Most servers find out a plugin is outdated the hard way — a crash, a security advisory, or a player pointing it out. PluginPulse checks the places your plugins actually publish releases (Modrinth, GitHub, Hangar, or a self-hosted manifest), tells you when something's behind, and — if you let it — downloads the update, verifies its checksum, backs up the old jar, and stages the new one to apply on your next restart.

It's three tools in one project, so you pick the one that matches you:

You…	Use
run a server and want your installed plugins kept current	the companion plugin (the download here)
build your own plugin and want it to self-update	the library — shade it in
have a jar you can't or won't rebuild	the browser tool — add updates to it in your browser

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Compatibility

Server software	Paper, Spigot, Folia, and Paper-compatible forks (Purpur, Pufferfish, etc.)
Minecraft versions	1.20.5 – 1.21.x (plain jar) · 26.x (-mc26 jar)
Java	21+ for 1.20.5–1.21.x · 25+ for 26.x
Dependencies	None. Nothing to install alongside it.

On Spigot (no Adventure), rich clickable notices automatically fall back to plain text with the download link spelled out — everything else works identically. Folia is detected at runtime and scheduler calls are routed to the regional schedulers automatically.

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The companion plugin (the download)

PluginPulse Companion is a normal plugin you drop into plugins/. It reads a list of your other plugins and where each one publishes updates, then checks (and optionally downloads) updates on their behalf — those plugins don't need to know anything about it.

# plugins/PluginPulseCompanion/config.yml
plugins:
  # Key = the plugin's EXACT name as shown by /plugins
  EssentialsX:
    modrinth: essentialsx        # its Modrinth slug
    mode: notify                 # tell me on join; download nothing

  WorldGuard:
    github: EngineHub/WorldGuard  # GitHub owner/repo (uses Releases)
    mode: download                # download + stage; applies on restart

  SomePaidPlugin:
    hangar: Author/My-Plugin      # Hangar project slug
    mode: check-only              # silent; only shown in /pluginpulse

user-agent-contact: "you@example.com"   # required by Modrinth's API rules
check-interval-hours: 6

Edit, then /pluginpulse reload. That's the whole setup.

Update sources

Point each plugin at wherever it publishes releases:

• Modrinth — project slug (modrinth: my-plugin)
• GitHub Releases — github: owner/repo
• Hangar — project slug
• Custom JSON manifest — a self-hosted URL (headers can carry auth, e.g. licence keys)

List more than one as fallbacks. You choose the check order — a priority setting (in the browser tool, a #1/#2/#3 dropdown; in YAML, a source-order list) decides which is tried first.

Update modes — you're always in control

Mode	What happens when an update is found
off	ignore this plugin
check-only	check quietly; result only in /pluginpulse
notify (default)	check + tell admins (console & on join). Nothing downloaded.
download	check, download, checksum-verify, and stage for the next restart
auto-stage	like download, but staged automatically as soon as it's found

Safe by design

Nothing is ever swapped under a running server. Downloads are checksum-verified (sha512 → sha256 → sha1; unsigned downloads are refused unless you opt in), the current jar is backed up, and the new jar is staged into the server's update folder to apply on your next restart. /pluginpulse restore stages the previous backup to roll a bad update back.

Commands

/pluginpulse (aliases /ppc, /pulse), permission pluginpulse.admin (ops by default):

Command	What it does
/pluginpulse · list	show each managed plugin and whether an update is available
/pluginpulse check [plugin|all]	check now
/pluginpulse download [plugin|all]	download + stage available updates
/pluginpulse restore [plugin|all]	stage the previous backup (undo a bad update)
/pluginpulse reload	re-read config.yml

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For plugin developers — the library

Want your own plugin to self-update? Shade the library in via JitPack and relocate it:

dependencies {
    implementation("com.github.darkstarworks.PluginPulse:pluginpulse-core:v0.6.0")
}
tasks.shadowJar {
    relocate("io.github.darkstarworks.pluginpulse", "my.plugin.libs.pluginpulse")
}

Then it's either one file (drop a pluginpulse.yml in your resources and call PluginPulse.bootstrap(this) / shutdown(this)) or the full builder for custom sources, message re-branding, tracks, and more. You get MiniMessage console + in-game notices, semver-ish version comparison with pre-release awareness, distribution tracks for parallel builds (e.g. 1.7.3 and 1.7.3-mc26), rate-limit-friendly checks, and verified one-command installs with rollback — all dependency-free. See the library guide.

(Optional pluginpulse-hotreload add-on can apply a staged update without a restart — with deliberate hard limits: refused on Folia and when other plugins depend on yours. Restart-install stays the recommended default.)

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The browser tool — for a jar you can't rebuild

Have a plugin jar but no source and no build tools? The browser tool adds an auto-updater to a compiled jar entirely in your browser — pick the jar, choose where its updates come from, generate a new jar. Your jar is never uploaded anywhere; all the work happens locally on the page.

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100% Free & Source Available

No licence key, no telemetry, no "premium" gating. Source-available licence, full source on GitHub — issues and PRs welcome.

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Links

• Source / issues: github.com/ESMP-FUN/PluginPulse
• Server owners — companion guide: Companion plugin guide
• Developers — library guide: Library guide
• Jar-only — browser tool guide: Browser tool guide
• Finding your update source: Finding your update source