EssentialsX Setup: Homes, Warps, Kits and Economy

Ask any Minecraft server owner which plugin they installed first and the answer is almost always EssentialsX. It is the plugin that provides /home, /warp, /tpa, /kit, /spawn, a working economy, and about a hundred and fifty other commands that players assume are part of the game. They are not — vanilla has none of them.

EssentialsX is a maintained fork of the original Essentials, and it is the version to install; the original has not been updated for modern Minecraft. It ships as a set of jars rather than one, it needs a permissions plugin to be useful, and it has a couple of interactions with other plugins that catch people out. All three are covered below.

Installing plugins in general is covered in How to install plugins for Minecraft Java Edition.

Which Jars You Actually Need

EssentialsX is modular. The download is a set of separate jars, and you install only the ones you want.

The core jar is a dependency of every module, so EssentialsX always goes in. Drop the jars you want into plugins/ and restart — not /reload. On first boot the core generates plugins/Essentials/config.yml and plugins/Essentials/kits.yml.

Do not run EssentialsX alongside CMI or another all-in-one

CMI is a paid alternative that covers the same ground. Running both means two plugins registering /home, /warp and an economy, and the result is unpredictable. Pick one. The same applies to running a second economy plugin: Vault routes economy calls to exactly one backing provider.

As of 19 August 2026 the current release is EssentialsX 2.22.0, published 31 May 2026. Its actively supported Minecraft version is 26.1.2, with 1.8.8 through 1.21.11 still supported but not a priority. There is no stable release supporting Minecraft 26.2 yet. If you are on 26.2, check the project's development builds before upgrading the server. EssentialsX also does not support Folia, Mohist, Forge/Bukkit hybrids such as Magma, CatServer and Arclight, or 1.7.10 and below; on a Forge, NeoForge or Fabric server the project points you at FTB Essentials instead. Paper is the recommended server software, and several commands — /anvil, /grindstone, /loom, /smithingtable, /stonecutter, /cartographytable — only work on Paper at all.

Permissions: The Part That Actually Matters

EssentialsX grants a player nothing by default. Every command has a node, and until you hand them out through a permissions plugin nobody can do anything.

The node pattern is essentials.<command> — /home is essentials.home, /tpa is essentials.tpa, /kit is essentials.kit. Sub-nodes extend it: .others lets a player run the command on somebody else, and specific commands add their own.

lp group default permission set essentials.home true
lp group default permission set essentials.sethome true
lp group default permission set essentials.delhome true
lp group default permission set essentials.tpa true
lp group default permission set essentials.tpaccept true
lp group default permission set essentials.tpdeny true
lp group default permission set essentials.warp true
lp group default permission set essentials.msg true
lp group default permission set essentials.balance true
lp group default permission set essentials.pay true

/spawn and /setspawn come from the EssentialsXSpawn module rather than the core jar, so their nodes only exist once that module is installed.

lp group mod permission set essentials.kick true
lp group mod permission set essentials.mute true
lp group mod permission set essentials.tempban true
lp group mod permission set essentials.invsee true
lp group mod permission set essentials.vanish true
lp group mod permission set essentials.tphere true
lp group mod permission set essentials.fly true

Setting up ranks, inheritance and weights is covered in How to Set Up LuckPerms Permissions for Minecraft. If you cannot work out which node a command is checking, LuckPerms' verbose mode (lp verbose record <player> then lp verbose upload) will show you the exact string, which is faster than guessing.

Almost every command has an e-prefixed alias

EssentialsX registers 153 commands, and 150 of them carry an e<name> alias — /ehome, /ewarp, /etpa. That exists precisely so you can reach EssentialsX's version when another plugin has claimed the plain name. The three exceptions are /createkit, /customtext and /showkit. Aliases are the same command, so they check the same permission node — there is no separate essentials.ehome.

Homes

/sethome saves a location, /home returns to it, /delhome removes it. Out of the box every player gets one home.

Multiple homes are a two-node system, and this is where people get stuck. A player needs essentials.sethome.multiple and a matching rank node, and the ranks are defined in config.yml:

sethome-multiple:
  default: 3
  vip: 5
  staff: 10

Those rank names are arbitrary labels inside EssentialsX; they do not have to match your permission groups. Someone with essentials.sethome.multiple alone gets the default count of 3. Someone with essentials.sethome.multiple and essentials.sethome.multiple.vip gets 5. essentials.sethome.multiple.unlimited removes the cap entirely.

lp group default permission set essentials.sethome.multiple true
lp group vip permission set essentials.sethome.multiple.vip true

Named homes are then /sethome base, /home base, and /renamehome changes a name. Related settings worth knowing: spawn-if-no-home sends a player to spawn if they run /home with none set, confirm-home-overwrite asks before replacing an existing home, and world-home-permissions gates /home between worlds behind essentials.worlds.<worldname> — the setting to reach for if you run a creative world people should not be able to hop out of. See Multiverse: Running Several Worlds on One Minecraft Server.

