ShelfNames
A lightweight plugin for Minecraft (Paper) that displays the names of items on shelves (*_SHELF) as a hologram above the block when the player looks at it.
I don't know my version or loader
A lightweight Minecraft (Paper) plugin that displays the names of items placed on shelves (*_SHELF) as a hologram above the block when a player looks at it.
The plugin is designed with a focus on performance, no unnecessary allocations, and minimal impact on the server thread.
Polish version of the description on GitHub
Features
- Shows item names from a shelf as a hologram
- Supports every wooden shelf variant (
Tag.WOODEN_SHELVES) - Preserves item name colors and formatting
- Updates the hologram only when the contents actually change
- Automatically removes the hologram once the player looks away
- No flickering and no redundant updates
- Fully compatible with Adventure / MiniMessage
How it works
- Every configured number of ticks the plugin checks which block the player is looking at
- If it's a shelf:
- its position is compared with the previous one (cache)
- a snapshot of the contents is taken only when the looked-at shelf changes
- The hologram is updated only after the looked-at shelf changes
- Expensive operations (
BlockState) are performed only when actually needed
Commands & permissions
| Command | Permission | Description |
|---|---|---|
/shelfnames (or /shelfnames info) |
(none) | Plugin info: name, version, GitHub link |
/shelfnames clear |
shelfnames.admin |
Removes every hologram created by the plugin |
/shelfnames reload |
shelfnames.admin |
Full restart: destroys holograms, reloads config.yml, restarts components |
Players without shelfnames.admin can only run the bare /shelfnames (info) command. shelfnames.admin defaults to OP.
Requirements & dependencies
Requirements: Paper 1.21+, FancyHolograms 2.8.0+, Java 21.
Dependencies: (soft) FancyHolograms, Paper API, Adventure (bundled with Paper).
Unsupported integrations
DecentHolograms — DecentHolograms is not supported, as its public API exposes no hologram pinning (billboard FIXED), scaling, or background, so the integration cannot be done the way it is for FancyHolograms or the Bukkit API. Dependency-free replacement: the STANDALONE provider (Bukkit TextDisplay), which honors hologram.scale and hologram.position-fixed.
Notes
Configuration: a full example config.yml, with comments for every option, is available on GitHub: config.yml.
Planned features: optional transition smoothing (fade in / fade out).
Technical notes: the plugin does not use NMS, does not send its own packets, and does not interfere with the server tick loop. It was optimized using the Spark Profiler and tested under realistic load.
- Edition: Minecraft Java
- File type: .jar
- Minecraft versions listed: 1.21.9, 1.21.10, 1.21.11
- How to install: Install the matching mod loader (Forge, Fabric or NeoForge) for your Minecraft version. → Download the .jar. → Put it in the .minecraft/mods folder and launch that loader profile.
- Where to get it: Opens on Modrinth — not every file is mirrored on our own servers.
Install steps are the general flow for this file type — How to install Minecraft Java mods & modpacks walks through it step by step.
- Ships as ShelfNames-1.2.4-all.jar — drop this file into the mods folder
- Download size: 61 KB
- Download link checked 4 Oct 2026 — working
These come from our own check of the pack file, not from the source page.