Glossary

Minecraft server glossary

Short definitions of the words you meet while creating and running a server: from TPS and server cores to wipes and KillAura. Every term links to a detailed guide, a tool or a cheat page.

A12

AI Combat: DGuard's own AI combat model for PvP: trained on billions of gameplay data points collected in collaboration and testing with the most popular PvP servers, and today the strongest AI model in anticheat. It comes with DGuard on every plan.; Read more: AI Combat
Aikar's flags: A set of Java options for the G1 garbage collector tuned for Minecraft: short pauses instead of rare long ones. PaperMC recommends them for Paper and builds them into its start script generator.; Read more: Aikar's flags
AimAssist / AimbotAimCheat: Here the player swings and a program aims: AimAssist pulls the crosshair toward the nearest opponent while the player moves the mouse and clicks, and Aimbot simply locks on.; Read more: AimAssist / Aimbot
Anti-Xray: Paper's built-in protection against X-Ray: it hides ores behind fake blocks, so the cheat shows stone instead of diamonds. It's turned on in config/paper-world-defaults.yml, section anticheat.anti-xray.; Read more: Anti-Xray
AntiAFKCheat: AntiAFK fakes a player at the keyboard: every so often the character steps, jumps, turns its head, swings an arm or types in chat so the server doesn't kick it for being idle.; Read more: AntiAFK
Anticheat: A plugin that checks what players do and catches cheats: impossible movement, hits through walls, building too fast, forged packets. A good anticheat gathers evidence and punishes precisely, without false bans.; Read more: Anticheat
AutoArmorCheat: AutoArmor dresses the player by itself: pick up a better chestplate and it's already on; a helmet breaks mid-fight and a spare takes its place on the same tick.; Read more: AutoArmor
AutoClickerClickerCheat: Clicking for the player is all AutoClicker does — at a set rate and often with random jitter to look human.; Read more: AutoClicker
AutoEatCheat: Hunger or health drops to a threshold and the cheat is already eating: AutoEat switches to food, eats it and switches back to the weapon.; Read more: AutoEat
AutoFishCheat: AutoFish fishes for the player: it watches the bobber, reels in the moment a fish bites and casts again right away.; Read more: AutoFish
AutoPotion / AutoPearlAutoPotCheat: Potions and ender pearls win fights when thrown at the right second, and AutoPotion and AutoPearl throw them for the player.; Read more: AutoPotion / AutoPearl
AutoTotemCheat: A Totem of Undying saves you from death if it's in your main hand or offhand. Once it pops you need another, and an honest player has to open the inventory and move one over, or keep a totem in the hotbar and press swap hands.; Read more: AutoTotem

B9

Backtrack / FakeLagCheat: Two cheats, one trick: playing with time. Backtrack holds back incoming packets with the opponent's position, so on the cheater's screen the opponent lingers where they were a moment ago.; Read more: Backtrack / FakeLag
Backup: A copy of the world, plugins and configs that brings a server back after a failure, a break-in or a bad update. Make them on a schedule and keep them off the same machine.; Read more: Backup
BadPacketsCheat: BadPackets is the umbrella name for packets an honest client never sends: a head pitch beyond 90° up or down, a slot number outside the hotbar, a click on a window slot that doesn't exist, a player attacking themselves, infinite coordinates, two start-sprinting packets in a row with no stop between them.; Read more: BadPackets
Ban: Keeping a player off the server — by name, UUID or IP. It's set with a command or a ban plugin; a good ban rests on evidence, not on suspicion.; Read more: Ban
BlinkCheat: To the server and everyone else, a Blink user stands still, while on their own screen they keep walking: the cheat is holding back movement packets.; Read more: Blink
BoatFly / EntitySpeedCheat: Vehicles in Minecraft are driven by the client itself: it tells the server where the boat, horse or strider has moved.; Read more: BoatFly / EntitySpeed
BookBotCheat: A bot in place of a writer: BookBot takes a book and quill, fills the pages to the limit — with random characters, ads or anything else — signs it and moves on to the next.; Read more: BookBot
Bot attack: A flood of fake connections that clogs the server and the chat. Anti-bot plugins and connection limits on the proxy and the server protect against it, not an anticheat.; Read more: Bot attack
BungeeCord: A proxy that joins several servers into one network. New networks on 1.13 and later usually pick Velocity.; Read more: BungeeCord

