The Tool Desk
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Choose the right profiler for your server version
The command you should run depends primarily on the server software and version. Paper changed its recommended workflow: from Minecraft 1.21 onward, Paper bundles spark and documents it as the preferred profiler. Timings is deprecated and disabled by default on those current builds. On Spigot and older Paper versions, the legacy Timings commands are still the relevant method.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Paper, Minecraft 1.21+ | spark profiler | /spark profiler start/spark profiler stop |
A profile link is printed in the console after stopping. Paper’s profiling documentation is at docs.papermc.io/paper/profiling. |
| Spigot or older Paper | Legacy Timings | /timings on/timings paste |
The generated page includes resource-use indicators and a Plugins tab. |
Exact command behavior, permissions, and defaults can change between Paper and Minecraft versions. If a command is rejected, check the documentation for the exact build you are running before changing configuration. Do not assume a Timings tutorial written for an older release applies unchanged to a 1.21+ Paper server.
Prepare a useful capture before you start
A profiler only records what happens while it is running. A report taken while the server is empty can look healthy even when players experience severe lag at peak activity. Prepare the capture so it contains the workload that causes the problem.
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- Identify the software first. Confirm whether the server is Paper, Spigot, or another implementation and note the Minecraft/Paper version. The version determines whether spark or legacy Timings is appropriate.
- Get the required permission. You generally need operator-level access or an equivalent permission supplied by your permissions plugin. If you cannot run the command, ask an administrator rather than repeatedly retrying it.
- Reproduce normal player activity. Have players perform the actions associated with the complaint: exploring new terrain, using farms, entering a busy area, running redstone machines, or whatever reliably produces the slowdown. Do not deliberately create an unrealistic load that would obscure the normal pattern.
- Record the time window. Note when the lag started, what players were doing, and when you started and stopped profiling. This context helps an administrator match report spikes with in-game events.
- Leave the server running normally. Restarting, changing many plugins, or changing view-distance settings during the capture can make the report harder to interpret. If a restart is unavoidable, begin a fresh capture afterward.
How to run spark on Paper 1.21 and newer
Paper includes spark on current releases, so you do not normally need to install a separate profiler. Run these commands from the game chat with permission or from the server console. Console commands omit the leading slash; chat commands include it.
1. Start profiling during the problem
- Wait until the server is under representative load, preferably while players are experiencing the lag.
- Run
/spark profiler start. - Confirm in the server output that profiling has started. Keep the server and player activity otherwise normal.
For a first investigation, let the profile run for at least 10 minutes. A longer window can capture an intermittent event, while a very short sample may catch only a transient moment and give misleading proportions.
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- After the capture period, run
/spark profiler stop. - Wait for the completion message in chat or the console.
- Open the URL printed by the server. That page is the shareable profile an administrator or support team can inspect.
Copy the complete URL exactly as printed. If you are opening a support ticket, include the server version, the capture duration, what players were doing, and the approximate time of the lag alongside the profile link.
3. Use an automatic timeout when appropriate
The --timeout option stops profiling automatically after the specified number of seconds. Paper’s documentation gives this example for a 10-minute capture:
/spark profiler start --timeout 600
An automatic timeout is useful when you need to leave the server unattended or want every capture to have the same duration. The number is seconds, so 600 seconds equals 10 minutes.
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4. Focus on slow ticks for intermittent lag
If the server is usually fine but occasionally freezes, collecting every tick can bury the useful event in ordinary activity. The --only-ticks-over option limits attention to ticks exceeding a threshold in milliseconds. Paper documents this combined example:
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/spark profiler start --only-ticks-over 100 --timeout 300
This starts a five-minute capture and focuses on ticks taking more than 100 milliseconds. A 100 ms tick is already twice the 50 ms budget required for 20 TPS, so it is suited to pronounced stalls. You can use a lower threshold such as 60 when you want to catch less severe but still visible slow ticks:
/spark profiler start --only-ticks-over 60 --timeout 300
Choose the threshold based on the symptom. A high threshold can reduce noise but may omit moderate slowdowns; a low threshold captures more data but can make an intermittent report less focused.
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How to take a legacy Timings report
Use this workflow for Spigot and older Paper installations where Timings is available. On a current Paper 1.21+ server, seeing old Timings instructions in a forum post is not evidence that they are still the preferred method.
1. Enable Timings when the lag is occurring
- Make sure you have operator permission or the equivalent command permission.
- When players can reproduce the slowdown, run
/timings on. - Keep the server under its normal workload while data accumulates.
2. Wait long enough to include representative activity
Allow approximately 10–15 minutes before generating the report. The point is not to wait for a fixed magic number; it is to capture enough ordinary and problematic activity for the report to distinguish recurring work from a one-off spike. If the issue occurs only during a particular event, keep profiling until that event has happened.
3. Paste the report
- Run
/timings paste. - Wait for the server to produce a report URL.
- Open the link and provide it to the person diagnosing the server, together with the version and timing of the capture.
Legacy Timings reports commonly mark entries that use excessive resources in red. The Plugins tab ranks plugins by their contribution to the recorded lag, which makes it a practical starting point when the complaint is “which plugin is causing this?”
