Your Minecraft Server's Seed: How to See It, Choose It and Protect It

What the seed decides (and what it doesn't)

With the same seed, the same Minecraft version and the same world settings, the terrain comes out identical: same mountains, same biomes and structures in the same place. That's why a seed from a video takes you to the same village as the YouTuber.

It doesn't decide what players do (what's built lives in the world files, not in the seed), nor the terrain of another version: since 1.18 generation changed completely, and a piece of world generated for the first time on a new version comes out according to that version even if the seed is the same. Nor does it give the same world with a different “World type” (large biomes, amplified) or with datapacks or mods that change generation, like Terralith.

It's a Java integer (a long): from −9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807. If you don't set one, the server picks one at random when it creates the world.

How to see your server's seed

1. From the server console

   Type seed (without a slash) in the console. It answers with the seed in square brackets. It's the quickest way and you don't need to be in the game.

2. From the game, as an admin

   Type /seed in chat. It only works if you're an operator (/op, level 2 or higher); for other players the server says it doesn't know the command. Clicking the number in chat copies it.

3. If you aren't an admin

   There's no official way: in multiplayer, F3 doesn't show the seed and /seed is locked. Ask whoever runs the server. What the game sends players is a fingerprint (hash) of the seed, which can't be used to work it out.

Choosing the seed for a new world

The seed is only used when a world is created. Changing level-seed in server.properties with a world that already exists does nothing: the server keeps its own. To play with another seed you need a new world, and you can keep the old one.

1. Make a backup

   In case you change your mind. Even more so if you're going to delete the old world instead of setting it aside: Minecraft server backups.

2. Write the seed

   In server.properties, level-seed=your_seed. A number or a text works (below, what the game does with text). Copy the number exactly, with the minus sign if it has one.

3. Make the server create a world

   Change level-name to a new name (the server creates that world and leaves the previous one in its folder) or move the current world's folder aside. Step by step, in reset your server's world.

4. Start it and check

   On startup the world is generated with your seed. Type seed in the console: your number has to come up. If another one comes up, the world already existed (the level-name was taken).

5. Pregenerate the terrain (optional)

   A freshly created world generates terrain as it's explored, and that costs CPU with several players. Generating it beforehand with Chunky avoids it: pregenerate the world with Chunky.

Text seeds: which number comes out

If you type a text (“napnodes”, “cousins world”), Minecraft turns it into a number with Java's hashCode function. The same text always gives the same number, so a text seed is just as good as a numeric one: “napnodes” gives 1935578036.

Watch out for three things. Capitals count: “NapNodes” gives another number (1970669492) and another world. Spaces at the ends are removed, the ones inside aren't. And a number that doesn't fit in a long (above 9,223,372,036,854,775,807) doesn't give an error: the game treats it as text and you get a different world from the one you expected.

Text seeds give numbers between about −2,100 million and 2,100 million, a very small share of all the possible ones. For playing it doesn't matter; the only difference is that they're easier to guess by trying words.

Our slime chunk finder takes the seed as a number or as text and converts it the same way the game does.

Using the seed: structure maps and seeds from videos

With the seed, the seed map websites (Chunkbase is the best known) show you where villages, strongholds, ancient cities or mansions are without exploring. Pick the same version and edition as your server on them: with another version, the map doesn't match.

If a seed from a video “doesn't come out the same”, it's almost always the version (the video is from another one), the edition (since 1.18 Java and Bedrock share the terrain and biomes of the same seed, but not the structures) or a server setting that changes generation (further down).

On a Paper server, slime chunks and structures can move if someone changed their seeds in spigot.yml. If the map doesn't match what you see in the game and the version is right, check that file.

Hiding the seed on a survival server

Whoever knows the seed knows where every structure is and, with patience, every ore vein. On a normal server it doesn't matter; on a PvP, factions or anarchy server, it's an advantage.

The basics: don't publish it and don't give operator to anyone who doesn't need it (without it, /seed doesn't work). But there are mods that work it out by looking at the terrain and structures while playing, and that isn't enough against them. Paper lets you make it much harder:

1. Separate seeds for structures (spigot.yml)

   In spigot.yml, under world-settings → default, there's a seed for each structure: seed-village, seed-desert, seed-ancientcity, seed-trialchambers, seed-stronghold, seed-slime… Put your own numbers and structures stop being where the seed would say. Seed maps and our slime chunk finder will stop being right on that server.

2. Random ores and vegetation (Paper)

   In config/paper-world-defaults.yml, feature-seeds → generate-random-seeds-for-all: true. On startup, Paper draws a different seed for each kind of terrain feature (ore veins, trees, flowers…) and writes it in each world's config, so they can no longer be worked out from the world seed.

3. Do it before generating

   Both only affect terrain generated afterwards. With a world that's already been explored, what's generated stays as it was: it shows in the new parts. Ideally you set it on a new world, before pregenerating.

The Nether, the End and extra worlds

The Nether and the End use the same seed as the main world. A world created with Multiverse can have its own seed: you give it when creating it (multiple worlds with Multiverse).

Since 26.1, Paper keeps the Nether and the End inside the world folder (world/dimensions/minecraft), so when you create a new world with another seed, a new Nether and End are created too. In earlier versions they were separate folders (world_nether, world_the_end) that you have to move aside by hand if you want them to regenerate.

How it's done on NapNodes

In the panel, inside your server, you see the seed by typing seed in the “Console”. For a new world with your seed: “Settings” → “The world” → “World seed”, and in “World folder” a new name; on restart, the server creates that world and the previous one stays in “Files”, in case you want to go back (you put its name in again).

spigot.yml and config/paper-world-defaults.yml are edited in “Files”, with the server stopped. Before touching anything, a backup in “Backups”.

Don't have a server yet? You can create one for free and try your seed without a card.

Frequently asked questions