Add a welcome message to your Minecraft Paper server

Minecraft welcome message or server-list MOTD?

A welcome message appears after the player connects. The MOTD appears before that, under the server's name in the multiplayer list. Changing motd in server.properties changes the latter, as the Paper documentation explains. It does not create the chat greeting in this guide.

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 greeting in the studio

1. Open your plugins in NimBlock and create a new plugin. The editor starts with a welcome rule.
2. Keep the trigger A player joins and the action Send a message to the player. Leave the rule without conditions so it runs on every join.
3. Change the message to something useful, such as Welcome {player}! Please keep the chat friendly. Keep {player} exactly as written: the runtime replaces it with the player's name.
4. Save the plugin. On its page, copy the complete JSON shown into a plain-text file named welcome.json, saved as UTF-8.

The studio produces a JSON rule, not a standalone Java plugin. On another host, you install the runtime once, then give it that JSON file. The public grammar describes the available triggers and actions.

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 welcome.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. A runtime listed in /plugins proves that the runtime loaded, not that your JSON rule did. Use /nimblock list for that second check.

Check what players actually see

Connect with your Minecraft Java account. You should see your greeting with your name in it. Disconnect and reconnect: the same greeting should appear again. If another player is already online, ask them to check that they do not receive your private greeting. They may still see Minecraft's normal join announcement.

To announce arrivals to everyone instead, choose the studio's broadcast action. That adds a public message; it still does not remove the normal announcement. Keep private instructions and public announcements separate so each join does not flood everyone's chat.

Change the text without reinstalling the runtime

Edit the message in the studio and save a new version. Replace the contents of the same welcome.json file with the newly saved JSON, then run /nimblock reload. Reconnect to test it. This message-only change does not need a server restart. Keeping both the old and new files can load both rules and produce two greetings.

No greeting, or two greetings?

• Nothing in the runtime's list: check the folder, the .json extension and the reload errors. A file named welcome.json.txt is not the same file type.
• The rule loads but stays silent: check that its trigger is player join, that it has no conditions, and that you actually reconnected after loading it. Loading a rule does not replay earlier joins.
• You see two custom greetings: check for a second JSON file or another plugin sending a welcome message. A normal join announcement alongside one private greeting is expected.
• You want a greeting only for new players: that needs an additional condition. This recipe deliberately greets returning players too.

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.