Fancy clans

FancyClans

A premium, lightweight clan system for Spigot/Paper 1.8.x through 1.21.x+ with a polished interface, gradient styling, alliances and PlaceholderAPI support.

Features

• Found and manage clans — create, disband (with a two-click safety confirmation), inspect profiles.
• Auto-generated tags — smart abbreviation of clan names with configurable stop-words, manual overrides and a max tag length.
• Tag styling — custom prefix and a 16-color palette that can be changed at any time.
• Premium gradient system — 20 built-in gradient presets (Fire, Ice, Royal, Neon, Cyberpunk, etc.) plus custom hex gradients for clan tags.
• Style toggle — switch between gradient and legacy single-color tag modes per clan.
• Clan descriptions — set a custom description visible in the clan menu and via placeholders.
• Interactive GUI — multi-page chest menu with a color picker, gradient studio, and preset browser.
• Alliances — request-based ally system with accept/deny/break, per-clan ally limits and pending-request timeouts.
• Premium chat formatting — hex colors (&#RRGGBB), smooth gradients ({gradient:#ff6b35:#ff0000:text}), rainbow ({rainbow:text}), and shimmer ({shimmer:#color:text}) effects in all messages.
• Fully translatable — every user-facing string lives in messages.yml, so admins can restyle the plugin without touching code.
• PlaceholderAPI + TAB — drop-in tag placeholders for chat, TAB boards and scoreboards.
• Persistent storage — clans are saved to plugins/FancyClans/clans.json automatically.
• Optional update checker — point it at any JSON/text endpoint to get notified of new releases on startup.

Requirements

Requirement	Version
Server software	Spigot or Paper 1.8.x - 1.21.x+
Java	8 or newer (8 for 1.8-1.16 servers, 17+ for 1.18+ servers)
PlaceholderAPI (optional)	2.11.x
TAB (optional)	any recent build

PlaceholderAPI and TAB are soft dependencies — the plugin runs fine without them.

Version Compatibility

Server Version	Gradient Tags	Hex Colors	Presets	GUI Markers
1.8.x - 1.12.x	Nearest legacy	Nearest legacy	Full support	Lore fallback
1.13.x - 1.15.x	Nearest legacy	Nearest legacy	Full support	PersistentDataContainer
1.16.x - 1.17.x	Full hex	Full hex	Full support	PersistentDataContainer
1.18.x - 1.21.x+	Full hex	Full hex	Full support	PersistentDataContainer

Installation

1. Download FancyClans-1.0.0.jar.
2. Drop it into your server's plugins/ folder.
3. Restart (or reload) the server.
4. Edit plugins/FancyClans/config.yml to your taste and run /clan reload.

Commands

Command	Description	Permission
/clan	Open the interactive clan menu	fancyclans.menu
/clan create <name>	Found a brand new clan	fancyclans.create
/clan info	View your clan's full profile	fancyclans.use
/clan info <clan>	View another clan's profile	fancyclans.use
/clan tag	Preview your clan tag	fancyclans.use
/clan setprefix [text]	Change your tag prefix (leave empty to clear)	fancyclans.prefix
/clan setcolor [color]	Pick a tag color or list the palette	fancyclans.color
/clan setgradient <start> <end>	Set a custom hex gradient on your tag	fancyclans.gradient
/clan gradient	Browse all 20 gradient presets	fancyclans.gradient
/clan gradient <preset>	Apply a gradient preset to your tag	fancyclans.gradient
/clan gradient preview <start> <end>	Preview a gradient without applying it	fancyclans.gradient
/clan gradient clear	Remove gradient and revert to single color	fancyclans.gradient
/clan toggle	Toggle between gradient and legacy mode	fancyclans.gradient
/clan setdescription [text]	Set your clan's description (leave empty to clear)	fancyclans.description
/clan description [clan]	View a clan's description	fancyclans.use
/clan ally <clan>	Request an alliance	fancyclans.ally
/clan ally accept <clan>	Accept an alliance request	fancyclans.ally
/clan ally deny <clan>	Decline an alliance request	fancyclans.ally
/clan ally remove <clan>	Break an alliance	fancyclans.ally
/clan allies	List allies and pending requests	fancyclans.use
/clan leave	Leave your current clan	fancyclans.leave
/clan disband	Permanently disband your clan (double-confirm)	fancyclans.disband
/clan help	Show the help screen	fancyclans.use
/clan reload	Reload configuration and translations	fancyclans.reload
/clan version	Show the running version	fancyclans.use

/fancyclans works as an alias for every command.

Permissions

Permission	Description	Default
fancyclans.use	Allows using the base /clan command	true
fancyclans.menu	Allows opening the interactive clan menu	true
fancyclans.create	Allows creating a clan	true
fancyclans.disband	Allows disbanding your clan	true
fancyclans.leave	Allows leaving your clan	true
fancyclans.prefix	Allows changing the tag prefix	true
fancyclans.color	Allows changing the tag color	true
fancyclans.gradient	Allows using gradient commands (setgradient, gradient, toggle)	true
fancyclans.description	Allows setting your clan description	true
fancyclans.ally	Allows managing alliances	true
fancyclans.reload	Allows reloading the configuration	op
fancyclans.admin	Administrative access (includes fancyclans.reload)	op

Gradient Presets

FancyClans includes 20 built-in gradient presets. Players can browse them with /clan gradient and apply with /clan gradient <name>.

