How to Set Up a MOTD with Colors and Formatting

What Is the MOTD and Why It Matters

The MOTD, short for Message of the Day, is the text that appears underneath your server's name in the Minecraft multiplayer server list. Every player who adds your IP sees this message before they even connect, which makes it the first impression your server gets to make. A bland grey "A Minecraft Server" tells players nothing and gives them no reason to click Join. A well-crafted MOTD with colors, formatting, and useful info (current season, event announcements, version support) can meaningfully increase the number of players who actually try your server out.

Beyond first impressions, the MOTD also serves a practical purpose. You can use it to communicate maintenance windows, announce new content, or show live player counts. Some servers rotate their MOTD text to keep the server list feeling fresh. Whether you run a small SMP or a large network, spending ten minutes on your MOTD pays off immediately.

The Basics, server.properties

Every Minecraft server ships with a server.properties file in the root directory. Inside it you will find a line that reads:

motd=A Minecraft Server

You can change this to any text you like, up to two lines. A line break is represented by \n. For example:

motd=\u00a76Astroworld MC\u00a7r \u00a77- Season 4\n\u00a7aJoin now! \u00a7eBedrock + Java

Color codes in server.properties use the section sign § (or its Unicode escape \u00a7) followed by a formatting code. The most commonly used codes are:

Code	Color
§0	Black
§1	Dark Blue
§2	Dark Green
§3	Dark Aqua
§4	Dark Red
§5	Dark Purple
§6	Gold
§7	Gray
§8	Dark Gray
§9	Blue
§a	Green
§b	Aqua
§c	Red
§d	Light Purple
§e	Yellow
§f	White
§l	Bold
§n	Underline
§o	Italic
§r	Reset

Keep in mind that each line of the MOTD is limited to roughly 45 visible characters before it gets clipped in the server list UI. Longer text simply disappears off the right edge, so plan your message accordingly. After editing, save the file and restart the server (a reload is not enough for server.properties changes).

Line Length Gotcha

Color codes themselves are invisible to the player but they still count toward the character limit in certain older clients. On modern 1.20+ clients this is largely a non-issue, but if you support 1.8 players through ViaVersion, keep your visible text under 40 characters per line to be safe.

Using MiniMOTD for Dynamic and Animated MOTDs

The server.properties approach works, but it is static and limited. MiniMOTD is a free, open-source plugin that gives you far more control. It supports Paper, Spigot, Velocity, BungeeCord and Fabric, and it lets you use MiniMessage formatting (the same system Paper uses internally), hex colors, gradients, animations, and multiple MOTD lines that rotate on each server list ping.

Install MiniMOTD by dropping the jar into your plugins/ folder and restarting. The config file appears at plugins/MiniMOTD/main.conf. A typical setup looks like this:

# plugins/MiniMOTD/main.conf
motds {
  motd1 {
    line1="<gradient:#FF6B6B:#FFE66D><bold>ASTROWORLD MC</bold></gradient> <gray>- Season 4"
    line2="<green>Java + Bedrock <dark_gray>| <aqua>play.astroworldmc.com"
  }
  motd2 {
    line1="<gradient:#a855f7:#ec4899><bold>ASTROWORLD MC</bold></gradient> <gray>- New Kits!"
    line2="<yellow>Economy Survival <dark_gray>| <aqua>play.astroworldmc.com"
  }
}

Every time a player refreshes the server list, MiniMOTD randomly picks one of the configured MOTD entries. This keeps things visually interesting and lets you advertise multiple features without cramming everything onto two lines.

Hex Colors and Gradients

MiniMOTD supports full RGB hex colors via MiniMessage syntax: <color:#FF6B6B> applies a specific hex color, and <gradient:#FF6B6B:#FFE66D> creates a smooth gradient between two (or more) colors. This is a dramatic step up from the 16 legacy color codes and lets you match your server's branding exactly.

Player Count Customization

MiniMOTD can also override the player count display in the server list. You can set a custom maximum (useful for showing "69/100" even if your actual max-players is different), add text above or below the player count hover, or show a completely custom message instead of the count. The relevant config section:

player-count {
  max-players=100
  just-count=false
  hover=["<gray>Join for economy survival!", "<yellow>Custom bosses and crates"]
}

Server Favicon, server-icon.png

Next to the MOTD text, the server list shows a 64x64 pixel icon. To set it, create a PNG image exactly 64 pixels wide and 64 pixels tall, name it server-icon.png, and place it in your server's root directory (the same folder as server.properties). Restart the server and every client that pings it will see your icon.

Design tips: the icon is tiny, so avoid detailed text or thin lines. Bold logos, simple icons, and high-contrast colors work best. If you want to rotate icons (seasonal themes, event icons), MiniMOTD supports multiple favicons that rotate alongside your MOTD text.

MOTD Generators

If you want to preview your MOTD before deploying it, several online generators let you type text, pick colors, and see a live preview of how it will look in the server list. The most popular ones are mctools.org/motd-creator and minecraft.tools/en/motd.php. These generators output the server.properties-compatible string with the correct escape codes already inserted, so you can paste it directly.

Showing Maintenance Status

When your server is down for maintenance, the MOTD is the only thing players see. MiniMOTD (and similar plugins on the proxy side) can be configured to show a maintenance-mode MOTD automatically. If you use a proxy like Velocity, you can point the fallback to a lightweight limbo server that shows a red "Under maintenance" MOTD while the backend Paper servers restart. This avoids the generic "Can't connect to server" message and tells players what is happening.

Testing and Troubleshooting Your MOTD

After making changes, you want to see the result immediately without opening a second Minecraft client. The easiest method is to use an online tool like mcsrvstat.us, enter your server IP and it shows the live MOTD exactly as clients see it, including colors and the favicon. You can also add your own server to your multiplayer list from the same machine (using localhost or 127.0.0.1), though you will need to click Refresh to see updated text.

Common issues you may run into:

• Colors not showing, You probably used & instead of § in server.properties. The ampersand color code is a plugin convention; the vanilla server only understands the section sign. In MiniMOTD you can use either, but in server.properties it must be § or the Unicode escape \u00a7.
• MOTD not updating, Changes to server.properties require a full server restart, not just /reload. Changes to MiniMOTD config only require /minimotd reload.
• Favicon not showing, The image must be exactly 64x64 pixels and named exactly server-icon.png (case-sensitive on Linux). It must be placed in the server root directory, not inside a subfolder. Also verify the file is a valid PNG, not a JPEG renamed to .png.
• Second line missing, If your MOTD only shows one line, check that you used \n as the line separator in server.properties. Some editors may convert the backslash-n into an actual newline, which breaks the property file format.

For related server setup topics, check our getting started guide or the TAB plugin guide to continue customizing the player experience.

See these features in action: Astroworld MC runs economy survival with custom tab, scoreboard, join messages and crossplay. IP: play.astroworldmc.com