SponsorVouch

A community-driven sponsorship, trust, and player progression system for Minecraft servers.

SponsorVouch replaces traditional whitelist management with a system built around trust, accountability, and community growth.

Instead of granting access to every new player manually, established members can sponsor newcomers and take responsibility for the people they invite.

New players gradually earn privileges through sponsorship and playtime, while server staff retain control over progression, moderation, and access.

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How It Works

SponsorVouch uses three player statuses:

Status	Description
Immigrant	A newcomer who has not yet completed the sponsorship process. Access and privileges may be restricted.
Resident	A sponsored player with access to the server's regular features. Can eventually earn sponsorship privileges.
Citizen	An established member who has reached the required progression threshold and gained greater independence.

The Sponsorship Process

1. Founders establish the community. Administrators designate trusted players as seeds, allowing them to sponsor newcomers.
2. A player receives sponsorship. An eligible sponsor vouches for a newcomer through the sponsorship system.
3. The newcomer confirms. Once confirmed, the player progresses from Immigrant to Resident.
4. Trust develops over time. Playtime and configurable requirements unlock further privileges and progression.
5. Responsibility matters. Certain punishments against sponsored players can also affect their sponsors, according to the server's rules.

The result is a community where access is earned through personal connections rather than an unrestricted whitelist.

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Features

Sponsorship & Trust

• Player-to-player sponsorship with persistent sponsor–ward relationships.
• Seed players who can establish the initial sponsorship network.
• Sponsorship requests and confirmations through player commands.
• Configurable sponsorship limits to prevent unlimited invitations.
• Eligibility requirements based on player status and playtime.
• Revocation and re-sponsorship with administrative controls.
• Trust tree for inspecting sponsorship relationships.
• Persistent sponsorship history stored across server restarts.

Player Progression

Players progress through Immigrant → Resident → Citizen.

SponsorVouch provides:

• Playtime-based progression requirements.
• Configurable thresholds for sponsorship eligibility.
• Automatic status progression where applicable.
• Status information through commands and menus.
• Integration with LuckPerms for groups and permissions.
• Persistent progression across restarts.

Server owners can adjust the requirements to fit their community without changing the plugin's core mechanics.

Moderation & Accountability

SponsorVouch connects player moderation with sponsorship responsibility.

• Warning tracking and sponsor accountability.
• Configurable punishment consequences.
• Temporary and permanent ban handling.
• Preservation of temporary ban expiration dates.
• Protection against unintentionally shortening existing sponsor bans.
• Citizen-specific exceptions to sponsor punishment propagation.
• Administrative tools for investigating sponsorship relationships.
• Protection periods and sponsorship revocation controls.

Sponsors are responsible for the players they introduce, but moderation remains under administrator control.

Administration & Server Management

• Administrative commands for managing seeds, statuses, and sponsorships.
• In-game GUI for accessing plugin functionality.
• Permission-controlled operations.
• Configurable join and whitelist policies.
• SQLite storage with no separate database server required.
• Database integrity checks.
• Consistent database transactions and safe migrations.
• SQLite backup and restore support.
• Configuration reload functionality.

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Requirements

Component	Requirement
Server software	Paper 26.3
Java	Java 25
Database	SQLite (included)
LuckPerms	Optional
Proxy	Not required

Compatibility: SponsorVouch 3.2.0 targets modern Paper 26.3 servers. Older Paper 1.21.x and Java 21 environments are not supported by this build.

Other server forks and Folia have not been independently validated.

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Installation

1. Download the latest compatible SponsorVouch .jar.
2. Place the file inside your server's plugins/ directory.
3. Start the server to generate the plugin configuration and database.
4. Open plugins/SponsorVouch/config.yml.
5. Adjust the settings to match your server's rules.
6. Restart the server to apply your initial configuration.

Optional: Install LuckPerms to manage progression groups and sponsorship permissions.

