How to give a starter kit to new players on your Paper server

What a Minecraft starter kit on first join does

The kit in this guide is a stone sword, a stone pickaxe and 16 bread, followed by a private chat line that tells the newcomer what they just received. It is handed out automatically when a player joins your server for the first time. There is no command to type and no permission to set up.

"First time" here means what Paper already knows: a player the server had never saved before they joined. The runtime keeps no list of its own and no counter. That is why the kit works on a server you already run, and also why it cannot do a few things, listed further down.

This recipe uses NimBlock's block editor and its separate, free runtime. A NimBlock account lets you save the rule. To run it, you need an existing Minecraft Java server whose host allows plugin uploads. The steps below target Paper 1.21.11 with Java 21. You do not need a server hosted by NimBlock.

Build the kit rule in the studio

1. Open your plugins in NimBlock and create a new plugin. The editor starts with a welcome rule; you can keep it or delete it.
2. From Rules, drag a new rule into the plugin and name it Starter kit.
3. From Triggers, put A player joins in its when slot.
4. From Conditions, put It is the player's first visit in its if slot.
5. From Actions, add Give an item to the player three times: STONE_SWORD with amount 1, STONE_PICKAXE with amount 1, BREAD with amount 16.
6. Add Send a message to the player last, for example Welcome {player}! Here is a starter kit to get going. Keep {player} exactly as written: the runtime replaces it with the player's name.
7. Save the plugin. On its page, copy the complete JSON shown into a plain-text file named starter-kit.json, saved as UTF-8.

Items are written with their Minecraft name, such as IRON_AXE or COOKED_BEEF. Swap the three items for your own kit: one action per item, each with its amount. The public grammar lists every trigger, condition and action available.

Install it on your existing Paper server

1. Download the NimBlock runtime. Stop your server, put the runtime's .jar directly in plugins/, then start the server.
2. Check that NimBlock is enabled with /plugins. Paper's plugin installation guide explains how to diagnose a failed load.
3. Upload starter-kit.json to plugins/NimBlock/specs/. Keep the folder's capital letters. If needed, create the folder first.
4. As a server operator, run /nimblock reload, then /nimblock list. Your saved plugin name should appear. In the server console, omit the leading slash.

Fix any error reported during reload before testing. An unknown item name is only caught when the rule runs, so check the spelling of each item before your first test.

Test it with an account that has never joined

Your own account has already played on your server, so it will not receive the kit, and that is the rule working. Test with a Minecraft Java account that has never joined this server, for example a friend's, or on a copy of your server with a fresh world. On that first join, the account should receive the sword, the pickaxe, the bread and the message. Disconnect, wait a moment and reconnect: nothing more should be given.

Players who joined before you installed the rule are not newcomers and will not receive the kit. Loading the rule does not replay earlier joins.

The limits of a first-join kit

• Once per player, as long as the server remembers them: the condition reads Paper's own player data. If you start a new world, everyone is a newcomer again and gets the kit again. If you delete one player's data, only that player becomes a newcomer again and receives the kit once more.
• True for the whole first session: the condition is true not only at the moment a newcomer joins, but until they disconnect, even if the server saves in the meantime. Keep it under A player joins; under another trigger, such as respawning, a newcomer could receive the kit a second time during that first session.
• No daily kit, no cooldown, no counter: the runtime reacts to events and remembers nothing, so it cannot give a kit "once a day" or "three times per player".
• Plain items: the action gives an item type and an amount. Enchantments and custom names are not part of it.
• Full inventory: whatever does not fit drops on the ground at the player's feet. A newcomer's inventory is normally empty, so this rarely matters.

Change the kit without reinstalling the runtime

Edit the rule in the studio and save a new version. Replace the contents of the same starter-kit.json file with the newly saved JSON, then run /nimblock reload. The next newcomer receives the new kit; players who already got the old one are not given anything more. Keeping both the old and new files would load both rules and hand out two kits.

You can use the runtime on your own compatible Paper server without buying NimBlock hosting. Your rule stays a readable JSON file that you can inspect and keep with your server backup.