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MinecraftMods & Plugins

Format Minecraft chat with EssentialsX Chat

Install EssentialsX Chat, write a Minecraft chat format with prefixes and colors, give groups their own look and set a chat radius, with Vault and LuckPerms.

Updated 3 min read
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Table of contents

EssentialsX Chat is an optional EssentialsX module that changes how chat looks on a Paper or Purpur server. It adds prefixes, suffixes and colors to messages, lets each group have its own format, and can limit chat to nearby players. It is a separate jar, so the main EssentialsX plugin alone does not format chat.

Checked against EssentialsX Chat 2.22.0, built for Minecraft 26.1.2, October 2026.

What you need

Install the module

  1. Open Plugins, under Content in the panel menu, and search EssentialsX with Modrinth selected.
  2. Click Install on EssentialsX, then on EssentialsX Chat. Keep both on the same version.
  3. Open Console and click Restart, or Start if the server is stopped.

If Install says there is no build for your Minecraft version, set Game version to Any version and install it. Read the Console on the next start, since a build made for an older Minecraft may not load. On Paper 26.3, EssentialsX 2.22.0 logged You are running an unsupported server version! at start, but it and EssentialsX Chat still enabled and ran.

Set the chat format

The chat settings sit under the chat: heading of plugins/Essentials/config.yml. Open it in the File Manager, edit the format: line, click Save, then restart. The default is '<{DISPLAYNAME}> {MESSAGE}'. Two formats the file itself suggests:

format: '&7[{GROUP}]&r {DISPLAYNAME}&7:&r {MESSAGE}'
format: '&7{PREFIX}&r {NICKNAME}&r &7{SUFFIX}&r: {MESSAGE}'

& followed by a character is a color or style code. The Minecraft Wiki lists them under Formatting codes. These placeholders work inside the format:

PlaceholderShows
{MESSAGE}The text the player typed
{USERNAME}, {DISPLAYNAME}, {NICKNAME}The account name, the display name, or the EssentialsX nickname
{PREFIX}, {SUFFIX}, {GROUP}The prefix, suffix and primary group, from your permissions plugin
{WORLDNAME}The name of the world the player is in

{DISPLAYNAME} already includes the prefix and suffix. Using it beside {PREFIX} gives a double prefix, so pick one or the other.

Give each group its own format

Under group-formats:, remove the # and add a line per group, for example admins: '&c[{GROUP}]&r {DISPLAYNAME}&7:&c {MESSAGE}'. Group names are case sensitive and must match your permissions plugin. If a LuckPerms group has a display name set, use that name instead.

Set prefixes with LuckPerms

With Vault and LuckPerms installed, run this in the Console to give the default group a prefix. The number is the weight, and the highest weight wins:

lp group default meta addprefix 10 "&7[Member] "

Set up LuckPerms chat prefixes goes further.

Colors, local chat and shouting

  • Players can type color codes only with permission. essentials.chat.color allows colors, essentials.chat.format allows styles such as bold, and essentials.chat.rgb allows &#RRGGBB colors.
  • chat.radius sets how many blocks a message travels. 0 is global chat, which is the default.
  • With a radius set, players holding essentials.chat.shout start a message with ! to reach everyone. essentials.chat.question does the same with ?.

If it does not work

  • Prefixes are blank. Run vault-info in the Console and check that Vault is reading data from your permissions plugin.
  • Another chat plugin fights it. The config describes chat.paper-chat-events as the setting for clashes with other plugins that use the chat event system. Set it to false and restart.
  • No change in chat. Check Installed in Plugins: EssentialsX Chat must be listed and enabled.

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