How to set up Vault and an economy on a Minecraft server
What Vault does, why shop and rank plugins need it, and how to pair it with an economy provider like EssentialsX on your Paper server.
Updated · 2 min read
Vault is a bridge plugin. It does not add money or commands by itself; it lets other plugins (shops, jobs, ranks, auctions) talk to whichever economy, permissions and chat plugins you have installed. To run an economy you need Vault plus an economy provider.
How the pieces fit
| Role | Example | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Bridge | Vault | Common interface other plugins use. |
| Economy provider | EssentialsX (built-in economy) or a dedicated economy plugin | Stores balances and handles payments. |
| Permissions provider | LuckPerms | Lets plugins check and give permissions. |
| Economy users | Shop, jobs, auction or rank-up plugins | Charge and pay players through Vault. |
If a shop plugin says "No economy plugin found" or "Vault not found", one of the first two rows is missing.
Setup with EssentialsX
- Upload Vault and EssentialsX to
plugins. - Restart the server.
- In the console, look for a line from Vault saying it hooked into an economy, such as
[Vault] [Economy] Essentials Economy found: Waiting, followed by Essentials enabling. - Run
/vault-infoin the console. It shows which economy, permission and chat plugins Vault is using. - Install your shop or jobs plugin and restart again.
Setting the currency
EssentialsX economy settings live in plugins/Essentials/config.yml:
starting-balance: 100
currency-symbol: '$'
max-money: 10000000000000
min-money: -10000
Admins can adjust balances:
/eco give Steve 500
/eco set Steve 0
/baltop
Using a different economy plugin
Dedicated economy plugins add things like multiple currencies, banks or better performance with many players. If you switch:
- Install only one economy provider at a time. Two providers fighting for Vault leads to balances that seem to vanish.
- Check whether the new plugin can import balances from EssentialsX before removing it.
- Make sure it supports Vault, and that it can store data in a local file or SQLite. Schokr does not offer MySQL; see plugins that need MySQL.
Vault and newer servers
Vault has been stable for many years and still works on current Paper builds, but some newer plugins use updated forks or alternative economy APIs. Always read a plugin's requirements to see exactly which bridge it expects.
Troubleshooting
- Shop plugin cannot find economy: check
/vault-info. If the economy line says none, your provider is missing or failed to load. Scroll up in the console for its errors. - Prefixes do not appear in chat: Vault needs a chat formatting plugin (such as EssentialsX Chat) as well as LuckPerms.
- Balances reset: confirm only one economy plugin is installed, and that its data files are not being deleted or rolled back.