C7

Chunk: A 16×16-block column of the world. The server loads, generates and saves the world in chunks; how many stay around a player is set by view-distance and simulation-distance.; Read more: Chunk
CivBreakInstantRebreakCheat: Place a block where one was just broken — and it's gone again. That's CivBreak: the cheat digs out a spot honestly once, then passes the old digging off as new and removes every following block in that spot with no delay.; Read more: CivBreak
Claimprotected region: A protected area where only its owner, and whoever they allow, can break and build. Made with plugins like WorldGuard or GriefPrevention.; Read more: Claim
CoreProtect: A plugin that logs every block placed and broken and rolls back a player's changes with one command. The main tool against the aftermath of griefing.; Read more: CoreProtect
Crashercrash exploit: A cheat or exploit that sends the server packets that crash it or load it into lag. It's closed by core updates, settings and packet checks.; Read more: Crasher
CriticalsCritsCheat: A critical hit deals 1.5× damage, but the game demands a real fall for it: the player must be off the ground and moving down, not in water or on a ladder, and on 1.9+ also not sprinting and with the attack meter nearly full.; Read more: Criticals
CrystalAura / AutoCrystalCACheat: In crystal PvP an end crystal goes down on obsidian or bedrock next to the opponent and gets hit right away: it explodes and deals massive damage.; Read more: CrystalAura / AutoCrystal

D4

Data pack: A set of data that changes the game without plugins: recipes, loot, structures, functions. It goes into world/datapacks and is turned on with reload or a restart.; Read more: Data pack
DDoS: An attack that floods a server or its link with traffic. Only the network protects against it: filtering at the host or a protected proxy, with the server's real IP kept hidden.; Read more: DDoS
DGuard: The best anticheat for a modern Minecraft server: it gathers evidence on every front at once — combat, movement, packets, inventory, building — and punishes precisely. Paper and Leaf 1.21–26.3, free up to 30 players online.; Read more: DGuard
Dupe: A bug or exploit that lets players multiply items. It breaks a server's economy; it's closed by core and plugin updates.; Read more: Dupe

E2

ElytraFlyCheat: Real elytra flight is gliding: height comes from firework rockets or riptide in the rain, a dive only trades height for speed and back with losses, and without a boost the player slowly sinks.; Read more: ElytraFly
EULA: Minecraft's licence agreement. A server won't start until eula.txt says eula=true; the rules for earning from a server are in the Minecraft Usage Guidelines.; Read more: EULA

F7

False positivefalse ban: When an anticheat punishes an honest player: because of lag, an unusual client or a check that's too strict. Gathering evidence before punishing and tuning strictness keep them down.; Read more: False positive
FastBreakSpeedMineCheat: FastBreak cuts block-breaking time: a block that takes an honest player seconds vanishes in a fraction of one.; Read more: FastBreak
FastPlaceCheat: Hold right-click and the vanilla client places a block every four ticks — five blocks a second.; Read more: FastPlace
FastXPCheat: FastXP fires Bottles o' Enchanting in a stream, one per tick instead of the vanilla pace. With Mending that means repairing armour and weapons in a couple of seconds, right in the middle of a fight.; Read more: FastXP
Floodgate: A Geyser add-on that lets Bedrock players in without a Java account. It gives them a UUID from their Xbox XUID and, by default, adds a dot to the front of their name.; Read more: Floodgate
FlyFlightCheat: Gravity simply stops applying: the player hovers, climbs and flies in any direction without elytra, creative mode or a /fly permission.; Read more: Fly
Folia: A PaperMC server that splits the world into regions and ticks them in parallel. It's for huge servers; most plugins don't run on it.; Read more: Folia

