How to invite friends to your Minecraft server with an invite link

An invite link lets your friends add themselves to your Minecraft server's whitelist. You send one link, each friend opens it and types their Minecraft name, and the panel does the rest. Your friends do not need a PlayNHost account, and you do not have to ask for names and type them in one by one.

Create a link

1. Open your server in the panel and go to the Overview page.

2. On the Play with friends card, click Invite friends.

   

3. If you have no links yet, the form is already open. If you already have some, click New link.

4. Fill in the options:

   • Name (only you see it): a label for you, such as School friends.
   • How many people: how many names the link will add before it stops working. You can choose 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 or 100.
   • Works for: how long the link works, 1, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days.
   • Ask me first: you approve each name before it is added. Good for a family server.

5. Click Create link. The link is created and copied, shown as Created and copied. Paste it into a chat.

   

Under each link there is also Or copy a ready message with the join steps, which copies a message that tells your friends how to find the server after they are added.

What your friends do

1. Open the link. The page shows your server's name and how to join, and has a box for a name. It never shows anything about you, such as your email or username.
2. Java players type their Minecraft name. Bedrock players type their Xbox gamertag, on servers that allow Bedrock players.
3. Press the button to join. If the link is not set to ask you first, they are added to the whitelist straight away. They can then join with the address you share.

If the link has used up its places or has expired, the friend sees that it no longer works, and the list shows it as Used up or Expired.

Approve names

If you chose Ask me first, each name waits under Waiting for you until you decide. Click Let in to add it to the whitelist, or Refuse to throw the request away. The Overview card shows how many are waiting.

Turn a link off

Links you have made are listed under Your invite links, with how many places are used (for example 3 of 10 used) and when each one ends. Click Turn off to stop a link working at once. Remove clears a finished link from the list, and Hide old links keeps the list short. Names already added stay on the whitelist. To remove a name, use the Players page, see How to manage players on your Minecraft server with the Players page.

Good to know

• You need the console permission and permission to create files on the server, because an invite writes the whitelist for you.
• Invite links are for Minecraft servers that have a whitelist. They are not offered on proxies and some custom server types. The Overview card tells you what applies to your server.
• Anyone who has the link can use it until it ends, so share it only where you trust the audience, and choose a small number of places.
• The Activity log records when you create, turn off or refuse a link, and each name that is added. See How to see what happened on your server.

Not sure your friends can reach the server yet? Run the check in How to find out why friends cannot join your Minecraft server.

Want your own server? See Minecraft server hosting.