Preset	Start	End	Preview
fire	#ff6b35	#ff0000	Orange to red
ice	#00d4ff	#0066ff	Light blue to blue
sunset	#ff6b35	#ff006e	Orange to pink
ocean	#00b4d8	#023e8a	Cyan to dark blue
forest	#22c55e	#065f46	Green to dark green
royal	#a855f7	#6366f1	Purple to indigo
neon	#00ff88	#ff00ff	Green to magenta
pastel	#fbbf24	#fb7185	Yellow to pink
cyber	#00ffff	#ff00ff	Cyan to magenta
gold	#fbbf24	#f59e0b	Yellow to gold
crimson	#ef4444	#991b1b	Red to dark red
emerald	#22c55e	#16a34a	Green to emerald
sapphire	#3b82f6	#1d4ed8	Blue to sapphire
amethyst	#a855f7	#7c3aed	Purple to amethyst
sakura	#fbbf24	#fb7185	Gold to pink
midnight	#1a1a2e	#0f3460	Dark navy to blue
lava	#ff4500	#8b0000	Orange-red to dark red
arctic	#e0f7fa	#00bcd4	Ice white to cyan
toxic	#39ff14	#00ff41	Neon green to lime
vapor	#ff6ec7	#7b2ff7	Pink to purple

Placeholders

PlaceholderAPI expansion id: fancyclans

Placeholder	Returns
%fancyclans_tag%	Full tag including brackets and colors, e.g. [AB]
%fancyclans_tag_raw%	Raw tag letters without styling
%fancyclans_tag_colored%	Colored tag without brackets
%fancyclans_tag_gradient%	Tag with gradient styling applied
%fancyclans_tag_legacy%	Tag with legacy single-color mode
%fancyclans_name%	Clan name
%fancyclans_prefix%	Tag prefix text
%fancyclans_color%	Tag color code
%fancyclans_description%	Clan description
%fancyclans_style_mode%	Current style mode (gradient/legacy)
%fancyclans_gradient_start%	Gradient start hex color
%fancyclans_gradient_end%	Gradient end hex color
%fancyclans_gradient_preset%	Applied gradient preset name
%fancyclans_level%	Clan level
%fancyclans_xp%	Clan experience points
%fancyclans_balance%	Clan bank balance
%fancyclans_allies%	Comma-separated ally names
%fancyclans_ally_count% / %fancyclans_allies_count%	Number of allies
%fancyclans_members%	Number of members
%fancyclans_owner%	Clan owner's name

A typical TAB or chat setup:

%fancyclans_tag% %player_name%: %message%

Configuration

config.yml

All visual settings live in config.yml. Colors use Minecraft format codes (&c), hex (&#FFAA00), or gradients ({gradient:#ff6b35:#ff0000:Your text}).

Tag format:

• tag-format.prefix / tag-format.suffix — the opening and closing brackets of the tag.
• tag-format.default-color — fallback color when a clan hasn't picked one.

Abbreviation:

• abbreviation.stop-words — words ignored when generating a tag.
• abbreviation.overrides — manual "Clan Name": "AB" pairs (take priority).
• abbreviation.max-tag-length — how many tag letters are generated (max 3).

Clan settings:

• clan.min-name-length / clan.max-name-length — name length bounds.
• clan.allowed-characters — regex character class for valid names.
• clan.max-prefix-length — maximum tag prefix length.
• clan.max-description-length — maximum description length.
• clan.available-colors — the allowed tag color palette (15 colors).

Alliances:

• alliances.max-allies — ally limit per clan (default: 5).
• alliances.request-timeout-seconds — how long pending requests stay valid (default: 86400 = 24h).

Gradient settings:

• gradients.default-style-mode — "gradient" or "legacy" for new clans.
• gradients.allow-style-toggle — allow players to toggle between modes.
• gradients.allow-custom-gradients — allow custom hex gradient colors.
• gradients.primary / secondary / success / error / warning / info / bar — accent gradients for UI elements.
• gradients.rainbow-speed — rainbow color cycling speed.
• gradients.shimmer-enabled — shimmer effects on GUI items.
• gradients.presets — the 20 built-in gradient presets (can be customized).

Update checker:

• update-checker.enabled / update-checker.url — optional release checking.

messages.yml

Every user-facing string lives in messages.yml. Supports:

• {prefix} — the global prefix defined at the top.
• Placeholders like {name}, {max}, {usage}, {tag}, {preview}.
• Colors via &c, hex via &#FFAA00, gradients via {gradient:#start:#end:text}.
• Rainbow via {rainbow:text}, shimmer via {shimmer:#color:text}.

Run /clan reload after editing.

Building from source

The project uses Maven and targets Java 8 for maximum server compatibility.

mvn clean package

The resulting jar is written to target/FancyClans-1.0.0.jar.

Data storage

Clans, members, colors, alliances and pending requests live in plugins/FancyClans/clans.json. The file is written on every relevant change and on shutdown, so no manual backups of anything else are needed — but as always, back up before major server changes.

THIS README IS PARTIALLY AI-GENERATED