Read the numbers before blaming a plugin
A report is evidence about server work, not an automatic verdict against the first plugin name you see. Start with the server-wide health indicators and then move to the detailed categories.
TPS: the target is 20.0
Ticks are the server’s regular simulation steps. A healthy server aims for 20 ticks per second (TPS). When TPS falls below 20, the server is completing ticks late and gameplay can feel slow, delayed, or inconsistent. A brief dip is different from a sustained low value; compare the number with the time of the reported incident and the profiler’s captured period.
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MSPT: keep each tick under 50 ms
MSPT means milliseconds per tick. At 20 TPS, the server has 50 milliseconds to finish each tick. Values above 50 ms indicate that ticks are taking longer than the available budget and TPS will eventually drop. A profile filtered for ticks over 60 or 100 ms is therefore looking for work that exceeds that budget by a noticeable margin.
System CPU: distinguish hardware pressure from plugin work
High system CPU usage can indicate a hardware or host-capacity limit rather than one misbehaving plugin. If CPU is saturated while no single plugin dominates the report, investigate the machine or hosting allocation, concurrent processes, and the overall workload. A plugin ranking is most actionable when it coincides with slow ticks and the reported in-game activity.
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Timings detail: red entries and the Plugins tab
In a legacy report, use the red resource-use entries to locate expensive operations, then open the Plugins tab to see which plugin categories account for the recorded lag. Treat the ranking as a lead: a plugin may appear high because it responds to a busy world, while the underlying cause is terrain generation, entities, redstone, or limited CPU. Correlate the entry with what players were doing and whether the same pattern appears in more than one capture.
Spark detail: follow the slow path
Spark’s profile is designed to show where time is spent during the captured ticks. Begin at the server-wide overview, identify the largest slow-tick categories, and expand them until you reach a plugin, task, or subsystem that matches the symptoms. A category that is large only during a known event is more relevant than a small category that appears constantly but stays below the tick budget.
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- Match the timestamp. Confirm that the profile covers the same period in which players reported lag.
- Confirm the symptom in metrics. Look for sustained low TPS or MSPT above 50 ms, not merely a single visual spike.
- Find the dominant work. Identify the largest slow-tick category or plugin contribution.
- Compare with player actions. Check whether the expensive task corresponds to exploration, a farm, entity buildup, a scheduled task, or another reproducible action.
- Capture again after one controlled change. If an administrator changes one setting or disables one suspect component, repeat the same workload and compare reports. Changing several things at once prevents a reliable conclusion.
This process also prevents a common mistake: assuming that the highest plugin percentage is automatically the sole cause. Profilers measure where sampled time was spent; they do not, by themselves, prove intent, bugs, or that removing a plugin is safe.
What to do when the command fails
“Unknown command” or spark is unavailable
Verify the server software and version. Spark is bundled and preferred on Paper 1.21+, while older builds and Spigot use a different workflow. If the server is a fork or a host-managed installation, consult that platform’s current instructions rather than installing an unrelated plugin immediately.
“You do not have permission”
Run the command from the server console, where appropriate, or ask an operator to grant the required permission temporarily. Permission names and command wrappers depend on the server’s permission system, so use the labels documented for your exact build.
No useful lag appears in the report
The capture may have been too short, started after the incident, or run while the server was empty. Repeat it during the activity that reliably causes the slowdown. For occasional freezes, use spark’s --only-ticks-over filter with a timeout so the capture concentrates on slow ticks.
The report link is missing
Check the server console output, not only the in-game chat, and make sure the stop command completed. If the command behavior differs from the examples here, compare it with the current Paper profiling documentation for your version. Record any error text exactly before asking a host or administrator for help.
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The host requires a particular support format
Some managed Minecraft hosts publish their own Timings or spark procedure and require the generated URL, server version, and a description of the incident in a support ticket. Follow that host’s workflow if it exists; a support team may reject an otherwise valid link when required context is missing.
Copy-and-paste command reference
| Purpose | Command | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Start a normal spark profile | /spark profiler start |
Continuous or recurring lag while the server is under representative load. |
| Stop spark and generate the link | /spark profiler stop |
After at least 10 minutes, or after the problem event has occurred. |
| Automatic 10-minute spark capture | /spark profiler start --timeout 600 |
When you want profiling to stop after 600 seconds without manual intervention. |
| Five-minute capture of very slow ticks | /spark profiler start --only-ticks-over 100 --timeout 300 |
Intermittent stalls where ticks over 100 ms are the key symptom. |
| Five-minute capture of moderately slow ticks | /spark profiler start --only-ticks-over 60 --timeout 300 |
Intermittent lag that may not exceed 100 ms but still breaks the 50 ms tick budget. |
| Enable legacy Timings | /timings on |
Spigot or older Paper, started when the lag is occurring. |
| Create a legacy Timings report | /timings paste |
After roughly 10–15 minutes of representative activity. |
Final recommendation
If the server is Paper 1.21 or newer, start with spark: it is bundled, preferred by Paper, and supports timed or slow-tick-focused captures. Use legacy Timings for Spigot and older Paper, where /timings on followed by /timings paste remains the established workflow. In either case, capture the real workload, keep the report’s version and time context, and interpret TPS, MSPT, CPU, and plugin details together before changing the server.
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