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Server Setup

Set Up a Server Economy

An economy gives your server real stakes, players earn, spend, and trade currency. The standard stack is Vault (the bridge) plus an economy provider like EssentialsX. Drop both in, set a starting balance, and /balance and /pay just work.

survival.yourserver.net, console
[Vault] Hooked into economy: EssentialsX Economy
[EssentialsX] Enabled, 2 accounts loaded
Steve> /pay Alex 250
✓ You sent $250.00 to Alex.
✉ Alex received $250.00 from Steve.
live ledger
Steve
$1,180.00
Alex
$510.00
Alex> /balance → Balance: $510.00
One provider, one ledger
  1. 1
    Install Vault
    Drop Vault.jar into /plugins. It is the bridge every economy plugin and shop plugin talks to. It does nothing alone.
  2. 2
    Add an economy provider
    Drop EssentialsX (with EssentialsXChat optional) into /plugins. It registers itself with Vault as the currency handler.
  3. 3
    Restart and confirm the hook
    Restart, not reload. Console should print [Vault] Hooked into economy: Essentials Economy. No hook means no balances.
  4. 4
    Set the starting balance
    In Essentials config.yml set starting-balance: 1000 and currency-symbol: $. Save and run /ess reload.
  5. 5
    Test /balance and /pay
    Run /balance to see your money, then /pay <player> 250 to send some. The receiver's balance jumps instantly.

What you need

Vault (API bridge)
EssentialsX Economy
config.yml
Permissions plugin

1. What Vault is (and isn't)

Vault is a bridge:

  • Plugin A (e.g. EssentialsX) provides an economy.
  • Plugin B (e.g. ShopGUIPlus) consumes the economy via Vault.
  • Vault routes the calls.

You install Vault. You also install one economy provider (EssentialsX, CMI, TheNewEconomy, MiConomy). Two providers = chaos.

2. Install

Download Vault from SpigotMC. Drop into plugins/. Restart. Check /vault-info, it should show your provider.

3. Choose a provider

ProviderNotes
EssentialsX EconomyFree, simplest, file-backed. Good default.
CMIPaid, MySQL, multiple currencies.
TheNewEconomyFree, supports multi-currency natively.

4. Verify the bridge

/eco give Steve 100
/balance Steve

If both work, Vault is wired correctly. /vault-info should print:

Economy: Essentials Economy [Hooked]
Permissions: LuckPerms [Hooked]

5. Hooking other plugins

You don't usually configure anything, ShopGUIPlus, AuctionHouse, Jobs Reborn, ChestShop and dozens more auto-detect Vault and the active provider. Check each plugin's startup log for "Hooked into Vault". See the economy plugin overview for the standard stack.

6. Multi-currency

Vault is single-currency only by default. For coins + gems + tokens:

  • Use TheNewEconomy as your provider (multi-currency built in).
  • Or run a secondary plugin like TokenManager for the second currency, doesn't go through Vault.

7. Common pitfalls

  • Two economy plugins both registering with Vault, one wins and the other silently breaks.
  • Updating Vault to a 1.7-only build on a 1.21 server, always grab the latest.
  • Plugin hook fails because Vault loaded after the consumer, restart, don't /reload.

Quick answers

?

Do I need Vault if I have EssentialsX?

Yes. EssentialsX provides the money, but Vault is what shops, jobs, and other plugins read it through. Without Vault, third-party plugins can't see balances.
?

How do I change the starting balance?

Edit starting-balance in Essentials config.yml, then run /ess reload. It only affects players who join after the change, not existing accounts.
?

Can players go into debt?

By default no, /pay is blocked if you can't afford it. You can allow negative balances with min-account-balance in config.yml, but most servers leave it off.
?

How do I give a player money as admin?

Use /eco give <player> <amount>/eco take, or /eco set. These bypass the /pay affordability check and are great for rewards or fixing mistakes.
?

Why does /balance say 'no economy installed'?

Vault didn't hook a provider. Confirm EssentialsX is loaded, do a full restart (not /reload), and check console for the [Vault] Hooked line.
?

Can I use a different currency name?

Yes. Set currency-symbol and the singular/plural names in Essentials config.yml. Some servers rename it to coins, credits, or anything fitting the theme.

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