Minecraft Citizens NPC Tutorial
Create custom NPCs with Citizens, spawn NPCs, give them skins, click commands, paths and shops with the Citizens plugin.
Citizens is the plugin behind almost every NPC you see at a Minecraft server spawn , the shopkeeper, the warps NPC, the quest-giver. This tutorial covers spawning, skinning, click-commands and the most common addons.
1. Install
Download Citizens from citizensnpcs.co. Drop into plugins/ and restart. (For HD skins, also install ProtocolLib.)
2. Create your first NPC
/npc create Bob
/npc skin Steve
/npc lookclose true
/npc named "&6Shopkeeper Bob"
/npc list shows IDs. Selected NPC commands act on the one closest to you (or use /npc select <id>).
3. Click actions
Right-click NPC -> run a command:
/npc command add --player warp shop
/npc command permissions essentials.warp.shop
For a console-side command (e.g. opening a GUI):
/npc command add --c shopguiplus open shop %p%
4. Movement
/npc path # waypoints between blocks you stand on
/npc wander # walk around in a 25-block radius
/npc speed 0.5
5. Persistent across restarts
Citizens saves NPCs to plugins/Citizens/saves.yml automatically. Use /npc save after big edits.
6. Useful addons
- Sentinel , combat NPCs (guards, mob targets).
- Denizen , a full scripting layer; alternative to Skript for NPC dialogues.
- ShopKeepers , not Citizens but works alongside; villager-based admin shops.
7. NPCs as warp menus
Pair a Citizens NPC with a GUI menu plugin (DeluxeMenus, ChestCommands). Right-click NPC -> open menu -> click button -> warp. This is what every modern hub uses.
8. Common pitfalls
- Skin not loading ,
online-modeon the server must be true, or you need to settexturemanually with/npc skin. - NPC won't stay put , toggle
/npc protectedon, also disablewander. - Clicks not registering , check region permissions; some plugins block right-click on entities.
Want to see all this in action? Astroworld MC runs a custom-built economy survival server with custom bosses, eternal enchants, crates and an auction house. Join at astroworldmc.com , IP play.astroworldmc.com, Java + Bedrock crossplay.