G4

Game rulegamerule: A switch for a world mechanic: keep items on death, fire spread, mobs breaking blocks. It's changed with /gamerule; since 1.21.11 rule names use underscores.; Read more: Game rule
Geyser: A protocol translator plugin that lets Bedrock players (phones, consoles) join a Java server. Its default port is 19132.; Read more: Geyser
GhostHandCheat: GhostHand reaches through walls: it opens chests behind blocks, presses buttons and levers, breaks beds behind their defence and hits through obstacles.; Read more: GhostHand
Griefing: Wrecking other players' builds and items: breaking, burning, stealing. Claims, CoreProtect rollbacks and permissions without needless OP protect against it.; Read more: Griefing

H1

HitBoxCheat: With HitBox the reach is honest — the target isn't. The cheat inflates opponents' hitboxes on the cheater's screen, so a swing that would have passed by a shoulder counts as a hit.; Read more: HitBox

I1

InvMoveInventoryMove, GuiMoveCheat: In normal Minecraft an open inventory or chest stops the player: movement keys don't work while the screen is up.; Read more: InvMove

J2

Java: The platform a server runs on. Paper 26.1 and later needs Java 25; versions 1.20–1.21.11 need Java 21.; Read more: Java
JesusWaterWalkCheat: Water stops being an obstacle: the player doesn't sink or swim but runs across the surface at sprint speed, as if it were a floor.; Read more: Jesus

K2

KeepSprintCheat: A sprinting, fully charged hit knocks the opponent back harder — but in normal play the attacker pays for it: their speed drops sharply and sprint resets.; Read more: KeepSprint
KillAuraAura, ForceFieldCheat: KillAura fights for the player: it finds targets nearby, turns the head toward them — often only in packets, so the cheater's own screen doesn't move — waits out the attack cooldown and swings.; Read more: KillAura

L3

Leaf: A Paper-based server with async pathfinding, mob spawning and entity tracking. The same plugins run on it as on Paper.; Read more: Leaf
Lobbyhub: Where a player lands on joining: a world or a separate network server where they pick a mode. Usually protected from damage, hunger and block breaking.; Read more: Lobby
LuckPerms: A permissions plugin: groups, inheritance, weights and prefixes. The standard way to give staff and donors permissions without OP.; Read more: LuckPerms

M3

MOTD: Message of the Day — the two lines under a server's name in the server list. Set by the motd= line in server.properties, colours with § codes.; Read more: MOTD
MSPT: Milliseconds per tick — how long the server spends on one tick. While MSPT is under 50, TPS stays at 20; above that the server falls behind and lags.; Read more: MSPT
Multi-auraCheat: A normal aura picks one target; Multi-aura takes everyone in reach, hitting several opponents within a single tick.; Read more: Multi-aura

N4

NoFallCheat: Fall damage is the price of height, and NoFall waives it. Usually the cheat tells the server at just the right moment that the player is already on the ground, so the fall distance resets — a twenty-block drop ends without losing a single heart.; Read more: NoFall
NoRotateCheat: When the server teleports a player — by command, by a plugin or as an anticheat setback — it sends not only a position but also a head rotation.; Read more: NoRotate
NoSlowNoSlowdownCheat: Eating, drinking a potion, drawing a bow or raising a shield normally slows a player to about a fifth of their speed.; Read more: NoSlow
NukerCheat: In a single pass Nuker breaks everything within reach without waiting for the player to look at a block: a whole sphere or layer disappears around them.; Read more: Nuker

O4

Offline modecracked server, online-mode=false: A mode in which the server doesn't check accounts with Mojang and trusts whatever name the client sends. It lets in players without a licence, but also anyone under someone else's name — dangerous without an auth plugin.; Read more: Offline mode
OmniSprintCheat: In Minecraft you can only sprint forward — straight ahead or diagonally forward. OmniSprint lifts that rule: the player runs backward or sideways at full speed while still facing their opponent.; Read more: OmniSprint
online-mode: A server.properties key: with true the server only lets in players with a verified Minecraft account. Behind a proxy it's off on the servers and the proxy does the checking.; Read more: online-mode
OperatorOP: A player allowed to run server commands, at a level from 0 to 4. Given with /op or in ops.json; for staff, permissions through LuckPerms are safer.; Read more: Operator

