minecraft

launches the Minecraft game or runs a Minecraft server

TLDR

Launch the official Minecraft Launcher

$ minecraft-launcher

Use a custom working directory instead of ~/.minecraft

$ minecraft-launcher --workDir [/path/to/minecraft]

Start the launcher with GPU acceleration disabled (fixes blank windows)

$ minecraft-launcher --disableGPU

Run a dedicated server without the GUI

$ java -Xms[1G] -Xmx[4G] -jar [server.jar] nogui

Run a server on a custom port and world folder

$ java -Xmx[4G] -jar [server.jar] --port [25566] --world [myworld] nogui

Generate server.properties and eula.txt and exit

$ java -jar [server.jar] --initSettings

Upgrade all chunks of a world to the current version

$ java -jar [server.jar] --forceUpgrade nogui

SYNOPSIS

minecraft-launcher [options]java [jvm-options] -jar server.jar [server-options] [nogui]

minecraft-launcher is the official launcher for Minecraft: Java Edition. It handles Microsoft account sign-in, installation profiles, game versions, mod loaders and a bundled Java runtime, then starts the game client.The dedicated server is a separate server.jar downloaded from minecraft.net and run directly with Java. On first start it writes eula.txt, which must be edited to eula=true before the server will run. Settings live in server.properties in the working directory.

PARAMETERS

-w, --workDir DIR

Launcher working directory (location of the .minecraft data).

-l, --lockDir DIR

Restrict the launcher installation to the given directory.

--clean

Delete the game and runtime directories from the working directory.

--disableGPU

Disable GPU acceleration in the launcher UI.

-h, --help

Display launcher help.

SERVER OPTIONS

nogui, --nogui

Do not open the server management window.

--port PORT

Listen port (default 25565, overrides server.properties).

--world NAME

World folder name to load.

--universe DIR

Directory that contains the world folders.

--initSettings

Create server.properties and eula.txt, then exit.

--forceUpgrade

Convert all chunks of the world to the current game version.

--eraseCache

Erase cached data during a forced upgrade.

--safeMode

Load the vanilla data pack only.

--bonusChest

Generate a bonus chest in new worlds.

--demo

Run the server in demo mode.

CAVEATS

The game requires a purchased Microsoft account. The server needs a matching Java version; recent releases require Java 21 or newer. Game options such as --gameDir or --demo are passed to the game client by the launcher and are not launcher options. Allocate memory with -Xmx; too little causes lag and out-of-memory crashes.

HISTORY

Minecraft was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in 2009 and is developed by Mojang Studios, owned by Microsoft since 2014.

RESOURCES

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