How to turn on keep inventory and other game rules on a Minecraft server

1. Start the server. Game rules live in the running world, so the card needs the server online.
2. Open the World tab and find the Game rules card.
3. Click Show game rules. The panel reads the current value of each rule.
4. Switch on Keep inventory.
5. Click Save.

The change works straight away, without a restart, and the panel sets it in the overworld, the Nether and the End at once. Players keep their items and their experience when they die.

Reading the rules sends one short question per rule to the console, so you will see those lines appear there. That is the panel at work, not a problem.

These are the switches on the Game rules card, with the name to use in a command. Servers on 1.21.11 or newer, including every 26.x version, use the new name; older servers use the old one.

A rule that your version does not know is left off the card, so what you see always works on your server. PvP and Monsters spawn only exist as game rules on newer versions; on older ones they are the PvP and Spawn monsters switches in Settings under Server settings.

Servers on 1.8.9, 1.12.2 or 1.16.5 only know the rules that existed in that version. If a rule is missing from the card or a command fails on an older server, check this list.

So on a 1.8.9 or 1.12.2 server, gamerule keepInventory true works, but skipping the night with one sleeper does not exist yet; a sleep plugin does that job there.

In the Console tab, type the command without a slash. In the game chat, an operator types the same with a slash in front.

gamerule keep_inventory true

That is for 1.21.11 and newer. On an older server, use the old name:

gamerule keepInventory true

• gamerule keep_inventory without a value shows the current setting: "Gamerule keep_inventory is currently set to: false".
• false in place of true switches a rule off again.
• "Incorrect argument for command" almost always means the name belongs to the other version. Try the other column of the table.
• A number rule takes a number: gamerule players_sleeping_percentage 0.

On Paper 26.2 we measured that the Nether and the End keep their own game rules. A plain gamerule from the console only sets the overworld, so a player who dies in the Nether still loses everything.

Set the rule in each dimension with execute in:

execute in minecraft:overworld run gamerule keep_inventory true
execute in minecraft:the_nether run gamerule keep_inventory true
execute in minecraft:the_end run gamerule keep_inventory true

The Game rules card in the World tab does this for you: every switch you save there goes to all three dimensions.

Turned it on and players still lose their items? One of these is almost always the reason.

• They died in the Nether or the End while the rule was only set in the overworld. Use the World tab, or the three execute in lines above.
• The command used the name of the other version, so it never ran. Check the answer in the console: it should repeat the new value.
• A death plugin or mod handles the items, such as a graves plugin. Check its settings, or remove it to test.
• The rule was set on another world. After a world reset or a new seed, the new world starts with the defaults again.

To check the value in a dimension, ask it there: execute in minecraft:the_nether run gamerule keep_inventory prints the current setting of the Nether.

The game rule counts for everybody. On Paper or Purpur, EssentialsX can give keep inventory as a permission instead, so you can make it a perk of one rank while everyone else loses their items as normal.

1. Install EssentialsX and LuckPerms from the Plugins tab and restart.
2. Leave the game rule Keep inventory off.
3. Give the rank the permission in the console, for example for a group called vip: lp group vip permission set essentials.keepinv true.
4. To let them keep their experience as well: lp group vip permission set essentials.keepxp true.

Permissions with LuckPerms explains how groups work and how players get into them.

Many SMPs change the same few rules before the first players join:

• Keep inventory on, so a death in lava does not cost someone a week of work.
• Mob griefing off, so creepers stop wrecking builds. Villagers then also stop farming and sheep stop eating grass, so decide which matters more.
• Players needed to skip the night at 0, so one sleeping player is enough to make it morning. On a server with a handful of friends, 50 is a fair middle.
• Phantoms off for players who build through the night.
• Locator bar off on a hide and seek or hardcore server, where finding each other should take effort.

For a harder game, go the other way: see make a hardcore Minecraft server. For protection against players rather than mobs, see stop griefing.

Some groups find full keep inventory too soft, but losing everything too harsh. A few middle roads:

• A graves plugin or mod puts the items in a grave or chest at the death spot, so the player has to go back for them. Many protect the grave for a while, so at first only its owner can open it.
• The recovery compass, crafted from echo shards found in ancient cities, points to the place of your last death. It is part of the normal game since 1.19.
• The back command of EssentialsX, with the permission essentials.back.ondeath, takes a player back to where they died, so a long walk is not the punishment.

Bedrock has the same rule, written in lower case. Type it in the console of the Bedrock server:

gamerule keepinventory true

On Bedrock it counts for the whole world at once, the Nether and the End included. On a crossplay server the Java rules on this page apply, also to the Bedrock players.

Game rules are stored in the world. Difficulty, game mode, hardcore, the whitelist and the view distance are server settings, stored in server.properties and changed in Settings under Server settings. server.properties explained goes through them one by one.

Because game rules belong to the world, a new world starts with the default rules again. After you change your server's seed or reset the world, set them once more.