Chat And Messaging

EssentialsLite chat formatting is enabled by chat-format.enabled, and channel behavior is enabled by chat-channels.enabled. The default public chat format uses MiniMessage. Chat formatting can use the player’s primary group from Vault when Vault is installed; without Vault, rank values are empty.

Public Chat Format

The default group priority is:

Group	Priority
`owner`	100
`admin`	90
`vip`	10

Grant essentials.chat.format.<group> to allow the corresponding group format, for example essentials.chat.format.owner. Vault’s primary permission group is accepted for group selection. MiniMessage tags in the configured format are interpreted by the chat formatter; keep the format compatible with the MiniMessage syntax supported by the installed build.

Example shape:

chat-format:
  enabled: true
  default: "<gray><player></gray> <white><message></white>"
  groups:
    owner:
      priority: 100
    admin:
      priority: 90
    vip:
      priority: 10
chat-channels:
  enabled: true

The exact message and format keys are version-owned configuration. Preserve existing keys when changing a shipped configuration; the example documents the behavior, not a replacement for the installed resource.

Channels

Configured channels include general, staff, and proximity.

Command	Alias	Permission	Purpose
`/channel`	`ch`	`essentials.channel`	Join or leave chat channels.
`/staffchat`	--	`essentials.staffchat`	Toggle the staff chat channel.

Channel behavior is controlled by chat-channels.enabled and its channel definitions. The staff channel is intended for staff communication and requires essentials.staffchat to toggle. The proximity channel limits delivery according to its configured range; use the shipped channel configuration for the range and membership rules.

Messaging Commands

Command	Aliases	Usage	Gate
`/message`	`m`, `msg`, `tell`	`/message <player> <message>`	`message.enabled`
`/reply`	`r`	`/reply <message>`	`message.enabled`
`/helpop`	`ho`, `ahelp`	`/helpop <message>`	--
`/broadcast`	`bc`	`/broadcast <message>`	--
`/clearchat`	--	`/clearchat`	`essentials.clearchat`
`/ignore`	`unignore`	Server command help	--

/reply replies to the last private message received. /helpop sends a help request to online staff. /broadcast sends a message to all players. /ignore supports ignoring a player or all players and listing ignored players; the source-confirmed nodes are essentials.ignore, essentials.ignore.all, and essentials.ignore.list.

Player Settings

The /settings menu controls personal chat behavior. essentials.settings.chat-messages controls public chat visibility, essentials.settings.private-messages controls private-message visibility, and essentials.settings.accept-payments controls payment reception. These settings can make a correctly configured message or payment appear not to arrive; check the recipient’s settings before changing channel or format configuration.

Configuration Edges

Chat commands and formatting are unavailable when the relevant feature setting is disabled.
Vault is optional. Vault group selection affects rank-based formatting; it does not make the core chat commands dependent on Vault.
ZelChat is used where configured for chat-related integration.
Channel membership and staff-chat state should be changed through /channel and /staffchat, not by assuming that a player’s permission alone changes their active channel.
MiniMessage format input is configuration, not a permission bypass. Grant only the specific essentials.chat.format.<group> nodes intended for each group.