Minecraft MOTD Generator
Design your server's two-line MOTD with colours, gradients and formatting, see exactly how it looks in the multiplayer list, and copy it ready for server.properties, MiniMOTD, Velocity or your plugin.
Showing the 16 colours vanilla can display. Click the icon to preview your own. Drawn with Minecraft's own font.
Line 1
180 of 270 pixels wide, centred with spaces.
Line 2
Use & codes like &6 for gold, &l for bold and &#FF8800 for any hex colour.
216 of 270 pixels wide, centred with spaces.
Copy your MOTD
Paste this over the motd= line in server.properties, then restart. Vanilla only shows the 16 classic colours, so hex colours are rounded (the preview shows how).
Why does my MOTD show strange characters?
server.properties is read as Latin-1, so the § symbol has to be written as \u00A7 - typing § directly often turns into § in game. This tool does that for you. Want just a gradient for a rank or item? Use the colour & gradient generator.
How to use the MOTD Generator
- Type your two lines. For each one, choose Gradient to fade the whole line between colours, or Colour codes to write your own & codes.
- Turn on Centre to pad a line with spaces so it sits in the middle of the server list entry.
- Watch the bar under each line. A MOTD line is limited by its width in pixels, not by a number of characters, and the bar turns red when Minecraft would wrap or cut the line.
- Check the preview. It is drawn with Minecraft’s own font, and you can click the icon to try your own server icon next to it.
- Pick the output your server needs - server.properties, MiniMessage, & codes or § codes - and copy it.
- Paste it into your config and restart the server, or reload the MOTD plugin.
Common questions
Where does the MOTD go?
On a plain Java server it is the motd= line in server.properties, and it takes effect after a restart. If you use a MOTD plugin such as MiniMOTD, or a Velocity proxy, the MOTD is set in that plugin’s or proxy’s config instead, and that is the one players see.
Do hex colours and gradients work in server.properties?
Not fully. A vanilla MOTD can only show the 16 classic colours, so the server.properties output rounds each colour to the nearest one, and the preview shows you the result. For real hex gradients use the MiniMessage output with MiniMOTD or Velocity.
How long can a MOTD be?
Two lines. Each line is limited by pixel width because Minecraft’s letters are different widths: an i takes far less room than a W, and bold text is wider. That is why this tool measures the line instead of counting characters.
Why is my MOTD not centred in game?
Minecraft has no centre setting, so centring is done by adding spaces in front of the text. It only lines up when the text and the padding were measured together, so copy the line again after any edit instead of changing it by hand in the config.