kWelcome 2.1.0

This update greatly expands version support and makes kWelcome more reliable for established servers.

One download for many Paper versions

You can now use the same kWelcome JAR on:

• Paper 1.18 through 1.21.11
• Paper 26.1.x
• Paper 26.2

There is no need to download a separate build for each Minecraft version.

More accurate first-join messages

kWelcome now checks whether someone is truly joining the server for the first time.

Previously, players who had joined before kWelcome was installed could receive the first-join message because they were missing from players.yml. Existing players will now receive the normal join message, while actually new players will receive the first-join message.

Smoother player joins

Player data is no longer written to disk every time someone joins. Changes are collected and saved once per minute, when the plugin is reloaded, and when the server shuts down.

This reduces unnecessary disk activity on busy servers. If saving fails, kWelcome keeps the pending data in memory, reports the problem in the console, and avoids replacing it during a reload.

Easier command use

The /kwelcome reload command now supports tab completion for players and console senders with permission to use it.

Safer custom messages

Player names and other placeholder values are inserted as plain text. They cannot be used to add unexpected MiniMessage colors or formatting.

MiniMessage formatting continues to work normally in messages.yml across all supported versions.

Updating

1. Stop the server.
2. Replace the old kWelcome JAR with version 2.1.0.
3. Start the server again.

Your existing config.yml, messages.yml, and players.yml files will continue to work. No configuration reset is required.

Java requirements

Paper version	Java version
1.18 through 1.19.4	Java 17
1.20 through 1.21.11	Java 21
26.1.x and 26.2	Java 25