P12

Packet order in a tickCheat: Not a cheat but a tell that gives many cheats away. Within one tick — 50 ms — the Minecraft client sends its packets in a fixed order: first the actions from key presses — a hit, a placement, an item use — then the movement packet with that tick's position and rotation.; Read more: Packet order in a tick
PacketEvents: A Minecraft protocol library that lets plugins read and send packets. You install it because another plugin needs it — the DGuard anticheat, for one.; Read more: PacketEvents
PacketMineCheat: PacketMine mines with packets instead of a held button: the cheat sends start digging, and the player is free — looking away, hitting an opponent, placing crystals — and when the time is up, finish digging arrives.; Read more: PacketMine
Paper: The most popular server software for plugin servers: a Spigot fork with fixes and optimisations. Bukkit, Spigot and Paper plugins run on it.; Read more: Paper
PhaseNoClipCheat: Walls, floors and doors stop being solid: with Phase a player slips into a wall, drops through the floor or ends up inside a closed room.; Read more: Phase
PlaceholderAPI: A placeholder plugin: it fills data like %player_name% into other plugins' chat, TAB, scoreboards and menus.; Read more: PlaceholderAPI
Plugin: A server add-on that brings commands and mechanics without mods on players' side. It goes into the plugins/ folder and runs on Bukkit-family servers: Paper, Leaf, Purpur.; Read more: Plugin
Port: The number the server accepts connections on; Java Edition defaults to 25565. For friends to join a home server, the port is opened in the firewall and forwarded on the router.; Read more: Port
Pre-generation: Creating the world inside the border in advance — with the Chunky plugin, for example. The server then only reads finished chunks and doesn't lag from generating them with players online.; Read more: Pre-generation
Prefix: A tag before a name in chat and the player list: [VIP], [Admin]. LuckPerms stores it and the chat plugin draws it.; Read more: Prefix
Proxy: A go-between server that players connect to and that sends them to the network's servers: Velocity or BungeeCord.; Read more: Proxy
Purpur: A Paper-based server with many gameplay options in purpur.yml. It replaces Paper with no rework.; Read more: Purpur

R3

RCON: A remote server console over the network, protected only by a password and not encrypted. It's only safe to connect locally.; Read more: RCON
ReachCheat: In survival you can reach an opponent from 3 blocks away, measured from your eyes to their hitbox.; Read more: Reach
Region file.mca: A world file r.X.Z.mca holding 32×32 chunks. From coordinates you can find the region you need — to restore it from a backup, for example.; Read more: Region file

S15

ScaffoldScaffoldWalkCheat: Scaffold drops a block under the player's feet the moment they step past an edge: the bridge grows with no sneaking, no misses and at any speed — straight, diagonal, mid-jump.; Read more: Scaffold
Server icon: The server-icon.png picture in the server folder that the game shows in the server list. It must be a PNG of exactly 64×64.; Read more: Server icon
Server listserver listing site: A website that lists Minecraft servers with addresses, player counts and voting. The main source of new players for many servers.; Read more: Server list
Server network: Several servers behind one proxy (Velocity or BungeeCord): a lobby, survival, minigames. A player joins one address and moves between them.; Read more: Server network
Server resource pack: A set of textures and sounds the server offers to download on joining. It's set by a link and a SHA-1 in server.properties, 250 MiB at most.; Read more: Server resource pack
Server softwareserver core, server jar: The program that is the server: Paper, Leaf, Purpur, Folia and others. It decides performance and which plugins run; the standard for a server with plugins is Paper.; Read more: Server software
server.properties: The server's main settings file: port, game mode, difficulty, whitelist, view distance, MOTD. It's read at startup.; Read more: server.properties
simulation-distance: How many chunks around a player are alive: mobs move, redstone works, crops grow. Lower than view-distance means a lighter load on the server.; Read more: simulation-distance
spark: A profiler for servers: it shows where tick time goes — plugins, entities, generation. The first step in finding the cause of lag.; Read more: spark
Spawn protection: A square around the spawn point where only operators can place and break blocks. Its size is spawn-protection in server.properties: a side of 2×value+1, 33×33 blocks by default, 0 turns it off.; Read more: Spawn protection
SpeedBHopCheat: Speed pushes a player past the game's own limits: low rapid hops (bhop), smooth running along the ground with no slowdown, or sharp turns in mid-air that cost no momentum.; Read more: Speed
SpiderWallClimbCheat: Any wall becomes a ladder: the player presses against stone, obsidian or glass and crawls up without ladders, vines or scaffolding.; Read more: Spider
SRV record: A _minecraft._tcp DNS record the game reads the server's port from. With it, players type the address without a port even if the server isn't on 25565.; Read more: SRV record
StepCheat: Without jumping, a player can only step up 0.6 of a block — onto a slab, a path or a carpet.; Read more: Step
SuperKnockbackSuperKBCheat: The game gives extra knockback only to a hit from a sprint, and that hit resets sprint — to hit hard again, an honest player has to restart their run.; Read more: SuperKnockback

