How to Set Up LuckPerms on Paper, Spigot or Purpur

Let me explain this from the very beginning, the way I would to someone setting up their first Minecraft server.

Your Minecraft server runs extra add-ons called plugins - small programs that add features the base game does not have. One of the most important things almost every server needs is a way to control who is allowed to do what. Should a random new player be able to fly, break spawn blocks, or use admin commands? Obviously not - but the base game has no built-in way to say "this player can, this player cannot." That is what a permission plugin is for, and LuckPerms is the one almost every serious server ends up using. It is free, actively maintained, and has a website-based editor so you are not stuck typing everything by hand.

One more term before we start: a group. Instead of setting permissions for each of your 500 players one by one, you create a small number of groups - like "member", "moderator", "admin" - decide what each group is allowed to do, and then just assign each player to one group. Change the group's permissions once, and everyone in it updates automatically.

Step 1: Download LuckPerms

Go to the official site: luckperms.net. "Official" matters here - only download plugins from the developer's own site or a trusted marketplace, never a random link.
Download the file for your server. The same download works whether your server runs Paper, Spigot, or Purpur - you do not need to pick a different version for each.
The file you get will end in .jar - that is a normal, runnable plugin file, nothing to be worried about. Move it into your server's plugins folder (a folder that already exists in your server's files, alongside other plugins you may have installed).

Step 2: Restart your server

Not just a "reload" - a full stop-and-start. LuckPerms needs a fresh boot to hook itself into the server properly the first time. Once it is back up, LuckPerms automatically creates its own settings files - you do not need to create anything by hand.

Step 3: Set up your first permissions

Everything happens through a chat/console command that starts with /lp. Here are the four you will use constantly. Anywhere you see <player> or <group>, replace it with a real name - do not type the brackets.

Put a player into a group (this decides what that player can do):

/lp user <player> parent set <group>

# Example: make the player "Steve" an admin
/lp user Steve parent set admin

Create a brand new group (a new label you can assign to players):

/lp creategroup <name>

# Example: create a "moderator" group
/lp creategroup moderator

Give a group permission to do something specific (each ability in Minecraft has its own permission "node" - a specific text code that plugins recognize):

/lp group <group> permission set <node> true

# Example: let everyone in "moderator" fly
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.fly true

Check what a specific player currently has (useful when something is not working as expected):

/lp user <player> info

Prefer clicking over typing? Run /lp editor - it gives you a temporary web link where you can see and change everything through a normal website interface instead of commands.

Step 4: Install Vault (only if you need it)

Vault is a small helper plugin that lets other plugins - most commonly economy/money plugins - read permission and group information from LuckPerms. If you are not running anything like that yet, you can skip this step for now and add it later.

Download Vault from SpigotMC (a trusted marketplace for Minecraft plugins).
Put the file in the same plugins folder as LuckPerms.
Restart the server again.

Step 5: Actually test it

Log in with a couple of different player accounts - one in each group you set up - and try the specific things you configured. Do not just assume the settings are correct because you typed the command; a single typo in a permission node is enough for nothing to happen, and it is much easier to catch that now than after a player complains three times that "the server is broken."

If watching is easier than reading, the video above walks through the exact same steps from start to finish.

That is it

LuckPerms is installed, your groups are set up, and Vault is connected if you need it. You now have a proper, scalable way to manage who can do what, instead of hardcoding a handful of admin names into the game's built-in operator list. If you are also hardening the server itself against unwanted visitors, my guide on securing a Linux server with Fail2Ban is a reasonable next stop - LuckPerms controls what people can do once they are in the game; Fail2Ban controls who can get near the server's controls in the first place.

One last tip: if something is not behaving the way you expect, the official LuckPerms documentation and their Discord community are both faster than guessing on your own. Happy crafting.