Restart Announcer

Highly configurable restart countdowns for Paper and Folia: chat, boss bar, or title announcements, optional scheduled daily/weekly restarts with reminders, and MiniMessage in messages.yml.

Command: /announcer · Aliases: /ra, /restartannouncer

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.20+ (Paper API)
• Java 17+
• Paper or a compatible fork (Folia supported — folia-supported: true)

Features

• Manual countdowns — /announcer start with time, interval, and display mode (chat, bossbar, title)
• Scheduled restarts — wall-clock DAILY or WEEKLY restarts, optional hour-based reminders, optional wait for backup + delay after backup finishes
• Shutdown control — execute-shutdown: true stops the server at zero; false = announcements only (your script/watchdog must reboot)
• Shutdown method — shutdown, stop, or restart (see config comments; default shutdown is recommended)
• In-game management — toggle execute-shutdown, set restart message, reload config/messages
• Update checker — optional; announcer.update for /announcer update
• Configurable permissions — permission node strings in config.yml map to your permission plugin

Commands

| Command | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| /announcer start <time> [interval] [display] | Start a countdown. time / interval: e.g. 10m, 30s, 1h. display: chat (default), bossbar, title. |
| /announcer stop | Cancel the active countdown |
| /announcer status | Show whether a restart is running and time left |
| /announcer reload | Reload config.yml, messages.yml, and re-apply scheduled restart from config |
| /announcer toggle | Flip execute-shutdown in config.yml (reload afterward to fully sync behavior) |
| /announcer set message <message> | Set the main restart announcement (MiniMessage); persists to messages.yml |
| /announcer update | Check for plugin updates (requires announcer.update) |
| /announcer help | Context-sensitive help (players only see subcommands they can use) |

Examples

• /announcer start 10m — 10 minutes, default interval, chat
• /announcer start 30m 2m bossbar — 30 minutes, announce every 2 minutes on boss bar
• /announcer start 30s 2s title — 30 seconds, every 2 seconds as title

Permissions

Defined in plugin.yml (defaults shown). You can point config keys at custom nodes if your permission plugin uses different names.

| Permission | Default | Purpose |
|------------|---------|---------|
| announcer.use | true | Base command access |
| announcer.start | op | Start countdowns |
| announcer.stop | op | Stop countdowns |
| announcer.status | op | View status |
| announcer.reload | op | Reload, toggle, set message |
| announcer.update | op | /announcer update |
| announcer.admin | op | Parent node grouping the above |

config.yml also lists the strings used for start/stop/status/reload checks (defaults match the table).

Configuration

config.yml

• config_version — bumped when defaults change; keep your file when updating and merge new keys from the jar if needed.
• update-checker — enable/disable update checks on startup.
• defaults — restart-time (minutes), announcement-interval (seconds) when omitted from /announcer start.
• scheduled-restart — enabled, time (HHmm 24h), recurrence (DAILY / WEEKLY), day-of-week, interval-weeks, week-anchor-date (for multi-week weekly), reminder-interval-hours, wait-for-backup, wait-for-backup-delay.
• shutdown-method — shutdown | stop | restart
• execute-shutdown — true to stop server at end of countdown; false for announcements only.
• permissions — override permission node strings for start/stop/status/reload.

Example skeleton:

config_version: 4

update-checker:
  enabled: true

defaults:
  restart-time: 10
  announcement-interval: 60

scheduled-restart:
  enabled: false
  time: "0400"
  recurrence: DAILY
  day-of-week: SUNDAY
  interval-weeks: 1
  week-anchor-date: "2026-01-04"
  reminder-interval-hours: 4
  wait-for-backup: true
  wait-for-backup-delay: 60

shutdown-method: "shutdown"
execute-shutdown: true

permissions:
  start: "announcer.start"
  stop: "announcer.stop"
  status: "announcer.status"
  reload: "announcer.reload"

messages.yml

• messages_version — do not change unless you know what you’re doing.
• restart-message — %time% = time remaining.
• scheduled-restart.reminder — %time%, %timezone% for scheduled notices.
• scheduled-restart.backup-delayed — when restart waits on a backup.
• commands.* — MiniMessage strings for usage, errors, and help.

messages_version: 3

restart-message: "<red><bold>Server will restart in <yellow>%time%<red>!"

scheduled-restart:
  reminder: "<yellow>Next scheduled restart: <white>%time% <gray>(%timezone%)"
  backup-delayed: "<yellow>Restart delayed – backup in progress. Will restart when backup completes."

commands:
  start:
    usage: "<red>Usage: /announcer start <time> <interval> [display]"
    example: "<gray>Example: /announcer start 10m 60s chat"
    invalid-display: "<red>Invalid display type. Use: chat, bossbar, title"
  # … stop, status, reload, help …

Installation

1. Download the built JAR (mvn package) or a release artifact.
2. Place it in the server’s plugins folder.
3. Start the server once to generate config.yml and messages.yml.
4. Edit config/messages, then /announcer reload (or restart).
5. Use /announcer help in-game for allowed subcommands.

Updating

• Back up plugins/RestartAnnouncer/config.yml and messages.yml.
• Replace the JAR and start the server.
• Compare your files with the defaults in the new jar; add any new keys (e.g. under scheduled-restart or update-checker) instead of deleting the whole folder unless you want a full reset.
• After large jumps, verify config_version / messages_version and scheduled-restart fields match the new defaults.

Time formats

Examples: 30s, 60s, 5m, 10m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 6h (used for start time and announcement interval).

Shutdown methods

• shutdown (default) — Bukkit.shutdown()
• stop — intended to align with /stop-style behavior (see in-jar comments)
• restart — /restart; may not exist on all setups — use with care

Announcement-only mode

execute-shutdown: false

Announces as usual; at 0 the server does not stop. Use an external script or panel to restart after players are warned.

MiniMessage

messages.yml supports MiniMessage (e.g. <red>, <yellow>, <bold>, <reset>, gradients). Legacy § codes may still appear in a few hard-coded admin strings; prefer MiniMessage in YAML.

Support

Issues and suggestions: use the provided Discord

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Plugin does not restart the process by itself when the OS exits — pair with a start script, systemd, or watchdog that brings the server back up.