FAQ

General Questions

What server software and Java version does ChatColor need? Paper (recommended) or Spigot 1.21+, and Java 21 or newer. See Requirements.

Does ChatColor support Folia? Yes — full support, region-thread safe throughout. See Chat Compatibility.

Does ChatColor support Canvas? Yes, it's declared supported in plugin.yml.

How do players open the color selector? Run /color (aliases /chatcolor, /colors). See Commands & Permissions.

Can players create their own custom colors? Only with the chatcolor.create permission, via /color create. See Commands & Permissions.

Configuration

Will updating the plugin wipe my configuration? No. ChatColor migrates your configs automatically on update — your values are kept, new keys are added, and a backup is written first. See Automatic Configuration Updates.

Do I need to restart to apply config changes? No for most settings — /color reload re-reads everything, including gui/gui.yml. Use a full restart specifically when updating the plugin jar itself, since the chat listener needs to rebind after other chat plugins load. See Installation.

Compatibility

Will ChatColor conflict with EssentialsChat, LPC, or DiscordSRV? No — all three are handled automatically or via a documented one-time setting. See Chat Compatibility and PlaceholderAPI.

Do I need PlaceholderAPI installed? No, it's optional. ChatColor colors chat directly on its own pipeline; PlaceholderAPI is only needed if you want other plugins (scoreboards, tablists, placeholder-driven chat formatters) to reference a player's color. See PlaceholderAPI.

Troubleshooting

Colors aren't appearing in chat, what do I do? Work through Common Issues, and run /color debug for a full pipeline trace — see Chat Compatibility for how to read the output.