Ore Alert
Every server owner knows the sinking feeling of watching a player tunnel straight to diamonds through solid stone. X-ray cheaters are a persistent problem, and catching them manually is nearly impossible when you have dozens of players online. Ore Alert is a lightweight server-side add-on that monitors ore mining activity and flags suspicious behavior before it ruins your economy. It is not an anti-cheat replacement, but it is one of the most practical early-warning tools you can add to your admin toolkit.
What Ore Alert Does
At its core, Ore Alert counts tracked ore blocks mined by each player within a rolling time window. When someone crosses the configured threshold, staff members receive an alert containing the player name, the current count, the active time window, and the most recent ore type mined. This gives moderators immediate, actionable context instead of a vague suspicion.
It is important to understand the design philosophy: Ore Alert is an alert tool, not an automatic punishment system. It never bans, kicks, or mutes anyone on its own. Instead, it hands your staff the evidence they need to investigate, spectate, or question the player. This keeps false positives from turning into unfair bans and puts human judgment at the center of every decision.
Supported Versions and Loaders
Ore Alert is built for modern Paper and Spigot servers, with builds available for Minecraft 1.19 through 1.21 and ongoing support for the latest 1.21.x releases. Because it is a server-side plugin, players do not need to install anything on their clients. If your network runs multiple versions across different worlds, check the compatibility notes on the project page before you download Ore Alert to make sure your exact build is covered.
Commands and Permissions
Setup is refreshingly simple. The plugin ships with a small command set and a clean permission structure that fits neatly into LuckPerms or any other permission manager.
- /orealert reload — reloads the configuration file without restarting the server (permission: orealert.admin). Tab completion suggests reload for admins.
- orealert.alerts — grants a player the ability to receive alert notifications.
- orealert.bypass — excludes a player from being tracked, useful for staff accounts and test worlds.
In practice, you will want your moderation team to hold orealert.alerts while keeping orealert.admin limited to one or two trusted administrators. Staff alts and creative-mode builders should usually get orealert.bypass so their legitimate mining never clutters the alert feed.
Configuration and Tuning
All behavior lives in a single config.yml, which makes tuning painless. The main options are:
- window-seconds — how long the rolling time window lasts, such as 300 seconds for a five-minute sample.
- threshold — how many tracked ore blocks a player must mine inside that window to trigger an alert.
- tracked-blocks — the list of ore types to monitor, from diamond and ancient debris to emerald and gold.
- alert format — the message template sent to staff, including placeholders for player, count, window, and latest ore.
After editing anything, run /orealert reload and the new settings apply instantly. A good starting point for survival servers is a threshold of 30 to 50 diamonds within five minutes; legitimate miners rarely hit that pace, while X-ray users blow past it quickly.
If you would rather skip manual file editing entirely, the foxygame.net launcher offers a one-click install path that drops Ore Alert straight into your server's plugin folder with sensible defaults already in place. For admins managing several servers at once, that same launcher keeps Ore Alert updated automatically, so version compatibility stays handled without you chasing release threads.
How to Install Ore Alert
Installing takes only a few minutes. First, download Ore Alert for Minecraft from the official project page, choosing the build that matches your server version. Stop your server, place the jar file into the plugins folder, and start it back up. The plugin generates its default config.yml on first launch. Open that file, adjust your window, threshold, and tracked blocks, then run /orealert reload from the console or in-game. Finally, assign orealert.alerts to your staff group and orealert.bypass to anyone who should be exempt.
Final Thoughts
Ore Alert will not replace a full anti-cheat, and it is not meant to. What it does exceptionally well is surface patterns that human moderators would otherwise miss, giving your team a fair, evidence-based starting point for every investigation. Combined with a solid permissions setup and a reasonable threshold, it becomes an essential part of any serious survival or economy server. Download Ore Alert, tune it to your community, and let your staff focus on the players who actually deserve attention.