Minecraft Bedrock Edition is the version of Minecraft that runs on Windows, phones and tablets, and consoles. Java Edition players cannot join a Bedrock server. If you want both groups on one server, see How to let Bedrock players join your Java server with Geyser.
The panel offers two Bedrock server types. Bedrock is the server Mojang makes. Pocketmine is a community server with its own plugin system.
Bedrock
Pocketmine
Made by
Mojang
The PocketMine-MP community
Add-ons
Behavior packs and resource packs, added as files
Plugins, added as files
Best for
A normal Bedrock server that plays like the game
Servers that want plugins, like Paper does for Java
If you are not sure, choose Bedrock.
Pocketmine is not the same server as Bedrock. The two have different settings pages, different setting names and different commands. Most of this guide is about the Bedrock type. The section called Pocketmine settings and pages says what differs, and the section called PocketMine plugins covers its add-ons.
Join your server
Players join with the Server Address on the Overview page. Windows and mobile players use Add Server, and the address and the port go in separate boxes. See How to join your Minecraft server.
The Minecraft Wiki notes that players on Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch can only join an outside server through a custom DNS or a local network connection. That is how those consoles work, not something the panel controls.
The game and the server must be on matching versions. After Mojang releases a new Bedrock version, players who update first may be refused until the server is on it too. If that happens and the server does not catch up, open a ticket with the version your players see. See How to open a support ticket.
Where the settings are on a Bedrock server
The Bedrock type has two settings pages, and a few settings are on both. Open Settings to see them.
Game Settings holds the basics:
Server Name, Gamemode and Difficulty
Allow cheats, which lets operators use commands such as /gamemode
Choose World, the name of the world folder the server loads
Bedrock Version
Server Properties (Bedrock) holds the rest, with a switch, menu or box for each setting. It includes Max players, Online mode, Allow list, View distance, Tick distance, Idle timeout, Default permission level, Require resource pack, Chat restriction and more. Click Save only, or Save & restart to restart straight away. Changes apply when the server starts.
The panel writes Server Name, Gamemode, Difficulty, Allow cheats and Choose World from Game Settings into the server's file every time the server starts. If you change those in Server Properties (Bedrock) or in the file, your change is overwritten at the next start. Change them in Game Settings.
Useful settings to know:
Setting
What it does
Online mode
Players must be signed in to Xbox Live. Turning it off lets anyone join under any name. Leave it on.
A Pocketmine server does not have the Bedrock pages above. Under Settings it has:
Server Properties (PocketMine), with Message of the day, Game mode, Force game mode, Difficulty, Hardcore, PvP, Max players, Whitelist, Xbox Live authentication, View distance, World name, World seed, World type and a few more. There is no Allow list and no Choose World: the whitelist is the Whitelist switch and the world is World name.
PocketMine Settings, for the server's performance options.
Game Settings, which only holds the PocketMine Version. Gameplay options are not there.
Worlds, backups and uploads use World name instead of Choose World. The commands for ops, the whitelist and bans are PocketMine's own, not the Bedrock ones, so type help in the Console to see what your server knows. Behavior packs and resource packs are for the Bedrock type. PocketMine uses plugins, described below.
Add-ons: behavior packs and resource packs
These steps are for the Bedrock type.
Bedrock add-ons are behavior packs, which change how mobs, items and loot behave, and resource packs, which change how things look and sound. The Modding tab has no catalogue for Bedrock. It says the server does not use plugins, mods, modpacks or datapacks and sends you to the file manager, so add-ons are added as files.
The easy way: a world that carries its packs
The Minecraft Wiki says packs applied to a world are imported into the world's files and kept when you export it. If you build your world in your own game with the add-on switched on, export it as a .mcworld and upload that world. The packs travel with it. Follow How to upload your own Minecraft world, then watch the Console and join to check.
Adding packs to the server folder
The Minecraft Wiki lists these folders in a Bedrock server: behavior_packs and resource_packs for the packs that come with the game, and development_behavior_packs and development_resource_packs for custom ones. It also says custom packs are turned on for a world in two files in that world's folder, world_behavior_packs.json and world_resource_packs.json.
Stop the server and take a backup.
Get the files. A .mcaddon holds .mcpack files, and a .mcpack is one pack. Microsoft's file extension page describes both as zip files with another name.
On your computer, rename the file to end in .zip. Unpack it, and if you see .mcpack files inside, rename and unpack those too. Each finished pack is a folder with a manifest.json file inside it.
In Files, open development_behavior_packs for a behavior pack, or development_resource_packs for a resource pack, and upload the pack's folder. If the folders are not there yet, start the server once and stop it again. Uploading a ZIP and clicking Unzip also works.
Open the worlds folder, then the folder of your world (the name in Choose World). Create or edit world_behavior_packs.json and world_resource_packs.json to list your packs. Each entry gives the pack's identifier and its version, which you copy from the header part of the pack's manifest.json.
Start the server and check the Console.
This is the most fiddly job on a Bedrock server. If your add-on does not load after these steps, open a ticket with the add-on's name and link and the last lines of the Console, and we will help.
Check for add-on errors
In Settings, Server Properties (Bedrock), switch on Write content log and Show content log in console. Add-on and script errors then appear in the Console. Content log level sets how much detail you see. Turn them off again once the add-on works.
Resource packs for players
For players to get a resource pack automatically, store it with the world. Switch on Require resource pack if players must accept it. The Minecraft Wiki says this makes players download and enable all packs stored in the world files. Players who decline are disconnected.
PocketMine plugins
On a Pocketmine server, plugins are .phar files. The PocketMine documentation says to put them in the plugins folder of the server's data folder, to delete older versions of the plugin first, and to restart the server. Poggit is the plugin site it points to.
Download the .phar from the plugin's page.
In Files, open the plugins folder in the main folder and upload the file. Start the server once if the folder is missing.
Restart the server and check the Console.
The panel has no plugin catalogue for PocketMine, so everything is uploaded by hand. The settings pages are described in the section called Pocketmine settings and pages. A PocketMine release supports particular Bedrock versions, so check the release notes before you tell players which version to use.
If something goes wrong
Players cannot connect: check the Server Address, that the server is Online, and the versions on both sides.
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