Features

• Two-line MiniMessage MOTDs with gradients and a one-second immutable render cache.
• Weighted random entries and priority-based weekday/time schedules, including overnight windows.
• Profiles for exact or wildcard hostnames, client protocol ranges, first-time pings, and returning pings.
• Maintenance MOTD, kick message, permission bypass, exact IP whitelist, and persistent on/off command.
• Automatic whitelist MOTD while the built-in server whitelist is enabled.
• Local 64×64 favicons per profile, with path and symlink escape protection.
• Actual, offset, fixed, or hidden player counts; custom hover sample and protocol/version label.
• Event countdown placeholders with an explicit time zone.
• Optional in-memory ping-to-join analytics with TTL and a strict address limit.
• English by default, with complete bundled en_US and ru_RU language files.

The ping handler never reads files, queries a database, resolves DNS, invokes PlaceholderAPI, or reads world state. It only selects an already-rendered immutable entry and updates an optional bounded in-memory counter.

Requirements and installation

• Java 25
• Paper, Purpur, or Folia 26.2

1. Put mMotd-1.1.0.jar in the server's plugins directory.
2. Start the server once.
3. Edit plugins/mMotd/config.yml.
4. Run /mmotd reload.

English is the default. Set language: ru_RU and reload to switch all command feedback to Russian. Existing language files automatically receive newly added default keys.

Profiles

motd:
  entries:
    - id: default
      weight: 3
      audience: ANY
      hosts: []
      protocol: { min: -1, max: -1 }
      line1: "<gradient:#00FF87:#60EFFF><bold>SERVER</bold></gradient>"
      line2: "<gray>Online: <white>{online}/{max}</white> · Event in {countdown}"
      text: "Welcome"

    - id: events
      weight: 1
      audience: RETURNING
      hosts: ["events.example.com", "*.event.example.com"]
      protocol: { min: -1, max: -1 }
      line1: "<gold><bold>EVENT NETWORK</bold>"
      line2: "<gray>Join the next event in <white>{countdown}</white>"

  schedule:
    - days: [FRIDAY, SATURDAY]
      time: "18:00-02:00"
      entry: events
      priority: 100

A global ANY entry without hostname or protocol limits is required as a safe fallback. Invalid entries and schedules are reported individually; a reload with no valid fallback is rejected without replacing the live cache.

Supported placeholders are {online}, {max}, {tps}, {version}, {time}, {date}, {unique_players}, {motd_line}, {countdown}, {countdown_days}, {countdown_hours}, {countdown_minutes}, and {countdown_seconds}.

Set countdown.target to an ISO-8601 value with an offset, for example 2026-12-31T18:00:00+03:00. Set time-zone to system or an IANA zone such as Europe/Moscow.

Icons, player display, and safety

Icon paths are relative to plugins/mMotd, must resolve inside that directory even through symlinks, and must point to valid 64×64 PNG files. Missing or invalid files are skipped while the rest of the profile remains usable.

Configuration input is bounded: entries, schedules, hover lines, text length, weights, protocol ranges, hostname patterns, IP whitelist, and analytics cache size all have safe limits. Dynamic command error text is inserted as unparsed MiniMessage data.

{unique_players} is deliberately refreshed less often than online count and TPS because loading the offline-player list can be expensive. Change cache.unique-player-refresh-seconds if needed.

Commands and permissions

Command	Permission	Description
/mmotd preview	mmotd.command.preview	Show the current fallback preview
/mmotd reload	mmotd.command.reload	Validate configuration and atomically replace the cache
/mmotd maintenance on|off	mmotd.command.maintenance	Persistently toggle maintenance mode
/mmotd stats	mmotd.command.stats	Show local ping and conversion statistics

mmotd.admin grants every command permission and mmotd.maintenance.bypass.

Local analytics and telemetry

Local ping analytics are disabled by default. When enabled, client addresses are immediately transformed into salted SHA-256 hashes, retained only in memory, bounded by analytics.max-unique-addresses, and removed after analytics.address-ttl-minutes. Raw addresses and hashes are never persisted or sent externally. Restarting the server resets the salt and all local statistics.

mMotd separately uses anonymous bStats metrics. No IP addresses, hashes, MOTD text, hostnames, or player identifiers are collected. Disable bStats with metrics.enabled: false.

The update checker only reads public Modrinth version metadata. It never downloads or replaces JAR files and can be disabled with updates.enabled: false.

Build

./gradlew clean build

Licensed under the MIT License.