Lightning

Lightning ⚡

Lightning lets you customize messages across your server, including messages from plugins that were never designed to support MiniMessage. Add gradients, hex colors, hover events, click actions, reusable placeholders, and custom commands without modifying individual plugins.

Define reusable text styles, create interactive messages, and build command workflows with simple YAML configuration.

Cook with Lightning.

Features

Universal MiniMessage Support

Use gradients, hex colors, hover events, and click actions in messages from virtually any plugin, including those limited to legacy color codes.

Server Wide Message Customization

Customize chat, action bars, titles, boss bars, tab lists, scoreboards, menus, items, holograms, dialogs, server list messages, and even ban and kick screens.

Smart Tag Detection

Lightning processes messages containing supported Lightning tags while leaving ordinary text untouched. Commands such as /home <name> remain intact.

Sparks: Reusable Text Components

Create your own tags for prefixes, color schemes, formatted placeholders, dynamic values, rotating tips, and localized messages. Define them once and reuse them throughout your server.

Bolts: Message Actions

Go beyond formatting with tags that trigger actions, including action bar messages, titles, sounds, and message suppression.

Player Head Integration

Use the <face> tag to display a player's own head directly in supported text components.

Rewires: Override Existing Messages

Restyle messages you cannot easily edit through a plugin's configuration, including vanilla server screens and hardcoded plugin messages where supported.

Custom Commands

Create your own commands using YAML. Configure permissions, tab completion, typed arguments, subcommands, cooldowns, execution limits, and configurable actions.

Built-in Configuration Tools

Trace messages back to their source, identify broken tags across plugin configurations, and convert legacy & color codes to MiniMessage with a single action.

Lightweight and Safe

Player supplied text remains plain text rather than being interpreted as formatting instructions. Ordinary messages avoid unnecessary processing, helping keep overhead low.

Configuration Examples

1. MiniMessage in Any Plugin's Configuration

With Lightning installed, supported messages in other plugins' configurations can use MiniMessage formatting.

welcome: "<gradient:#FFE259:#FFA751>Welcome back, %player_name%!</gradient>"
home-set: "<actionbar><green>Home set.<sound:entity.player.levelup>"
balance: "<spark:prefix> You have <spark:balance>"

2. Create Your Own Commands

Define commands, arguments, cooldowns, permissions, and actions directly in YAML.

report:
  description: Report a player to staff
  sender: player
  cooldown: 1m
  arguments:
    - name: target
      type: player
    - name: reason
      type: text
  actions:
    - "<spark:prefix> Thanks, staff will look into it."
    - broadcast: "<red>Report</red> {player} reported {target}: {reason}"
      permission: server.staff

These examples illustrate how Lightning brings formatting, reusable components, and command logic into one configuration driven system.

Requirements

• Paper or Folia, 1.21 or newer
• Java 21
• PlaceholderAPI (optional)

Installation

• Download Lightning and place the JAR in your server's plugins folder.
• Restart your server.
• Configure Lightning and start customizing your messages.

Support​

Looking for help with Lightning? You can join the DenizenMC Discord Server or check out the documentation.

Anonymous Statistics​

Lightning collects anonymous server statistics through Arrow Stats, an open source statistics service for Minecraft software.

You can opt out by editing plugins/Arrow Stats/config.yml.