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Overview

Released v1.2.1
Platforms
Paper, Spigot, Folia
Minecraft
1.21 to 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.2
Java
21
Required
None
Optional
None

Real bytecode-level plugin compatibility scanner for Paper/Spigot servers. PluginGuard doesn't guess from an online database or a version-string comparison - it opens every jar in your plugins/ folder and inspects the actual bytes: the compiled class-file version, the declared plugin.yml/paper-plugin.yml metadata, the bundled/shaded libraries, embedded native binaries, and the dependency graph between your installed plugins. Nothing is executed and nothing is modified - PluginGuard only ever reads.

Why this exists #

Every one of the checks below models a real, specific way a plugin can silently break that a "does the version number look right" checker will miss:

  • A plugin gets updated and is now compiled for a newer Java version than your server is running - it won't just misbehave, the JVM will flatly refuse to load the class (UnsupportedClassVersionError) and the plugin will fail to enable with a confusing stack trace.
  • A plugin shades the SQLite JDBC driver and relocates the org.sqlite package during the build (a very common shading mistake) - the native JNI binding is name-based, so this silently breaks at runtime with UnsatisfiedLinkError the first time the plugin touches its database, often long after the server has been running fine.
  • Two plugins both declare the same command name in their plugin.yml - only one of them actually owns the bare command; the other quietly falls back to its /plugin:command qualified form and admins spend an hour wondering why a command "isn't working."
  • A plugin declares a hard dependency that isn't installed, or that was removed in a later update - it will fail to enable, and the real reason is buried in a one-line log message easy to miss in a long startup log.

Installation #

  1. Drop PluginGuard.jar into your plugins/ folder.
  2. Start (or restart) your server. PluginGuard has zero required dependencies and needs no setup - config.yml and the language files in lang/ (en, tr, es, de, fr, ru) are created automatically with sensible defaults, and it runs its first scan automatically 5 seconds after startup unless you turn that off.
  3. Read the console output (or run /pluginguard scan yourself at any time).

Compatibility #

  • Minecraft 1.21 through 1.21.11, plus 26.1 and 26.2. Java 21 or newer. Paper, Spigot, Paper-compatible forks and Folia.
  • PluginGuard compares plugins against the Java and API version the server reports, so it also checks correctly when the server runs a newer Minecraft/Java version.

Support #

Please use the official BuiltByBit resource page's Discussion tab or BuiltByBit direct messages for support requests and bug reports.