager arrives with 41 active lines and no comments at all. Nothing is missing and nothing is broken — the keys are simply bare. Use this page, or the commented copy inside Mojang's BDS download, rather than expecting your own file to explain itself.

The file holds 68 recognised keys in total:

A commented-out key is not a disabled key. It is a key running on its default. Uncommenting #enable-profiler=true and leaving the value alone changes nothing; you have to uncomment it and set the value you want.

Bedrock has no /reload — every change needs a restart

Java's /reload has no working equivalent on BDS. The server has to be restarted for a server.properties change to take effect. The single exception is the console command changesetting, which can flip allow-cheats and difficulty on a running server — and it does not write your choice back to the file, so the value reverts on the next restart unless you also edit the file.

Most keys are read on every startup. level-seed is the exception: it is only consulted when the world is first generated, so changing it on an existing world does nothing.

2. World and Gameplay

allow-cheats is the setting people miss

Making somebody an operator does not give them commands if allow-cheats is false. It is a world-level switch that sits above the permission system, and it is off by default. If /gamemode returns nothing at all for an operator, this is almost always why.

3. Players and Access

allow-list now defaults to true — a fresh server locks everybody out

This default changed. Bedrock Dedicated Server shipped allow-list=false for years and flipped to allow-list=true in the 26.30 release; BDS 1.26.23.1 still shipped false, and 1.26.30.5 shipped true. On a current build, an untouched server accepts nobody until you add them. Players who try get "You're not invited to play on this server." The fix is to add yourself, not to disable the list — see Bedrock Allowlist and Permissions.

4. Networking and Ports

Bedrock is a UDP game. Java is TCP. That single difference explains most of the port confusion between the two editions.

enable-lan-visibility grabs 19132 and 19133 even when you moved the port

With transport=raknet, leaving LAN visibility on makes the server bind the default ports 19132 and 19133 as well as the ones you set in server-port and server-portv6. On a shared host that is a port conflict waiting to happen, and it is the reason two Bedrock servers on one machine can refuse to start even with different ports configured. Turn it off if you are not relying on LAN discovery.

The nethernet transport

transport selects how clients reach the server, and the two values behave very differently:

• raknet — the traditional Bedrock UDP transport, and the default. The server listens directly on server-port and server-portv6, and clients connect to that address and port. This is how every earlier release worked.
• nethernet — a WebRTC-based transport. The server opens a single dual-stack TCP socket on server-port for an HTTP-based signalling handshake, then negotiates a separate UDP connection with each client for gameplay traffic.

server-ip and server-udp-ports only do anything in nethernet mode. server-udp-ports either restricts the local UDP allocation window (49152-49200) or publishes a NAT mapping in the form [ip:]external[-external]:internal[-internal], for example 19132-19232:32000-32100 to bind locally on 32000–32100 while advertising 19132–19232 to clients. Ranges on both sides of the colon must be the same length. Multiple entries can be comma-separated, and the key may appear on more than one line to accumulate entries.

Because the NetherNet handshake speaks HTTP over TCP, Mojang's own documentation recommends putting a reverse proxy in front of server-port on an internet-facing server to enforce request and rate limits; only signalling traffic passes through it, while gameplay flows directly over the negotiated UDP connection.

5. Performance

Lower view-distance first, tick-distance second

The shipped default of view-distance=32 is generous — it is a rendering distance, and dropping it costs players very little while saving a great deal of bandwidth and CPU. tick-distance is capped at 12 and defaults to the minimum of 4 already, so there is far less to reclaim there. Its Java counterpart is simulation-distance, not view-distance.

6. Server-Authoritative Movement and Anti-Cheat

This group replaced the old movement keys entirely (see section 8). All of it is about how strictly the server second-guesses the client, and every one of these settings is a latency trade: stricter settings catch more cheating and send more position corrections to honest players on bad connections.

7. Logging, Diagnostics and Scripting

Bedrock's add-on scripting API brings a block of keys Java has no analogue for. Nearly all of them are commented out in the shipped file.

Content logging — content errors are add-on and pack errors, the Bedrock equivalent of a plugin stack trace:

Script debugger — allow-outbound-script-debugging and allow-inbound-script-debugging (both false) gate the debugger's connect and listen modes. script-debugger-auto-attach (disabled, connect, listen) attaches at world load, using script-debugger-auto-attach-connect-address (host:port) in connect mode or force-inbound-debug-port (default 19144) in listen mode. script-debugger-auto-attach-timeout sets how long to wait at load, and script-debugger-passcode makes VS Code prompt for a passcode.

