Set up Vault on your Minecraft server

Vault does nothing visible on its own. It is a bridge that lets plugins talk to your permissions, chat and economy plugins without each one needing a custom hook for every other. Chat formatters and EssentialsX use it. This guide installs it on a Paper or Purpur server and shows how to check it is connected.

Checked against VaultUnlocked 2.20.3 on Paper 26.3, October 2026.

Which Vault to install

There are two choices:

• Vault by MilkBowl, the original. Its newest release on GitHub is 1.7.3 from July 2020, and the repository has had no commits since August 2022. In our test it still loaded on Paper 26.1.2 and vault-info answered, but it has had no updates since, so treat it as the fallback.
• VaultUnlocked, a fork that describes itself as a drop-in replacement for Vault. It is maintained, lists Paper, Purpur and Folia, and its 2.20.3 release lists Minecraft 26.3. You need only one of the two.

If a plugin's page says it needs Vault, VaultUnlocked is the one to try first.

Install VaultUnlocked

1. Open Plugins in the Content group of the left rail.
2. Leave the Modrinth button selected and search for VaultUnlocked.
3. Click Install on the row.
4. Restart from the Console tab (use Start there if the server is stopped).

Modrinth lists two versions of each release, a regular build (VaultUnlocked-2.20.3.jar) and a Java 8 build (VaultUnlockedJava8-2.20.3.jar). In our test the store installed the regular build, VaultUnlocked-2.20.3.jar.

To use the original Vault instead, click GitHub on the same tab, enter MilkBowl/Vault, press Look up and Next, pick release 1.7.3, click Next to reach the Review step, then click Install. The GitHub button needs file access to the server.

Pair it with something

Vault only passes messages along. For it to be useful you also need:

• A permissions plugin. LuckPerms works through Vault. See Set up LuckPerms on your Minecraft server.
• An economy plugin if you want money. EssentialsX has a built-in economy with Vault support. See Set up EssentialsX on your Minecraft server.

LuckPerms loads before Vault on purpose, so plugins that depend on Vault also see LuckPerms. There is nothing for you to set up for that.

Check the connection

Run this in the Console tab, without a leading slash:

vault-info

It displays information about Vault. When a chat plugin does not pick up prefixes, the LuckPerms wiki says to check this output to confirm that data is being read from LuckPerms. On VaultUnlocked the command needs vault.admin.info, a child of vault.admin, and operators have vault.admin by default.

Common problems

• A plugin says it cannot find an economy. Vault is installed but no economy plugin is. Install one and restart the server.
• A plugin cannot find permissions. Make sure your permissions plugin is installed and green in the plugins list, then restart.
• Two Vault jars in the folder. Open plugins in the File Manager and keep one.
• You are changing economy plugins. The vault-convert command converts the data of one economy and dumps it into another. Create a backup first.