How to set up spawn on a Minecraft server

In short: stand in the middle of your future spawn and run /setworldspawn. A vanilla server puts a new player on a random block near that point, and on top of the column — on the roof, if the spawn has one. The EssentialsX Spawn module puts players exactly on the point: run /setspawn at the same spot, and you also get a /spawn command with the essentials.spawn permission. Leave block protection to a WorldGuard region with pvp deny and mob-spawning deny, and set spawn-protection in server.properties to 0.

The world spawn point: /setworldspawn#

A world has one spawn point: on a first join the game places the player on a random solid block in a small area around it. In Java Edition that's a 21×21 square by default. Players return there after dying if they have no respawn point of their own. A compass points to it.

setworldspawn                    # the point is where you stand
setworldspawn 0 80 0             # the point by coordinates
setworldspawn 0 80 0 90          # plus the facing direction (yaw)

• Permissions. The command needs operator level 2. On Paper its permission is minecraft.command.setworldspawn, which nobody but operators has by default.
• Facing. The optional angle sets where the player looks after spawning — handy to turn newcomers toward the rules signs.
• Spawn chunks. Since 1.21.9 the game no longer has always-loaded spawn chunks, and the point itself can be set in another dimension.

The spawn radius: respawn_radius#

The size of the area around the point is set by the respawn_radius game rule — the number of blocks out from the spawn point, 10 by default. Before 1.21.11 it was called spawnRadius. On a server with a built spawn, the spread gets in the way: a newcomer appears off to the side of the entrance. 0 removes the sideways spread but doesn't fix the height: per the Minecraft Wiki, the player lands on the highest solid block in the column, so under a roof they end up on the roof. Two things put players exactly on the point, height included: Adventure as the default game mode (below) and EssentialsX Spawn, which teleports newcomers to where /setspawn was run.

gamerule respawn_radius 0

If the default game mode in server.properties is Adventure (gamemode=adventure), there's no spread at all: players spawn right on the spawn point, and respawn_radius has no effect. The other game rules and the 1.21.11 renames are in game rules.

First join and respawn#

You can also set a player's point by hand: /spawnpoint <player> <x> <y> <z>, again with operator level 2. Spawn plugins change this scheme — EssentialsX Spawn, for example, sends players to spawn after death too by default (below).

Spawn protection: spawn-protection#

The built-in spawn protection stops players from placing and breaking blocks near the spawn point. Its size is spawn-protection in server.properties: it protects a square with a side of 2×value+1. The default is 16, which is 33×33 blocks; 0 turns it off.

• Operators don't notice it. An OP builds inside it freely — test the spawn from a regular account.
• No operators, no protection. If the server has no operators at all, spawn protection doesn't apply.
• It can be bypassed. The Minecraft Wiki lists indirect ways: pistons, dispensers, explosives and mobs that break blocks.
• It's only about blocks. It doesn't turn off PvP, mobs or explosions, and it doesn't hand out rights by group.

That's why open servers usually protect spawn with a WorldGuard region and set spawn-protection to 0, so the two protections don't get in each other's way.

/spawn and /setspawn: EssentialsX Spawn#

Vanilla has no /spawn command — it comes from the EssentialsX Spawn module, installed next to the main EssentialsX jar of the same version. Its points are stored in plugins/Essentials/spawn.yml and don't change the world spawn point, so put /setspawn and /setworldspawn in the same place — otherwise the compass and vanilla respawns lead elsewhere. Installing the modules and their permissions is covered in EssentialsX.

# stand at the spawn and run
/setspawn              # the default spawn (group default)
/setspawn newbies      # a separate first-join point — optional
/setspawn vip          # a point of its own for the vip permission group

# permissions for players — through LuckPerms
lp group default permission set essentials.spawn true

/setspawn and /spawn for other players use essentials.setspawn and essentials.spawn.others — keep those for staff. The teleport-delay setting in config.yml stops players escaping a fight via /spawn.

A spawn region in WorldGuard#

WorldGuard protects the whole spawn and changes the game rules inside it. In a new region only members can build, so you don't need build flags — you need flags against whatever bothers newcomers:

//wand                                  # mark two corners of the spawn
//expand vert                           # from bedrock to the sky
/rg define spawn
/rg flag spawn pvp deny
/rg flag spawn mob-spawning deny
/rg flag spawn creeper-explosion deny
/rg flag spawn tnt deny
/rg flag spawn fire-spread deny
/rg flag spawn greeting Welcome to the server

Add builders as members: /rg addmember spawn g:builders. A fighting arena inside spawn is a separate region with pvp allow and a higher priority. Priorities, __global__ and the full flag list are in WorldGuard, and general anti-grief setup is in grief protection.

Spawn checklist#

• /setworldspawn and /setspawn are at the same point, with two free blocks above it.
• Newcomers appear exactly on the point: via EssentialsX Spawn or Adventure as the default mode; without them — respawn_radius 0 and open sky above the point.
• A WorldGuard region covers the whole spawn, spawn-protection=0.
• PvP, mobs, explosions and fire are off at spawn via flags.
• Players have essentials.spawn, staff have essentials.setspawn.
• You've decided where players respawn after death: at spawn or at their bed.
• Tested from a regular account without OP: first join, death, /spawn.

Spawn and cheaters#

Spawn is where newcomers first run into cheaters. The pvp deny flag turns off combat, but it doesn't stop Fly and Speed from carrying a cheater from the spawn point to other people's bases in seconds, and at the edge of the PvP zone a player with KillAura meets everyone who steps outside. A newcomer killed in their first minute rarely comes back.

DGuard — the best anticheat for a modern Minecraft server — checks combat, movement, packets, inventory, building and the world the same way in every region: at spawn, in the arena and in the wild. It gathers evidence on every front and doesn't rush to a verdict, and you set how strict the punishments are. Up to 30 players online it's free.

FAQ#