Script watchdog — enabled by default, and it is what stops a runaway add-on taking the server down. script-watchdog-enable, -enable-exception-handling, -enable-shutdown and -hang-exception all default to true; script-watchdog-hang-threshold is 10000 ms for a single-tick hang; -spike-threshold (100) and -slow-threshold (10) produce warnings and are disabled unless set. script-watchdog-memory-warning (100 MB, max 2000, 0 disables) logs a content warning, and script-watchdog-memory-limit (250 MB, max 2000, 0 disables) saves and shuts the world down.

Diagnostics and telemetry — diagnostics-capture-auto-start (false) starts a capture at world load, cycling through diagnostics-capture-max-files (5) files of diagnostics-capture-max-file-size (2097152 bytes) each. sentry-rate-limit-window (60 seconds) and sentry-max-events-per-window (10) throttle scripting errors reported to Sentry. enable-profiler turns on profiler support and enable-editor-network-metrics enables live network metrics in the debugger.

Editor and client rendering — convert-world-to-editor-project (false) upgrades a vanilla world to an Editor project, but only when the server is launched with the Editor=true command-line flag. disable-client-vibrant-visuals tells clients to fall back to the next best graphics setting instead of Vibrant Visuals.

8. Removed Keys That Guides Still Tell You To Set

Five movement keys are still quoted all over the internet, including in configuration generators. None of them exists any more. Setting them does nothing at all.

server-authoritative-movement also had three named values — client-auth, server-auth and server-auth-with-rewind — and those are gone with it. The current model is always server-authoritative, and the -strict keys only choose how tightly it is enforced.

9. Same Job, Different Name

These are the keys most likely to waste an hour. The behaviour exists on both editions; only the spelling changed.

10. Java Keys With No Bedrock Equivalent

If a guide tells you to set one of these on a Bedrock server, the guide is about Java. The gaps that matter most operationally:

There is also no Bedrock equivalent of Java's -Xmx and -Xms. BDS has no JVM and no way to set an initial or maximum memory value; it takes what it needs.

11. The Eleven Keys Spelled the Same

These are the only key names that appear in both editions' server.properties:

difficulty · force-gamemode · gamemode · level-name · level-seed · max-players · online-mode · player-idle-timeout · server-ip · server-port · view-distance

Even here, three behave differently. server-ip is ignored on Bedrock unless transport=nethernet. view-distance defaults to 32 on Bedrock against Java's 10, and on Bedrock it is purely a view distance because ticking is governed by tick-distance. And server-port is a UDP port on Bedrock, a TCP port on Java.

12. A Sensible Starting Point

For a small private survival server on a managed host, this is the set worth changing from the defaults:

server-name=My Server
gamemode=survival
difficulty=normal
allow-cheats=true
max-players=10
online-mode=true
allow-list=true
view-distance=16
tick-distance=4
player-idle-timeout=0
enable-lan-visibility=false
default-player-permission-level=member

allow-cheats=true is there because without it no one can run a command, operator or not. enable-lan-visibility=false avoids the default-port grab described in section 4. view-distance=16 is still generous and roughly halves the chunk streaming of the stock 32.

Leave the port keys to your control panel

On a managed Minecraft server, server-port and server-portv6 are set from the allocation in the panel's Network tab and are re-applied on boot. Editing them by hand either gets overwritten or binds a port that is not routed to you. If you need a different or extra port, take it from the Network tab.

Sources

• The server.properties and bedrock_server_how_to.html files shipped inside the official Bedrock Dedicated Server archive, version 1.26.44.3
• minecraft.wiki — server.properties
• minecraft.wiki — Bedrock Dedicated Server

What to Read Next

• Setting up your Bedrock Minecraft server for first boot, connecting, add-ons and backups
• Bedrock Allowlist and Permissions for allowlist.json, permissions.json, XUIDs and operator roles
• Setting up CrossPlay for Minecraft if you would rather run one Java server that Bedrock players can join
• Minecraft server.properties: The Complete Reference for the Java Edition file
• Minecraft Server Commands for the command set

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