Setting Up LiteBans and LuckPerms for a Professional Minecraft Server

Your spawn looks great. The plugins work. Players join and have fun. But when someone breaks the rules, you type /ban PlayerName and they see a plain white text message. No reason, no appeal link, no expiry date. Your moderation feels like a hobby project.

The last 20 percent of server setup is polish. LiteBans gives you professional ban/mute/kick screens with custom formatting, expiry times, and appeal links. LuckPerms organizes your entire permission system into clean groups with inheritance. Together they make your server feel like a real production environment.

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Part 1: LiteBans Setup

Installation

Download LiteBans from spigotmc.org/resources/litebans.3715/

Place the .jar in your plugins/ folder and restart the server.

Database Setup

LiteBans stores punishments in a database. By default it uses a local SQLite file, which works fine for small servers. For servers with multiple instances or a BungeeCord/Velocity network, use MySQL instead.

To switch to MySQL, edit plugins/LiteBans/config.yml:

sql:
  driver: MySQL
  address: localhost:3306
  database: litebans
  username: litebans
  password: your_secure_password

Create the database:

CREATE DATABASE litebans;
CREATE USER 'litebans'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_secure_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON litebans.* TO 'litebans'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Custom Ban Messages

Edit plugins/LiteBans/messages.yml. The default ban message is plain. Replace it with something professional:

ban:
  layout:
    - "&c&lYOU HAVE BEEN BANNED"
    - ""
    - "&7Reason: &f{reason}"
    - "&7Banned by: &f{operator}"
    - "&7Expires: &f{duration}"
    - ""
    - "&7Think this was a mistake?"
    - "&bAppeal at: &ndiscord.gg/yourserver"

Color codes work in all LiteBans messages:

| Code | Color | |---|---| | &c | Red | | &b | Aqua | | &f | White | | &7 | Gray | | &l | Bold | | &n | Underline |

Common Commands

| Command | What It Does | |---|---| | /ban Player reason | Permanent ban | | /tempban Player 7d reason | 7-day ban | | /mute Player reason | Permanent mute | | /tempmute Player 1h reason | 1-hour mute | | /kick Player reason | Kick with message | | /unban Player | Remove ban | | /history Player | View all punishments | | /banlist | List all active bans |

Web Interface

LiteBans includes a PHP web interface that shows all bans on a public webpage. Upload the web/ folder to a web server and configure the database connection. Your players and staff can view active bans, mutes, and punishment history without logging into the game.

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Part 2: LuckPerms Setup

Installation

Download LuckPerms from luckperms.net

Place the .jar in your plugins/ folder and restart.

Understanding Groups

LuckPerms organizes permissions into groups. Players belong to groups and inherit all permissions from that group. Here is a typical hierarchy:

Owner
  └── Admin
       └── Moderator
            └── Helper
                 └── VIP
                      └── Default (everyone)

Each group inherits permissions from the group below it. An Admin has everything a Moderator has, plus extra permissions.

Creating Groups

/lp creategroup default
/lp creategroup vip
/lp creategroup helper
/lp creategroup moderator
/lp creategroup admin
/lp creategroup owner

Setting Up Inheritance

/lp group vip parent add default
/lp group helper parent add vip
/lp group moderator parent add helper
/lp group admin parent add moderator
/lp group owner parent add admin

Adding Permissions

Give the default group basic permissions:

/lp group default permission set essentials.home true
/lp group default permission set essentials.tpa true
/lp group default permission set essentials.spawn true
/lp group default permission set essentials.msg true

Give helpers moderation tools:

/lp group helper permission set essentials.mute true
/lp group helper permission set essentials.kick true
/lp group helper permission set litebans.tempmute true
/lp group helper permission set litebans.kick true

Give moderators more power:

/lp group moderator permission set litebans.ban true
/lp group moderator permission set litebans.tempban true
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.vanish true
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.teleport true

Adding Players to Groups

/lp user PlayerName parent set moderator

Web Editor

LuckPerms has a web editor that is far easier than typing commands. Run:

/lp editor

This generates a URL. Open it in your browser and you get a visual interface to drag permissions between groups, set time-based permissions, and configure everything with clicks instead of commands.

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Putting It Together

Once both plugins are configured:

1. New players join the "default" group automatically
2. Staff promotions are one command: /lp user Name parent set moderator
3. Moderators ban troublemakers with /tempban Name 24h griefing. The player sees a clean, formatted ban screen with the reason, duration, and an appeal link
4. All punishments are logged in the LiteBans database with timestamps and operator names
5. The LiteBans web interface shows a public record of all moderation actions

This is how professional Minecraft networks operate. The setup takes 30 minutes and makes your server feel completely different.

Space-Node servers come with MySQL database support included on all plans. Set up LiteBans and LuckPerms on day one. Get started here.