Installation & Setup

Complete step-by-step guide to installing the Minecraft Plugins plugin and enabling it for your game servers.

Prerequisites

Pelican Panel version 1.0.0+ installed and running
PHP 8.1, 8.2, or 8.3 on the Panel server
A Minecraft server managed by the Panel
Database user with CREATE TABLE privileges (the plugin creates minecraft_installed_plugins table)
storage/ and bootstrap/cache/ writable (permissions 0755, owner: web server user)

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Download the latest minecraft-plugins plugin release
Place it in your Pelican Panel's plugins/ directory:
```
/var/www/pelican/plugins/minecraft-plugins/
```

Verify the directory structure:

plugins/minecraft-plugins/
├── src/
├── config/
├── resources/
├── database/
└── plugin.json

Clear the application cache:

php artisan cache:clear
php artisan config:clear
php artisan view:clear

Verify the plugin appears under Admin Panel → Plugins as "Minecraft Plugins"

The plugin creates the minecraft_installed_plugins database table automatically on first load.

Step 2: Enable for a Server

The plugin uses the plugins feature flag on Eggs.

Go to Admin Panel → Eggs
Edit your Minecraft server Egg (e.g., "Paper", "Spigot", "Purpur")
Add plugins to the Features field:
```
["plugins"]
```
If the Egg already has features:
```
["eula", "java_version", "plugins"]
```
Click Save

Important: The feature flag must be exactly plugins (lowercase). Plugins, PLUGINS, or plugin will not work.

Note: The 403 error message is currently hardcoded in German: "Modpack Browser ist für diesen Server nicht verfügbar." — this is a known issue.

Step 3: Minecraft Version Detection

The plugin auto-detects your Minecraft version using 11 methods (identical to Game Mods):

Priority	Method	What's checked
1	`variables.txt`	Panel-stored server variables
2	`server.properties`	Version-related properties
3	`version.json`	Mojang's version manifest
4	Fabric JAR	Fabric server JAR filename
5	Forge JAR	Forge server JAR filename
6	Forge libraries	Library directory structure
7	Recursive search	Scans 7 directories (depth 1-6). Skips: node_modules, cache, temp, logs, crash-reports, world dirs, mods, plugins. Max path: 250 chars
8	`server.jar`	Generic server JAR analysis
9	Paper JAR	PaperMC filename
10	Spigot JAR	Spigot filename
11	Purpur JAR	Purpur filename

Validation: Must start with 1., minor 0-50. Normalized to major.minor. 5 minutes cached.

Version-Agnostic Providers

GeyserMC and PaperMC/Hangar are version-agnostic — the MC version filter is hidden in the UI for these providers. No minecraftVersion parameter is sent to the API.

Step 4: First Launch

Navigate to your server → click Plugin Browser in the sidebar
The plugin detects game and version
Provider tabs appear: SpigotMC, CurseForge, Modrinth, Hangar, GeyserMC
Existing plugins in /plugins/ are scanned and registered as "Manual / Upload"
Ready to browse and install!

Verification Checklist

Check	Expected	If failing
Plugin in Admin → Plugins	"Minecraft Plugins" listed	Wrong path or cache not cleared
"Plugin Browser" in sidebar	Visible for servers with `plugins` feature	Feature flag missing on Egg
Provider tabs	SpigotMC, CurseForge, Modrinth, Hangar, GeyserMC	JS/network error
Version detected	"Detected: X.X.X" notification	Server never started or no JAR
`minecraft_installed_plugins` table	Exists in database	Run `php artisan migrate`

Troubleshooting

Plugin not in Admin Panel

Ensure path is exactly plugins/minecraft-plugins/
Run php artisan cache:clear and reload
Check storage/logs/laravel.log for "Class not found" errors

"Plugin Browser" not in sidebar

Egg must have "plugins" in features
Save the Egg after editing
Clear config cache: php artisan config:clear

Version detection failed

Start the server once so JAR + version.json are generated
Rename custom JARs recognizably (server.jar, paper-1.21.4.jar)
Use manual dropdown as workaround

Database migration error

Grant CREATE TABLE: GRANT CREATE ON your_database.* TO 'user'@'localhost';
Run manually: php artisan migrate