Setting Up Permissions with LuckPerms

6 min read Updated Apr 14, 2026

LuckPerms is a permissions plugin that lets you control what players can and cannot do on your server. You can create groups like "Member", "Moderator", and "Admin", assign permissions to each group, and add players to them. This guide covers installation, core concepts, and the most common tasks to get you up and running.

Installing LuckPerms

The easiest way to install LuckPerms is through the built-in Plugin Installer in the Game Panel:

  1. Log in to the Game Panel
  2. Select your server
  3. In the left menu, click Game then Plugins
  4. Search for LuckPerms and click install
  5. Restart your server

Alternatively, you can download LuckPerms manually from luckperms.net - make sure you select the correct version for your server software - and upload the .jar file to your plugins folder (or mods folder for Fabric/Forge).

Important: LuckPerms must be the only permissions plugin on your server. If you have an older plugin like PermissionsEx or GroupManager installed, remove it before installing LuckPerms.

On first run, LuckPerms will download some additional libraries it needs and create a default group that all new players are automatically placed in.

Giving Yourself Full Access

Before you can use LuckPerms commands, you need to grant yourself permissions. Run this command from the server console (not in-game, since you do not have permissions yet):

lp user YourUsername permission set * true

Replace YourUsername with your Minecraft username. This gives you all permissions, including the ability to manage LuckPerms.

Core Concepts

Before diving into commands, it helps to understand how LuckPerms organises permissions.

Permissions

A permission is a string like essentials.fly or minecraft.command.ban that controls access to a specific feature. Permissions can be set to:

  • true - the player is allowed
  • false - the player is explicitly denied, even if another group grants it

Groups

A group is a named collection of permissions. Instead of setting permissions on every player individually, you create groups and assign players to them. For example, a "Moderator" group might have permissions to kick and ban players, while a "Member" group only has basic permissions.

Inheritance

Groups can inherit from other groups, which means they automatically get all of that group's permissions on top of their own. For example, if you give "Member" the permission to use /home and then make "Moderator" inherit from "Member", moderators will also be able to use /home without you having to set that permission again. This saves you from having to duplicate the same permissions across multiple groups.

Weight

Weight is a number you assign to each group to tell LuckPerms which group is the most important. The higher the number, the more important the group. This matters when a player is in multiple groups - LuckPerms uses the weight to decide which group's prefix to show and which group takes priority if two groups disagree on a permission.

For example, if a player is in both the "Member" and "Moderator" groups, you want the "Moderator" prefix to show up, not "Member". Setting Moderator to a higher weight than Member makes that happen.

A good approach is to space weights apart so you can easily add new groups in between later:

Group Weight
default 0
Member 100
Moderator 200
Admin 300

Prefixes and Suffixes

Groups can have prefixes and suffixes that appear next to player names in chat. A prefix appears before the name (like [Admin] PlayerName) and a suffix appears after it (like PlayerName [VIP]). LuckPerms stores these, but it does not display them in chat on its own. You need a chat formatting plugin (such as LPC or EssentialsX Chat) and Vault installed for them to show up in-game.

Setting Up Groups

Creating a Group

/lp creategroup member
/lp creategroup moderator
/lp creategroup admin

Setting Group Weights

/lp group member setweight 100
/lp group moderator setweight 200
/lp group admin setweight 300

Setting Up Inheritance

Make moderator inherit all permissions from member, and admin inherit from moderator:

/lp group moderator parent add member
/lp group admin parent add moderator

With this setup, admins automatically have all moderator and member permissions without you needing to set them twice.

Adding Permissions to a Group

/lp group member permission set essentials.home
/lp group member permission set essentials.tpa
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.kick
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.ban
/lp group admin permission set essentials.fly

To remove a permission:

/lp group member permission unset essentials.home

Setting a Prefix

/lp group member meta setprefix 100 "&a[Member] "
/lp group moderator meta setprefix 200 "&e[Mod] "
/lp group admin meta setprefix 300 "&c[Admin] "

The number after setprefix is the priority (use the same value as the group weight to keep things consistent). The & codes are Minecraft colour codes - for example &a is green, &e is yellow, and &c is red. A full list can be found on the Minecraft Wiki.

Managing Players

Adding a Player to a Group

/lp user PlayerName parent add moderator

This adds the group while keeping any other groups the player is already in. If you want to remove all of a player's current groups and set them to just one group, use parent set instead:

/lp user PlayerName parent set moderator

Removing a Player from a Group

/lp user PlayerName parent remove moderator

Checking a Player's Groups

/lp user PlayerName parent info

Checking a Player's Permissions

/lp user PlayerName permission info

Using the Web Editor

LuckPerms includes a powerful web-based editor that makes managing permissions much easier than typing commands. It is especially useful when you need to make bulk changes. The editor is hosted by LuckPerms on their own website, so no setup is required on your server.

  1. Run /lp editor in the console or in-game
  2. A link will appear - click it to open the editor in your browser
  3. Make your changes using the visual interface (add/remove permissions, manage groups, set prefixes, etc.)
  4. Click Save when you are done
  5. A command will be generated - copy and run it on your server to apply the changes

You can also open the editor for a specific group or player:

/lp group admin editor
/lp user PlayerName editor

Finding Permission Nodes

If you are unsure what permission node a plugin uses for a specific command or feature, LuckPerms has a verbose mode that shows you exactly what permissions are being checked in real-time.

  1. Run /lp verbose on in the console
  2. Have the player try to use the command or feature you are looking for the permission for
  3. LuckPerms will show you which permission nodes were checked in the console
  4. Run /lp verbose off to stop

For a cleaner view, you can upload the results to a web page:

  1. Run /lp verbose record
  2. Perform the actions you want to check
  3. Run /lp verbose upload
  4. Click the link to view the results in your browser

Example Setup

Here is a complete example that creates a basic rank hierarchy:

/lp creategroup member
/lp creategroup moderator
/lp creategroup admin

/lp group member setweight 100
/lp group moderator setweight 200
/lp group admin setweight 300

/lp group moderator parent add member
/lp group admin parent add moderator

/lp group default parent add member

/lp group member permission set essentials.home
/lp group member permission set essentials.sethome
/lp group member permission set essentials.tpa
/lp group member permission set essentials.spawn
/lp group member permission set essentials.msg
/lp group member permission set essentials.back

/lp group moderator permission set essentials.kick
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.mute
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.ban
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.tp

/lp group admin permission set * true

/lp group member meta setprefix 100 "&a[Member] "
/lp group moderator meta setprefix 200 "&e[Mod] "
/lp group admin meta setprefix 300 "&c[Admin] "

A few things to note about this example:

  • The line /lp group default parent add member makes the default group inherit from member, so all new players automatically get member permissions without being manually added
  • The * in /lp group admin permission set * true is a wildcard that grants every permission on the server. This gives admins full access to everything, including commands from other plugins

Common Issues

Prefixes Not Showing in Chat

LuckPerms stores prefixes but does not format chat. You need a chat formatting plugin (such as LPC or EssentialsX Chat) and Vault installed on your server.

Permissions Not Working After Installation

Make sure you restarted the server fully after installing LuckPerms. Using a reload command instead of a full restart can cause issues.

Cannot Find the Right Permission Node

Use verbose mode (/lp verbose on) to see exactly which permission nodes are being checked when a player tries to do something. This is the fastest way to find the correct node.

Player Has Conflicting Permissions

If a permission is set to true on one group and false on another, the group with the higher weight wins. Check group weights with /lp listgroups and make sure they are set correctly.

Having Trouble Setting Up LuckPerms?

Feel free to reach out to us and we can help you get your permissions configured:

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