Introduction

AutoStartStop is a Velocity plugin for automated server management using a flexible, rule-based system. You define rules that react to triggers (events like proxy start, player connect, cron schedules, etc.) and execute actions (start/stop servers, connect/disconnect players, log messages, and more), optionally gated by conditions.

How it works

AutoStartStop evaluates your configuration as:

• Settings: Global plugin settings (timeouts, intervals, etc.).
• Servers: Which backend servers are managed, and how to control them (Shell, AMP, or Pterodactyl API).
• Rules: What should happen under which circumstances.
  • Triggers: When should a rule fire? (e.g. connection, proxy_start, cron, empty_server)
  • Conditions (optional): Should it run right now? (e.g. “server is offline”, “player count > 0”)
  • Actions: What should happen? (e.g. start, stop, send_message, disconnect)

Here’s the overall config.yml shape at a glance:

settings: { ... }  # Global plugin settings (timeouts, intervals, etc.).
defaults: { ... }  # Global defaults for server configurations.
servers: { ... }   # Which backend servers are managed, and how to control them.
rules: { ... }     # What should happen under which circumstances.

Key Features

• Rule-based automation: Define rules that react to triggers and execute actions
• Multiple control APIs: Support for Shell commands, AMP API, and Pterodactyl Panel API
• Flexible triggers: Proxy lifecycle, player connections, cron schedules, empty server detection, ping/MOTD requests
• Built-in templates: Pre-configured templates for common automation patterns

Example Use Cases

• Auto-start on demand: Start a server when a player tries to connect and it’s offline.
• Auto-stop when idle: Stop game servers after they’ve been empty for a duration.
• Scheduled tasks: Nightly restart, backups, or maintenance actions via cron rules.
• Smarter server list: Adjust ping/MOTD behavior while a server is online/offline.
• Graceful shutdown: On proxy shutdown, stop selected servers with warning messages to players.
• Scheduled rewards: Send hourly rewards or messages to players using cron triggers.

Requirements

• Velocity 3.4.0 or higher
• Java 21 or higher

Installation

1. Download the AutoStartStop JAR from one of the available platforms:

   • GitHub Releases
   • Modrinth
   • Hangar

2. Place the JAR file in your Velocity server's plugins/ folder

3. Restart Velocity (or start it if not running)

4. The plugin will create a default configuration file at plugins/autostartstop/config.yml

Documentation

Full documentation is available at: https://beyenilmez.github.io/autostartstop/

AI-friendly documentation

The documentation is also available in an LLM-friendly format following the llms.txt standard. Use these files with any AI assistant to ask questions or generate configurations:

• llms.txt — Structured index of all documentation pages
• llms-full.txt — Full documentation content in a single file

Statistics

This plugin uses bStats to collect anonymous usage statistics. You can opt out by editing plugins/bStats/config.txt.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). See LICENSE for more information.