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.