> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://esmp-fun.gitbook.io/plugins/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://esmp-fun.gitbook.io/plugins/community-chat/readme.md).

# Community Chat

One chat for many communities. Any number of Minecraft servers on 26.x and their Discords, talking in the same room, with shared moderation, account linking and item sharing.

Every community keeps its own independently hosted server and its own Discord. There is no proxy and nothing to forward or open anywhere. Each machine reaches out to the internet the way a web browser does, and they meet in the middle.

## Which applies to you?

* **Somebody sent me an address.** You are joining a chat that already exists: [Join a chat](/plugins/community-chat/getting-started/connect-a-server.md). Two minutes.
* **I am starting it.** Your server hosts the chat and the others join you: [Set up your chat](/plugins/community-chat/getting-started/set-up-the-network.md). About ten minutes, most of it making a Discord bot.

## What you downloaded

**`communitychat-connector.jar` is the whole product.** It goes in the `plugins/` folder of every Minecraft server in the chat, like any other plugin. On a server that is joining, it is an ordinary chat plugin. On the one server that hosts the chat, the same jar does that too, with nothing else to install.

**`communitychat-hub.jar` is an extra you probably will not need.** It is the same hosting job as its own small program, for people who would rather the chat did not live inside a Minecraft server at all. It is not a plugin and never goes in a `plugins/` folder. See [run it on its own machine](/plugins/community-chat/reference/run-it-yourself.md).

{% hint style="success" %}
Your licence covers every server that connects to you. The communities joining your chat get the same plugin from you and buy nothing. The file is watermarked with your purchase, so it is for the communities in your chat and not for posting publicly.
{% endhint %}

## Will it work on my server?

Every Minecraft server in the chat needs:

|                   |                                              |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Server software   | **Paper**, **Purpur** or **Folia**           |
| Minecraft version | **26.x**                                     |
| Java              | **25 or newer**, which 26.x already requires |

{% hint style="warning" %}
**It will not work on Spigot, CraftBukkit, Fabric, Forge or NeoForge.** The plugin is built on Paper's own chat system. There is no version for those and no plans for one.

**It will not work on 1.21 or older.** Those versions run an older Java.

**A free Discord application is required.** The chat runs through a Discord bot that belongs to you. Making one is free and takes about two minutes, and the plugin builds the invite link for you in game.
{% endhint %}

Every community joining you has to meet this, not only you. Worth checking before you invite anyone, because one server on the wrong version is one server that cannot join.

**Bedrock players** using Geyser and Floodgate chat normally. The in-game setup screens reach them as Bedrock forms rather than Java dialogs, which look different and work the same.

## Where to start

* **Starting a chat**: [Set up your chat](/plugins/community-chat/getting-started/set-up-the-network.md)
* **Joining one**: [Join a chat](/plugins/community-chat/getting-started/connect-a-server.md)
* **Players**: [Daily use](/plugins/community-chat/using-it/daily-use.md), for sharing items, linking Discord and quiet mode
* **Staff**: [Moderation](/plugins/community-chat/using-it/moderation.md), for punishments that land everywhere, the automod and the mod-log

Every setting, command and permission is listed under **Reference**. Something not working? [Troubleshooting](/plugins/community-chat/help/troubleshooting.md) has the fix.