T5

Tick: A step of the server's game time: 20 ticks a second, 50 ms a tick. Delays in configs and commands are often given in ticks.; Read more: Tick
TimerCheat: The game runs at 20 ticks per second — 50 ms per tick — and an honest client lives by that rhythm.; Read more: Timer
TowerCheat: Tower pillars straight up faster than a jump allows: the block is under the player before vanilla physics could have lifted them that high, and the next rise starts with barely a pause.; Read more: Tower
TPS: Ticks per second — how many ticks the server manages in a second; normal is 20. Below 20 the server lags and everything in the game slows down.; Read more: TPS
TriggerBotCheat: TriggerBot leaves the camera alone — the player does the aiming. The cheat just waits for the crosshair to land on an opponent and swings that very instant, usually right as the attack meter fills.; Read more: TriggerBot

U1

UUID: A player's permanent identifier. The server keeps inventories, permissions and bans by it; Mojang issues it for a premium account, and an offline server derives it from the name.; Read more: UUID

V5

Velocity: PaperMC's modern proxy for server networks: secure player data forwarding (modern forwarding) and support for versions from 1.7.2.; Read more: Velocity
VelocityAntiKnockback, AntiKBCheat: Velocity cancels knockback: hits, arrows and explosions push the cheater less or not at all.; Read more: Velocity
ViaVersion: A plugin that lets clients on newer versions join the server; with ViaBackwards, older ones too. It translates the protocol on the fly.; Read more: ViaVersion
view-distancerender distance: How many chunks in each direction the server sends a player, from 3 to 32. More means seeing farther, and a heavier load on the server.; Read more: view-distance
VotifierNuVotifier: A plugin that receives votes from server lists and rewards players for them.; Read more: Votifier

W4

Whitelist: The list of players the server lets in when white-list=true is on. Kept in whitelist.json; operators always get through.; Read more: Whitelist
Wipe: Clearing a server fully or partly: a new world, inventories, economy. Done when a new version or a new season comes out.; Read more: Wipe
World border: The edge of the world set with /worldborder set — a diameter in blocks. It limits how much world can appear and is needed before pre-generation.; Read more: World border
WorldGuard: A regions plugin: it protects spawn and other places with flags — no PvP, no block breaking, no mobs.; Read more: WorldGuard

X2

X-Ray: A cheat that shows ores and caves through blocks. A server core's anti-xray protects against it: the server simply doesn't send the player real ores until they're exposed.; Read more: X-Ray
XCarryCheat: XCarry turns the 2×2 crafting grid in the inventory into a stash. Normally, closing the inventory puts the items from that grid back into it or drops them on the ground.; Read more: XCarry

Run the best anticheat for modern Minecraft

DGuard catches all 47 kinds of cheats in our comparison — the closest rival, Intave, has 27. Full protection on every plan, free up to 30 players online.

Protect your server for free Look inside the panel