Simple Ranks
Running a Minecraft server is about building a community, and nothing defines that community better than a clear, colorful rank system. Simple Ranks is a lightweight plugin designed for PaperMC servers that makes rank management effortless. Whether you want to highlight your staff, reward loyal players, or just add a splash of personality to your chat, this add-on gives you the tools to create, assign, and customize ranks without any bloat. It works seamlessly with Minecraft version 1.20.1 and newer, and because it’s built specifically for PaperMC, you get smooth performance and full compatibility with modern server features.
Why Choose Simple Ranks for Your Minecraft Server?
Many rank plugins come with dozens of features you’ll never use, slowing down your server and complicating setup. Simple Ranks takes the opposite approach. It focuses on one thing — displaying colored rank prefixes in chat and the tab list — and does it perfectly. The plugin is so lightweight that you’ll forget it’s even installed, yet it instantly transforms how your community looks and feels. With support for unlimited custom ranks, per-player assignments, and automatic configuration saving, you can set up a complete hierarchy in minutes. And because it integrates with PlaceholderAPI, you can pull rank data into scoreboards, holograms, or any other placeholder-aware plugin.
Key Features of Simple Ranks
- Unlimited custom ranks — create as many ranks as your server needs, from basic Member to elaborate tiered roles.
- Colored prefixes with & codes — use standard Minecraft color codes to style each rank’s prefix, including bold, italic, and magic effects.
- Chat and tab list display — ranks appear automatically in front of player names in both chat messages and the tab menu.
- Per-player rank assignment — assign any rank to any player individually, overriding the default if needed.
- Default rank support — set a rank that all new players receive automatically.
- Important text toggle — choose whether a rank’s chat messages appear in white (important) or gray (standard), giving you subtle control over visibility.
- Tab completion for commands — all rank commands support tab completion, making administration fast and intuitive.
- Configurable through config.yml — every setting is stored in a clean YAML file that updates itself as you add ranks and players.
- PlaceholderAPI compatibility — expose rank data to other plugins with placeholders like %simpleranks_rank% and %simpleranks_prefix%.
How to Install Simple Ranks on PaperMC
Getting started with Simple Ranks is straightforward. The plugin is distributed as a single JAR file, so you can download Simple Ranks from the official PaperMC plugin repository or any trusted Minecraft add-on site. Once you have the file, follow these steps to install it on your server.
Manual Installation
First, make sure your server is running PaperMC 1.20.1 or a newer version. Stop the server, then place the Simple Ranks JAR file into your server’s plugins folder. Start the server again, and the plugin will generate a default configuration file inside plugins/SimpleRanks/config.yml. That’s it — you’re ready to start creating ranks. If you prefer a more streamlined approach, the foxygame.net launcher includes Simple Ranks in its add-on catalog, letting you install it with a single click while automatically keeping the plugin updated and ensuring it matches your server’s version perfectly.
Creating and Managing Ranks
All rank management is done through the /rank command (or its shorter alias /r). The command system is designed to be intuitive, with tab completion helping you avoid typos. Here are the essential commands you’ll use daily:
/rank create <rank>— create a new rank with a given name./rank delete <rank>— permanently remove a rank./rank setdefault <rank>— define which rank new players receive./rank set <player> <rank>— assign a specific rank to a player./rank give <player> <rank>— alias for set, works identically./rank get <player>— check a player’s current rank./rank list— display all existing ranks./rank importanttext <rank> true|false— toggle whether the rank’s chat messages appear in white or gray./rank bracketcolor <rank> color— change the color of the brackets surrounding the rank prefix.
When you create a rank, you’ll want to customize its appearance. Open the config.yml file and look for the ranks section. Each rank entry stores its prefix using Minecraft color codes. For example, to make an Admin rank appear with red brackets and a bold red label, you might set the prefix to &c[&lAdmin&r&c]. The plugin automatically reloads changes, so you can tweak colors on the fly.
PlaceholderAPI Integration
Simple Ranks exposes several placeholders that you can use in other plugins, scoreboards, or chat formatting tools. If you have PlaceholderAPI installed, these become available immediately:
%simpleranks_rank%— the colored rank prefix without brackets (e.g., red “Admin”).%simpleranks_raw_rank%— the raw rank name exactly as stored in the config, uncolored.%simpleranks_prefix%— the full prefix including brackets, already colored (e.g., gray brackets with red “Admin”).%simpleranks_important%— returns true or false based on the important text setting for that player’s rank.
These placeholders let you display rank information in holograms, join messages, or even on a website using a placeholder expansion plugin. The flexibility is there without any extra configuration.
Tips for a Polished Rank System
To get the most out of Simple Ranks, plan your hierarchy before creating ranks. Start with a default rank like “Member” in gray, then add staff roles with brighter colors. Use the important text toggle to make staff messages stand out in white while keeping regular chat in gray — this subtle difference helps players quickly identify official announcements. Remember that the tab list also shows ranks, so keep prefixes short enough to avoid cluttering the player list. If you ever need to reset everything, simply delete the rank entries from config.yml and let the plugin regenerate them.
Simple Ranks proves that you don’t need a heavy, complex permissions plugin just to add visual ranks to your server. Its focused feature set, easy command structure, and seamless PlaceholderAPI integration make it a perfect choice for any PaperMC server owner who values simplicity and performance. Whether you’re running a small survival world or a large minigame network, this plugin gives your community the identity it deserves without the overhead.