Warps and Kits

Warps

/setwarp <name> creates a server-wide warp at your position, /warp <name> goes to it, /delwarp removes it, /warp list shows them all.

By default anyone with essentials.warp can use every warp. Setting per-warp-permission: true in config.yml changes that: each warp then needs essentials.warps.<warpname>, and /warp list only shows the ones a player may actually use. That is how you build a donor-only warp or a staff warp without a second plugin.

Kits

Kits live in plugins/Essentials/kits.yml, not in config.yml. Each has a delay, and a negative delay makes it a one-time kit — the standard way to hand out a starter kit exactly once.

Access is per-kit: essentials.kits.<kitname> grants one, essentials.kits.* grants all. essentials.kit grants the command itself, so a player needs both.

lp group default permission set essentials.kit true
lp group default permission set essentials.kits.starter true
lp group vip permission set essentials.kits.vip true

/createkit <name> <delay> builds a kit from your current inventory rather than making you write YAML. By default it writes straight into kits.yml; set pastebin-createkit: true and it hands you a link with the kit code instead. use-nbt-serialization-in-createkit stores items as NBT so complex items like filled shulker boxes survive — at the cost of not being able to downgrade the server afterwards. kit-auto-equip puts kit armour straight onto the player.

essentials.kit.exemptdelay skips the cooldown for a rank, and skip-used-one-time-kits-from-kit-list hides spent one-time kits from /kit list.

Teleports

Four config settings shape how teleports feel on a survival server:

teleport-cooldown: 0
teleport-delay: 0
teleport-invulnerability: 4
tpa-accept-cancellation: 120
tpa-max-requests: 5

teleport-delay is a warm-up in seconds during which moving or being attacked cancels the teleport — the standard defence against players teleporting out of a fight. teleport-cooldown is the wait between teleports. teleport-invulnerability gives a few seconds of protection on arrival so nobody gets killed mid-load. tpa-accept-cancellation times out unanswered requests.

essentials.teleport.timer.bypass skips the delay for staff and essentials.teleport.timer.move lets a player move during it. Note that essentials.teleport.cooldown.bypass.tpa and .back default to true, so cooldowns do not apply to those two unless you explicitly deny the node.

/back has a nuance: essentials.back.ondeath defaults to false, so /back will not return a player to their death spot unless you grant it. essentials.back.onteleport defaults to true.

The Economy

EssentialsX ships a working economy — balances, /pay, /balancetop, shop signs — and most economy-aware plugins reach it through Vault, an abstraction layer they all depend on.

starting-balance: 0
currency-symbol: '$'
currency-symbol-suffix: false

essentials.eco.loan lets a player go negative. essentials.pay.offline allows paying players who are not online. essentials.balancetop.exclude keeps a staff account off the leaderboard. Set economy-log-enabled: true to write transactions to a log file, which is worth having the first time somebody claims they were not paid.

Run exactly one economy provider

Vault routes every economy call to a single backing plugin. Install EssentialsX and a second economy plugin and you get two sets of balances that silently disagree. If you are selling ranks or perks against this economy, note that Mojang's rules on what a Minecraft server may sell are narrower than most owners assume — Minecraft Server Monetisation: What Mojang Actually Allows quotes them directly.

Chat, Prefixes and Nicknames

EssentialsXChat is the module that formats chat, and it is one of the two common answers to "my LuckPerms prefix is not showing".

LuckPerms stores the prefix; something else has to render it

LuckPerms holds prefix.100.[Admin] as data. A separate plugin must put it in front of the player's name, and on Bukkit, Spigot and Paper that plugin also needs Vault installed to read LuckPerms. EssentialsXChat is the usual choice when Essentials is already present. If lp user Steve info shows a prefix and chat does not, LuckPerms has done its job and the problem is in the formatter. See How to Set Up LuckPerms Permissions for Minecraft.

Beyond formatting, the core jar handles nicknames (/nick, with essentials.nick.changecolors for colours), private messages (/msg, /r), ignoring (/ignore), mail (/mail), and chat spy for staff (essentials.chat.spy, with essentials.chat.spy.exempt to keep senior staff out of it).

