Minimaps on a Minecraft server: Xaero's and JourneyMap, and how to limit the radar

A minimap is a player-side mod

Xaero's Minimap, JourneyMap and VoxelMap draw the map on the computer of whoever is playing, from what that player sees. That's why they work on almost any server, including a Paper server with no mods: each player installs it in their own Minecraft (with Fabric, Forge or NeoForge, whichever their launcher uses) and joins as usual.

What you shouldn't do is put a player-only minimap in the server's mods folder: many are client-only and the server either won't start or ignores it. JourneyMap is the exception, because it has a server part designed for this (below). Xaero's, on the other hand, is controlled with a separate datapack or plugin.

If what you want is a map everyone can see in the browser, without installing anything, that's a web map (BlueMap, Dynmap or squaremap) and it goes on the server: we explain it in the BlueMap web map guide.

Xaero's or JourneyMap: which to choose

Xaero's Minimap is light and very clean; the full-screen map is another mod by the same author, Xaero's World Map, and almost everyone installs both. JourneyMap has the minimap and the full map in one, with lots of options, and it's the one most modpacks include.

For a server the practical difference is something else: JourneyMap has an official server part with an admin panel inside the game; Xaero's is limited from the server with special messages the mod obeys, sent by a datapack or a plugin. If you're picking one for your whole group, JourneyMap gives more control; if you just want everyone to use the one they like, both are fine.

Watch out for XaeroPlus: it's an add-on by another author, built for anarchy servers. Xaero himself asks on his page not to use it with his mods, because it causes bugs that are hard to track down.

What's worth limiting and why

Three things change the game. The radar shows nearby players, mobs and animals even through a wall: in PvP that means knowing where everyone is. Cave mode draws the caves under your feet, which is almost like seeing through the ground. And teleporting from the map, which some minimaps offer to ops or with cheats enabled.

On a creative server or among trusted friends there's no need to turn anything off. In survival with strangers, PvP, hardcore or exploration events, the usual thing is to keep the minimap and turn off the radar and cave mode (“fair-play mode”).

Important: this isn't an anticheat. Normal mods obey what the server asks, but a modified client can ignore it. That's what anticheats are for, along with the “Reduce debug info” rule, which hides the coordinates on the F3 screen.

JourneyMap on the server: the “Server Admin” panel

JourneyMap on the server is optional: players with JourneyMap join just the same without it. With it, ops see a “Server Admin” button at the very bottom of JourneyMap's options, and from there you decide what each player can use, in general or per dimension (Overworld, Nether, End). Players can use JourneyMap on any loader: it doesn't have to match the server's.

What it lets you set, according to its documentation: allow the minimap and waypoints or not, the radar for players, villagers, animals and mobs (for everyone, ops only or nobody), cave, topographic and biome maps, hiding coordinates, teleporting from the map and some shared waypoints the server hands out to everyone (for example, spawn or the shop), with the /jm waypoint command.

On Fabric, Forge or NeoForge servers it's the same JourneyMap .jar in the mods folder. On Paper, JourneyMap is published as a plugin only for some Minecraft versions (at the time of writing, 26.1 and 26.2): if your server's version isn't there, use Minimap Control (below).

1. Install it on the server

   The JourneyMap for your version and loader, in mods (or the Paper one, in plugins). Restart: the first time it creates its configuration.

2. Make yourself op

   From the console, op YourName. If you've just made yourself op and the button doesn't appear, leave and rejoin.

3. Open “Server Admin”

   In game, JourneyMap's options and, at the bottom, “Server Admin”. Each option explains what it does when you hover over it.

4. Set fair-play mode

   “Radar General” to “Op” or “None” and “Cave Mapping” to “Op” or “None”. If you only want to turn it off in the Overworld, do it in that dimension and leave the Nether as it is.

Xaero's on the server: datapack or plugin

Xaero's Minimap obeys some special messages sent by the server: with them you can turn off the radar and cave mode, allow cave mode only in the Nether or remove the minimap entirely. You don't have to write them by hand: there are tools that send them for you.

The simplest is Xaero's Map Server Utils, a datapack that works on any server (Paper included) and, according to its page, on versions from 1.16.3 up to the 2026 ones. It's used with function commands: /function xaero:fairxaero sets fair-play mode (no radar and no cave mode, on the big map too), /function xaero:nominimap removes the minimap, /function xaero:xaerowmnetherisfair allows the big map's cave mode in the Nether and /function xaero:resetxaero puts everything back as it was. With silent/ in front of the name (xaero:silent/fairxaero) the player doesn't see what's been set. There's also a mod version that applies it by itself as each player joins.

On Paper, the other option is Minimap Control, a plugin that controls Xaero's Minimap, JourneyMap and VoxelMap at once with a configuration file and per-world settings. Its page warns that it kicks anyone joining with Xaero's Minimap version 23.7.0 or earlier, because those versions ignored what the server asks. Before installing it, check on its page that its version matches your server's.

1. Download the datapack

   Xaero's Map Server Utils, the .zip, from its page on CurseForge or Modrinth.

2. Upload it to the world

   In “Files”, to the datapacks folder inside the world folder (world, unless you changed it). It has to stay as a .zip.

3. Turn it on

   In the “Console”, reload, and check with datapack list that it's there.

4. Set fair-play mode

   Type function xaero:fairxaero in the console. Players with Xaero's will see the minimap with no radar and no cave mode.

How it's done at NapNodes

For your players to use a minimap you don't have to do anything on the server. If it's a modded server (Fabric, Forge or NeoForge), every server has a napnodes.com/jugar/… page with the client-side mods ready to download, and a minimap that's in your modpack shows up there.

To limit it: JourneyMap or Minimap Control are found in “Mods & plugins”, in the mods or plugins tab depending on your server type, and installed with “Install”; only the ones that work for your type and version appear. If one doesn't appear, download it from its page and upload it in “Files”, to mods or plugins. Xaero's datapack always goes through “Files”, like any datapack.

And to hide the coordinates on the F3 screen, search for “debug” in “Settings” and turn on “Reduce debug info”: it's a game rule and applies with the server running.

Frequently asked questions