Minecraft MOTD generator

The MOTD is the only thing a player reads about your server before joining. Build it here: the preview reproduces the game's colours on the server list background, and the character counter warns you before the client cuts the line off.

Your MOTD

Two lines at most, 45 visible characters per line. Codes are written with & or §.

Colours

Styles

Preview in the server list

Example Server » Season 3

Survival · Economy · 1.21

Line 1: 25/45 · Line 2: 25/45

server.properties

The section sign is escaped there, otherwise the server shows question marks.

motd=\u00A76\u00A7lExample Server \u00A78» \u00A7fSeason 3\n\u00A77Survival · Economy · \u00A7a1.21

Section codes

For a MOTD plugin, a YAML config or a proxy.

§6§lExample Server §8» §fSeason 3
§7Survival · Economy · §a1.21

JSON component

The format expected by BungeeCord, Velocity and recent plugins.

{
  "text": "",
  "extra": [
    {
      "text": "Example Server ",
      "color": "gold",
      "bold": true
    },
    {
      "text": "» ",
      "color": "dark_gray"
    },
    {
      "text": "Season 3\n",
      "color": "white"
    },
    {
      "text": "Survival · Economy · ",
      "color": "gray"
    },
    {
      "text": "1.21",
      "color": "green"
    }
  ]
}

How to install it

Stop the server, then open server.properties at the root of its folder.
Replace the motd= line with the one copied above. Keep the \u00A7escape: a Java properties file doesn't read the section sign as is.
Save as UTF-8 and restart. If you run a proxy (BungeeCord, Velocity), its configuration decides: use the JSON component instead.

What players really see

Two lines, no more: a third one is never shown.
Width counts in pixels, not letters: a line of capitals gets cut off sooner than a line of lowercase.
The &k code scrambles characters endlessly. On one word, it catches the eye; on a whole line, it makes the server unreadable.
Dark grey &8 almost vanishes on the list background. Keep it for separators.