Moderation Commands

The core jar covers most day-to-day moderation without a separate plugin: /kick, /kickall, /ban, /tempban, /banip, /tempbanip, /unban, /mute, /togglejail (aliased /jail), /setjail, /jailedplayers, /vanish, /invsee, /god, /heal, /feed, /burn, /kill, /socialspy, /seen and /whois. /mute takes an optional duration, so there is no separate temp-mute command.

Two settings are worth knowing. jail-online-time: true counts jail time only while the player is online, which stops someone waiting out a sentence offline. And EssentialsX bans and the vanilla ban list are separate systems — a full account of whitelisting, banning and which list wins is in Minecraft Whitelist and Ban Management.

Signs

EssentialsX supports functional signs. The full set in 2.22.0 is balance, buy, free, sell, trade, enchant, repair, gamemode, heal, info, kit, mail, randomteleport, warp, anvil, cartography, disposal, grindstone, loom, smithing, workbench, spawnmob, time and weather — plus color, which is not a sign type but enables colour codes on signs.

Every one of them is commented out by default. Each has to be uncommented in the enabledSigns block of config.yml, and each carries three permissions: essentials.signs.create.<type>, essentials.signs.use.<type> and essentials.signs.break.<type>. Give players use and staff create, or anyone who can place a sign can build a free-item dispenser.

Common Issues

• A command works but says "you do not have permission". The node is missing. lp verbose record <player>, have them run it, then lp verbose upload to see exactly what was checked.
• Another plugin has taken over /home or /warp. Use the e-alias (/ehome) to confirm which plugin is answering, then fix the conflict in commands.yml or by removing the duplicate plugin.
• Multiple homes are not working. The player has only one of the two required nodes, or the rank name in sethome-multiple does not match the node suffix.
• A prefix set in LuckPerms is not showing in chat. EssentialsXChat (or another formatter) plus Vault is missing.
• Two economies disagree. Two economy providers are installed. Remove one.
• A kit gives nothing. The player has essentials.kit but not essentials.kits.<name>, or the kit is one-time and already used.
• Signs do nothing. They are commented out in enabledSigns, or the player lacks the use permission for that type.
• Everything broke after a Minecraft update. EssentialsX is version-specific. Check the release notes before upgrading the server — the current release does not yet cover 26.2.

FAQ

Do I need EssentialsX and LuckPerms both?

Yes, in practice. EssentialsX supplies the commands, LuckPerms decides who may run them. Without a permissions plugin only operators can use anything, and opping people to make commands work hands them /stop too — see Minecraft Op Permission Levels: 0 to 4 Explained.

Does EssentialsX work on Fabric or Forge?

No. It is a Bukkit plugin and only runs on Paper, Spigot and their forks. The project explicitly warns against Forge/Bukkit hybrids and points modded servers at FTB Essentials.

Does it support Minecraft 26.2?

Not in a stable release. 2.22.0 actively supports 26.1.2 and still supports 1.21.11 and a long tail of older versions. Check the project's development builds if your server is already on 26.2.

Is Essentials the same thing as EssentialsX?

EssentialsX is the maintained fork. The original Essentials is only appropriate for 1.7.10 and below, where EssentialsX will not run.

Where does player data live?

Under plugins/Essentials/userdata/, one file per player UUID, holding their homes, balance and other per-player state. It is part of the server volume, so it is inside your normal backups — see How to create a backup.

Can I use it on a Folia server?

Not yet. The project says Folia support is still being worked on and warns that running current versions on Folia or its forks can lose userdata.

What to Read Next

• How to install plugins for Minecraft Java Edition for getting the jars onto the server
• How to Set Up LuckPerms Permissions for Minecraft for handing out the nodes above
• Minecraft Op Permission Levels: 0 to 4 Explained for why opping staff is the wrong fix
• Minecraft Whitelist and Ban Management for the ban lists EssentialsX sits alongside
• Minecraft Server Monetisation: What Mojang Actually Allows before you sell anything against the economy
• Multiverse: Running Several Worlds on One Minecraft Server for per-world homes and warps
• Minecraft Grief Protection and Rollback — EssentialsXProtect is not a substitute for CoreProtect

Primary sources used for this guide (all checked 19 August 2026): the plugin.yml and config.yml shipped inside the EssentialsX 2.22.0 jar, which is where the 153 commands, their aliases and the permission nodes and defaults quoted above were read from; the EssentialsX 2.22.0 release notes on GitHub for supported Minecraft versions, the module list and the unsupported-platform list; the EssentialsX source at tag 2.22.0 for the essentials.warps.<name> node; and the EssentialsX project on Modrinth.

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