KaribouWelcome

A lightweight, zero-dependency welcome & rules plugin for Paper servers, with full MiniMessage support.

Give new players a great first impression without adding another heavy dependency to your plugin list. KaribouWelcome handles join messages, first-join welcomes, and server rules in one small, focused plugin — nothing more, nothing less.

Why KaribouWelcome?

• No feature bloat. Just welcome messages, join/quit messages, and rules — done well.
• No external dependencies. Uses the Adventure API already bundled with Paper.
• Modern text formatting. Full MiniMessage support gives you gradients, hex colors, and rich text styling without relying on legacy & color codes.
• Instant configuration. Reload your config and preview messages live — no server restart needed while tuning your messages.
• Simple by design. Easy to configure, easy to understand.

Features

• Custom first-join messages for new players
• Custom returning-player join messages
• Custom public join/quit broadcasts
• Private welcome message for new players
• Configurable /rules command
• Live configuration reload with /kbw reload
• Admin test/preview commands for every message type
• Permission-based command access
• Tab completion for all commands
• Full MiniMessage support (gradients, hex colors, text styles, custom formatting)

Commands

Both /karibouwelcome and /kbw work identically.

Test types

• join — Preview the returning-player join message
• quit — Preview the quit message
• newplayer — Preview the first-join message
• welcome — Preview the private welcome message
• rules — Preview the configured rules

Configuration

Everything is configured in plugins/KaribouWelcome/config.yml. All messages support MiniMessage formatting.

public:
  login: "<green>%player% joined the server.</green>"
  new-player: "<gold><bold>%player%</bold> joined the server for the first time!</gold>"
  quit: "<yellow>%player% left the server.</yellow>"

private:
  welcome:
    - "<gold>Welcome to the server, <yellow>%player%</yellow>!"
    - "<gray>We hope you enjoy your stay."
    - "<gray>Use <yellow>/rules</yellow> to read the rules again."

  rules:
    - "<gold>========== Rules =========="
    - "<white>1. Respect other players."
    - "<white>2. No cheating."
    - "<white>3. No griefing."
    - "<white>4. Have fun!"
    - "<gold>==========================="

The %player% placeholder is available in every message. MiniMessage tags such as <red>, <gold><bold>, <#55FF55>, and <gradient:#ff0000:#ffff00> can be used directly in your configuration.

Change your messages, run /kbw reload, then preview them with the test commands — no server restart required.

Compatibility

Support for additional Paper versions is planned.

Roadmap

Completed

• Welcome, join, first-join, and quit messages
• Rules system with /rules
• Configuration reload
• Permissions
• MiniMessage support
• Test/preview commands
• Tab completion

Planned

• Support for older Paper versions
• PlaceholderAPI integration
• Per-world message overrides

Have a feature request or found a bug? Open an issue on GitHub.

The Karibou Suite

KaribouWelcome is the first plugin in a growing suite of lightweight, zero-dependency utility plugins for Paper servers. The goal is simple: small plugins, focused features, modern APIs, and no unnecessary dependencies.

More Karibou plugins are coming soon.

License

MIT License