GriefPrevention setup: claims, trust commands, an SMP config and the alternatives

GriefPrevention is the land-claim plugin most survival servers reach for first, because it needs no database, works on Paper, Purpur and Spigot, and lets players protect land with a golden shovel instead of commands. On our list, survival is the biggest category (946 servers) and SMP the third (386), and the difference between an SMP that keeps players and one that bleeds them is very often whether builds survive a bad week. This guide installs it, explains claiming and the four trust levels, gives an SMP config with the keys that matter, lists the permissions for LuckPerms, answers the questions your players will ask, and compares the alternatives when GriefPrevention is not the fit.

Everything below comes from the GriefPrevention documentation, which covers the current v17 line; v16 users have a separate legacy section there.

Install and first start

1. Download the jar from the project's releases and put it in plugins/. It runs on Purpur, Spigot, Paper, CraftBukkit and other Bukkit API implementations. No Vault needed unless you want players to buy claim blocks.
2. Restart (not reload). The plugin creates plugins/GriefPreventionData/ with config.yml, messages.yml and a ClaimData folder. That folder is your claims; include it in every backup.
3. Set spawn-protection=0 in server.properties. The docs' first FAQ entry: vanilla spawn protection blocks non-op players from using trust and building near spawn, and it looks exactly like a broken plugin. Use an admin claim for spawn instead (below).
4. Give a friend a golden shovel and a stick and have them claim something before you announce anything. The messages the plugin prints during that first claim are the tutorial; read them as a new player would.

How players claim: shovel, stick and the first chest

Claiming is done "with ONLY the mouse, no slash commands," in the docs' words. A new player's first placed chest gets an automatic claim around it (radius set by AutomaticNewPlayerClaimsRadius, default 4). Beyond that first claim, players need a golden shovel:

1. Right-click one corner of the area with the golden shovel, then right-click the opposite corner. The claim covers the rectangle between them and extends from bedrock to build height.
2. Resize by right-clicking a corner of an existing claim with the shovel and clicking where the corner should move to.
3. Inspect by right-clicking any block with a stick. It outlines the claim and prints the owner.
4. Subdivide with /subdivideclaims, then use the shovel inside your own claim to carve plots you can trust different people in. /basicclaims returns the shovel to normal mode.
5. Abandon with /abandonclaim while standing in it, which refunds the blocks (at the AbandonReturnRatio in config), or /abandonallclaims.

Claim blocks are the currency. Every player starts with InitialBlocks, earns BlocksAccruedPerHour of play, delivered roughly every ten minutes and not while standing still, and can hold up to MaxAccruedBlocks. A claim costs its area in blocks (width times length; height is free). /claimslist shows a player's blocks and every claim they own.

Trust commands

Four levels, each a superset of the one above it. Run them while standing in the claim. Players get these wrong constantly, so put the table in your rules or a /claimbook handout (the plugin has a book for this).

Trust given at the top level of a claim applies to its subdivisions; trust given inside a subdivision applies only there. /trust public opens a claim to everyone, which is the right setting for a community farm and the wrong one for a base.

A sensible config for an SMP

The defaults are reasonable. These are the keys under GriefPrevention.Claims that most SMP owners end up changing, with the shipped defaults shown:

# plugins/GriefPreventionData/config.yml (excerpt)
GriefPrevention:
  Claims:
    Mode: Survival                       # or Creative, SurvivalRequiringClaims, Disabled
    InitialBlocks: 100                   # raise to 250-500 so a first base fits
    BlocksAccruedPerHour: 100            # 100 an hour is a 50x50 claim every day of play
    MaxAccruedBlocks: 80000
    MaximumNumberOfClaimsPerPlayer: 0    # 0 = unlimited
    AutomaticNewPlayerClaimsRadius: 4
    PreventTheft: true
    PreventButtonsSwitches: true
    LockWoodenDoors: false               # true if door-trolling becomes a thing
    LockTrapDoors: false
    LockFenceGates: false
    ProtectCreatures: true
    ProtectHorses: true
    ModificationTool: GOLD_SPADE
    InvestigationTool: STICK
    Expiration:
      ChestClaimDays: 7                  # untouched first-chest claims expire in a week
      AllClaims:
        DaysInactive: 60                 # claims of players gone 60 days are removed
  Economy:
    ClaimBlocksPurchaseCost: 0           # set a price to enable /buyclaimblocks (needs Vault)
    ClaimBlocksSellValue: 0

Three notes. Raise InitialBlocks: 100 blocks is a 10 by 10 square, and a new player who cannot fit a starter house in their first claim assumes the plugin is broken. Set an expiration you are comfortable with; the docs note the expiration check runs slowly on purpose and can be sped up with Advanced.ClaimExpirationCheckRate at your own risk, so do not expect an inactive claim to vanish the hour it becomes eligible. And if the ground under claims is being dug out from below, the fix is ExtendIntoGroundDistance, not a trust setting. The full key list is on the configuration page; run /gpreload after edits.

Permissions for LuckPerms

To protect spawn, run /adminclaims, claim the area with the shovel, then /basicclaims. Admin claims are owned by "the administration," need no blocks, and are the correct replacement for vanilla spawn protection. The full list, including griefprevention.eavesdrop for reading private messages (decide whether your staff should have that), is on the permissions page.

Questions players ask, and the answers

• "I can't build in my own claim." They are in a subdivision someone else owns, or standing in a neighbor's claim that overlaps what they thought was theirs. Stick, right-click, read the owner.
• "My friend can't open my chests." They gave /accesstrust. Chests need /containertrust or /trust.
• "I'm not getting claim blocks." They were AFK. Blocks arrive about every ten minutes only to players who are moving. If the whole server reports it, enable the plugin's debug log to watch deliveries.
• "Someone's pressure plate keeps going off." Arrows trigger wooden buttons and pressure plates by design; the docs say to use stone buttons.
• "I'm stuck inside someone's claim." /trapped teleports them out. There is a cooldown so it cannot be used as free travel.
• "Can I make my claim bigger?" Yes: shovel on a corner, click the new corner. If they lack blocks, tell them the hourly rate and point at the vote reward.
• "TNT does nothing in my claim." Correct. /claimexplosions toggles it per claim and resets when the owner logs off, on purpose.
• "Do claims protect my animals?" With ProtectCreatures on, yes, and containertrust is the level that lets a friend use them.

Alternatives, and when to pick them

Stay with GriefPrevention for a single survival server with a small team: it is the simplest for players, the lightest on the server, and the one with a decade of answers on every forum. Move to HuskClaims when a second backend appears, and to Towny or Lands only when the town system is the point of the server.

Whichever you run, list the server under land claims as well as survival or SMP. Players who lost a base to griefing search for exactly that tag. Servers listing four or more modes on our list have a median of 37 players online against 10 for the rest, and land claims is a mode you already have. Claim your listing from its server page to set the tags and say in the description how many claim blocks a new player starts with; it is a better hook than "friendly staff."

Quick questions