How do I make myself an op on my Minecraft Java server?

Open the live console in your Game Panel and type op followed by your Minecraft name, for example op Steve. That makes you an operator (op), and from then on you can op your friends from the game’s chat.

Op yourself from the console

1. Start your server and open the live console in your Game Panel.
2. Type op and your Java account name: op Steve. The console doesn’t need the slash you’d type in chat.
3. Press Enter. The server adds your name and account ID (UUID) to ops.json.
4. Join the server. Op commands such as /gamemode creative now work for you.

Use your real account name. With online-mode=true (the default), the server looks the name up against Mojang’s accounts, so a typo or a nickname won’t work.

Why you can’t do this from inside the game first

/op needs permission level 3, and a player who isn’t an op has none of that. So nobody on a fresh server can op anyone from chat, and the first op has to come from the console. After that, any op at level 3 or 4 can type /op FriendName in the game.

Permission levels

Every op has a permission level. The ones that matter run from 1 to 4, and each includes the ones below it:

• 1, Moderator: can build inside spawn protection.
• 2, Gamemaster: more commands, such as /gamemode, plus command blocks and changing the difficulty.
• 3, Admin: multiplayer management, such as /kick, /ban, /whitelist and /op itself.
• 4, Owner: every command, including server management such as /stop and save-all.

New ops get the level set by op-permission-level in server.properties, which is 4 by default. To op your friends at a lower level, say 2 so they can switch game modes but not ban anyone, op yourself first so you keep level 4, then change it to op-permission-level=2 and restart your server from the Game Panel. The server only reads server.properties when it starts.

Changing one op’s level

Each entry in ops.json has the player’s uuid, name, level and bypassesPlayerLimit. Download a backup from your Game Panel first, then:

1. Stop your server from the Game Panel.
2. Open ops.json in your Game Panel’s file manager. It sits next to server.properties.
3. Change that player’s level to a number from 1 to 4. Set bypassesPlayerLimit to true if they should get in when the server’s full (they still count towards max-players).
4. Save the file and start the server.

Keep the commas, quotes and brackets exactly as they were, or the server won’t be able to read the file.

Taking op away

Type deop Steve in the console, or /deop Steve in chat as an op at level 3 or higher. They drop back to an ordinary player straight away.

Ops can always join, even with the whitelist on. Your friends still need adding, so see why your friends can’t join.