DuskChat

DuskChat is a configurable chat plugin for Paper and Folia servers. It handles chat formatting, mentions, private messages, moderation tools, player information and interactive item or inventory previews without making players install anything on their clients.

Public chat never waits for the database. Player preferences are saved to SQLite on a separate worker, while player and inventory actions use the correct Paper or Folia scheduler.

Chat formatting

Create as many chat formats as you need and assign them through permissions and priorities. Formats support:

• Legacy color and decoration codes
• Hex colors
• Supported MiniMessage tags
• PlaceholderAPI values
• LuckPerms prefixes, suffixes and primary groups

Player names can show a configurable hover with their rank, kills, deaths, ping, playtime and any PlaceholderAPI values you add. Clicking the name can suggest or run a private-message command.

Mentions

Players can mention someone by typing their exact name. Requiring @Name is optional.

Mention highlighting, sounds, actionbars and chat notifications can all be configured separately. Mentions also respect ignored players when that option is enabled.

Item and inventory previews

Players can share information directly in chat with:

• [item] to show the item in their hand
• [inv] to share a snapshot of their inventory
• [ec] to share a snapshot of their ender chest

Inventory previews are read-only. They expire automatically, have a configurable cache limit and close when DuskChat reloads or disables.

Private and staff chat

DuskChat includes:

• /msg and /reply
• /ignore
• /msgtoggle
• /chattoggle
• /staffchat
• /spy
• /chatmute
• /chatclear

Private-message formats and sounds are configurable. The receiving player hears an amethyst chime by default, and selected commands can use their own sounds.

Chat filters

Each filter can be enabled, disabled or bypassed with a separate permission. Available filters include:

• Repeated-character flooding
• Excessive capital letters
• Domains and IPv4 addresses
• Custom Java regular expressions
• Repeated or closely similar messages
• Message length and chat cooldown

Configuration

Most settings are kept in config.yml, while command and filter messages are stored in messages.yml.

Both files can be reloaded without restarting the server. DuskChat adds missing defaults after an update, creates a backup before migrating older configs and includes /duskchat validate to report configuration problems in the console.

Dependencies

DuskChat has no required plugin dependencies.

• PlaceholderAPI: Optional, used for external placeholders
• LuckPerms: Optional, used for native rank information

SQLite is included as a runtime library, so no external database server is needed.

Compatibility

• Built for Paper and Folia
• Compiled against the Paper 1.20.3 API
• Uses Java 17 bytecode
• Server-side only; players do not need to install anything

Your Paper or Folia build may require a newer Java version.

Installation

1. Place the DuskChat JAR in your server's plugins folder.
2. Start the server once to generate the configuration files.
3. Edit plugins/DuskChat/config.yml and messages.yml.
4. Run /duskchat validate, then /duskchat reload.

For production updates, replacing the JAR during a full server restart is recommended.

License

DuskChat is licensed under the MIT License.