First-Time Setup

After installing SponsorVouch, designate your initial trusted members.

1. Allow your founders to join the server so their player records are available.

2. Assign seed status:

/svadmin addseed <player>

3. View registered seeds:

/svadmin listseeds

4. Configure your admission rules in config.yml, particularly the whitelist section.

Your initial sponsors can now begin building the community's trust network.

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Commands

Player Commands

Command	Description
/vouch <player>	Sponsor an eligible player.
/vouch request <player>	Use the sponsorship request workflow.
/vouch confirm	Confirm a pending sponsorship.
/unvouch	View information about sponsorship revocation.
/svmenu	Open the SponsorVouch menu.
/svstatus [player]	View a player's status and progression.
/trusttree [player]	Inspect sponsorship relationships.

Moderation & Administration

Command	Description
/svwarn <player> <reason>	Issue a player warning.
/svadmin addseed <player>	Grant seed status.
/svadmin removeseed <player>	Remove seed status.
/svadmin listseeds	List registered seeds.
/svadmin revoke ...	Manage sponsorship revocation.
/svadmin setstatus ...	Change a player's progression status.
/svadmin info ...	Inspect administrative player information.
/svadmin banchain ...	Inspect punishment relationships.
/svadmin whitelist ...	Manage whitelist-related settings.
/svadmin integrity	Run database integrity checks.
/svadmin backup	Create a database backup.
/svadmin reload	Reload plugin configuration.

Use /svadmin for the available administrative subcommands and their arguments.

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Permissions

Permission	Purpose
sv.vouch	Access to sponsorship functionality.
sv.warn	Warning-related commands.
sv.admin	Administrative functionality.
sv.admin.revoke	Administrative sponsorship revocation.
sv.trusttree	Trust tree access.
sv.seed	Seed sponsorship privileges.
sv.bypass	Bypass applicable restrictions.

Permissions can be managed through LuckPerms or another compatible permission management system.

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Configuration

SponsorVouch includes configurable settings for admission, progression, and sponsorship policies.

Some of the main settings include:

Setting	Purpose
seed-limit	Controls seed-related sponsorship limits.
vouch-unlock-hours	Playtime required to unlock sponsorship privileges.
max-active-vouches	Maximum number of active sponsorships.
citizen-hours	Playtime threshold for Citizen progression.
grace-period-hours	Duration of sponsorship-related protection periods.
rate-limit.*	Limits repeated actions.
whitelist.*	Controls server admission behavior.

Configuration is located at:

plugins/SponsorVouch/config.yml

Review your configuration before enabling restrictive join policies on an existing server.

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Optional Integration

LuckPerms

SponsorVouch supports LuckPerms for managing progression-related groups and permissions.

Verified integration behavior includes:

• Assigning and removing seed permissions.
• Synchronizing Citizen group membership.
• Updating sponsorship privileges.
• Preserving permission changes across server restarts.

SponsorVouch can operate without LuckPerms. Optional integration behavior is disabled when the dependency is unavailable.

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Data Storage & Backups

SponsorVouch stores player progression, sponsorship relationships, and moderation information using SQLite.

The plugin includes:

• Persistent player and sponsorship records.
• Transactional updates for important operations.
• Database schema migration support.
• Consistent SQLite snapshots.
• Backup integrity verification.
• Recovery-oriented database handling.

No external database server is required for the standard installation.

Before upgrading an existing server, back up your SponsorVouch data and review the migration instructions included with the release.

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Why SponsorVouch?

Traditional whitelists answer one question: Who is allowed to join?

SponsorVouch adds another: Who is willing to vouch for them?

By connecting access, progression, and accountability, server communities can build a more structured onboarding process without requiring administrators to approve every individual player manually.

SponsorVouch is designed for private communities, survival servers, and other Minecraft servers where player trust and long-term membership matter.

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License

SponsorVouch is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

See the project's LICENSE file for the complete license terms.