How to set a world border on your Minecraft server
Limit how far players can travel with the worldborder command to control lag and disk usage on your Minecraft Java server.
Updated · 2 min read
A world border limits how far players can go, which keeps your world from growing without limit. Set one with worldborder center and worldborder set in the Schokr console or in-game as an op.
Why add a border?
- Disk space. Every chunk players explore is saved to disk. A world with no limit can keep growing until it fills your disk pool.
- Performance. Generating new chunks is the heaviest thing a server does. A border means the world is fully explored eventually and the load drops.
- Gameplay. Borders keep players closer together on small servers.
Set the border
- Choose the center, usually spawn (
0 0or your spawn coordinates):
worldborder center 0 0
- Set the size. The value is the full width in blocks, not the radius:
worldborder set 10000
That creates a 10,000 by 10,000 block square, reaching 5,000 blocks from the center in each direction.
Useful commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
worldborder get | Shows the current width |
worldborder set <width> | Sets the width immediately |
worldborder set <width> <seconds> | Grows or shrinks smoothly over time |
worldborder add <blocks> | Expands or shrinks by an amount |
worldborder center <x> <z> | Moves the center |
worldborder damage amount <amount> | Damage per block per second when outside |
worldborder warning distance <blocks> | Red screen warning distance |
Example of a shrinking border for an event, from 2000 to 200 blocks over one hour:
worldborder set 2000
worldborder set 200 3600
How big should it be?
| Server | Suggested width |
|---|---|
| Small friends server | 5,000 to 10,000 |
| Medium community server | 10,000 to 20,000 |
| Event or UHC | 500 to 2,000 |
Keep your disk pool in mind. The free package gives each team 10 GB of disk shared across servers.
The Nether and End
On Vanilla, the Nether and End follow the overworld border, scaled by each dimension's coordinate scale, so the Nether border is one eighth of the size in Nether coordinates. On Paper, each world (including world_nether and world_the_end) can have its own border. Set it by running the command in-game while standing in that dimension, then check it with /worldborder get.
Pre-generate inside the border
Once the border is set, you can pre-generate the area inside it on Paper with a plugin like Chunky while nobody is online, so players do not cause lag when exploring.
Related: generate a new world, view distance and simulation distance.