How to Create Custom Ranks & Permissions with LuckPerms

Getting Started with LuckPerms

LuckPerms is the most popular permissions plugin for Minecraft servers. It lets you create ranks, assign permissions, and control exactly what each player can do.

Installation

1. 1Download from luckperms.net
2. 2Place in your /plugins/ folder
3. 3Restart the server
4. 4That's it — LuckPerms works on Bukkit, Spigot, Paper, BungeeCord, Velocity, and more

Core Concepts

Permissions

A permission is a string that controls access to a feature:

• essentials.home — Access to /home command
• worldedit.wand — Access to WorldEdit wand
• minecraft.command.gamemode — Access to /gamemode

Groups (Ranks)

Groups are collections of permissions. Every player belongs to at least one group (default). Common structure:

• Default — Basic player permissions
• VIP — Cosmetic perks
• Moderator — Moderation tools
• Admin — Server management
• Owner — Full access

Inheritance

Groups can inherit from other groups. If VIP inherits from Default, VIP players get all Default permissions PLUS VIP-specific ones.

Creating Ranks

Via Commands

/lp creategroup vip
/lp creategroup moderator
/lp creategroup admin
/lp creategroup owner

Setting Inheritance

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

Adding Permissions

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

# VIP group
/lp group vip permission set essentials.nick true
/lp group vip permission set essentials.hat true

# Moderator group
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.ban true
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.kick true
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.mute true
/lp group moderator permission set coreprotect.inspect true

# Admin group
/lp group admin permission set worldedit.* true
/lp group admin permission set worldguard.* true

Assigning Players to Groups

/lp user PlayerName parent set vip
/lp user PlayerName parent set moderator

Web Editor

LuckPerms has a powerful web editor — much easier than commands:

1. 1Run /lp editor in-game or console
2. 2Click the URL that appears
3. 3Edit permissions visually in your browser
4. 4Click Save to apply changes to your server

The web editor lets you:

• Drag and drop permissions
• Search all available permissions
• Edit inheritance visually
• Set temporary permissions (timed ranks)

Prefixes & Suffixes

Display rank names in chat and tab list:

/lp group default meta addprefix 10 "&7"
/lp group vip meta addprefix 20 "&a[VIP] "
/lp group moderator meta addprefix 30 "&c[Mod] "
/lp group admin meta addprefix 40 "&4[Admin] "
/lp group owner meta addprefix 50 "&6[Owner] "

The number (10, 20, 30...) is the weight — higher weight prefixes take priority.

Note: You need a chat formatting plugin (EssentialsX Chat, Vault) to display these prefixes in chat.

Temporary Permissions & Ranks

Perfect for VIP trials or temporary staff:

# Give VIP for 30 days
/lp user PlayerName parent addtemp vip 30d

# Give a permission for 1 hour
/lp user PlayerName permission settemp some.permission true 1h

Common Permission Nodes

EssentialsX

• essentials.home, essentials.sethome
• essentials.tpa, essentials.tpaccept
• essentials.spawn, essentials.back
• essentials.msg, essentials.mail
• essentials.kit, essentials.kit.

WorldGuard

• worldguard.region.claim
• worldguard.region.flag
• worldguard.region.define

CoreProtect

• coreprotect.inspect
• coreprotect.rollback
• coreprotect.restore

Tips

1. 1Use inheritance — Never duplicate permissions across groups
2. 2Use the web editor — It's faster and less error-prone than commands
3. 3Use wildcards carefully — essentials.* gives ALL essentials permissions including dangerous ones
4. 4Test as each rank — Use /lp user YourName parent set to test each rank's experience
5. 5Regular audits — Review permissions quarterly to remove unused access