--- title: "Deploy Minecraft | Paper Server on Java 25 with a Real Volume" description: "Minecraft on Railway: a real volume, current Java, Trial plan or above" category: "Other" url: https://railway.com/deploy/minecraft-or-paper-server-on-java-25-wit --- # Deploy Minecraft | Paper Server on Java 25 with a Real Volume Minecraft on Railway: a real volume, current Java, Trial plan or above **[Deploy Minecraft | Paper Server on Java 25 with a Real Volume on Railway](https://railway.com/template/minecraft-or-paper-server-on-java-25-wit)** - **Creator:** Pavel Volkov's Projects - **Category:** Other - **Total deploys:** 9 ## Template content ### Minecraft - **Image:** itzg/minecraft-server:2026.8.0-java25 ## Documentation # Deploy and Host a Minecraft Server on Railway A Paper server on the official itzg image, with a persistent volume for the world and a TCP proxy so players can connect with a normal Minecraft client. ## About Hosting a Minecraft Server The world, the player data, the plugins and server.properties all live in /data. This template mounts a volume there, which is the difference between a server and a demo: without one, every redeploy hands your players a freshly generated world and wipes their inventories. The image is pinned, and pinned to a Java 25 build on purpose. Paper 26.1 and newer refuse to start on Java 21 - a server left on an older Java tag crashes on boot the first time it pulls a current Paper build. ## Sizing, and Which Plan You Need **This template needs the Trial plan or above. It cannot run on Free.** Free allows 0.5 GB of RAM per service, and a Paper server does not fit in that: deployed under a 0.5 GB cap the container is killed before the world finishes generating - it reaches 0.478 GB, never logs `Done`, and the deployment ends up crashed. Lowering MEMORY does not rescue it. The JVM's non-heap footprint alone is about 0.37 GB here, so even a 128M heap would sit on the limit, and Paper is not usable at that size anyway. The defaults are set to fit the Trial plan, which allows 1 GB of RAM and a 0.5 GB volume per service. Measured on a running server: MEMORY=512M with Aikar's flags off settles at about 0.9 GB resident, and /data reaches about 0.4 GB once the world has generated. Both fit, with little room to spare. That is a server for a few players and a small world. If you are on Hobby or Pro, raise MEMORY - 2G is a comfortable starting point and uses about 2.8 GB resident - and turn USE_AIKAR_FLAGS back on, since those flags are tuned for heaps of 4G and up. Two things to watch as the world grows: the volume fills as players explore, and a world that outgrows the plan's volume limit will stop saving. Raising MEMORY is a variable change; raising the volume needs a bigger plan. ## Common Use Cases - A survival or creative server for friends, reachable from anywhere - A Paper server with plugins, dropped into /data/plugins - A short-lived server for an event, deleted when it is over ## Dependencies for Minecraft Hosting - A persistent volume, included, mounted at /data - A TCP proxy, included, forwarding to port 25565. Minecraft speaks its own protocol, not HTTP, so it needs a raw TCP address rather than a web domain. - The Mojang EULA, accepted by deploying this template. EULA is preset to TRUE; deploying is your acceptance of the agreement between you and Mojang. ### Deployment Dependencies - Image documentation: https://docker-minecraft-server.readthedocs.io - Paper: https://papermc.io - Mojang EULA: https://aka.ms/MinecraftEULA ### Implementation Details After deploying, open the service, find the TCP proxy address, and add it in the Minecraft client as host:port - for example mainline.proxy.rlwy.net:14767. Both parts matter; the port is not 25565 from the outside. | Variable | Why | |---|---| | EULA | TRUE. Accepts Mojang's agreement. The server only starts on TRUE - any other value produces a green deploy with a stopped server | | TYPE, VERSION | Paper, latest release. Change VERSION to pin a specific Minecraft version | | MEMORY | 512M, sized for the Trial plan's 1 GB. Raise it on Hobby or Pro - it is the main cost driver | | USE_AIKAR_FLAGS | Off. These JVM flags are tuned for heaps of 4G and up; turn them on together with a larger MEMORY | | RCON_PASSWORD | Generated. RCON listens on the private network only, but it should not sit on a default password | | DIFFICULTY, MAX_PLAYERS, MOTD | The usual server.properties settings, editable as variables | One thing deliberately left off: autopause. It stops the JVM while nobody is online, which sounds ideal for usage-based billing, but it needs raw packet capture to detect an incoming connection and Railway does not grant that capability - knockd fails with "Operation not permitted" and the container logs the failure every thirty minutes. Templates that ship ENABLE_AUTOPAUSE=true on Railway are not saving anyone money; they are just logging errors. ## Why Deploy a Minecraft Server on Railway? No machine to keep patched, no port forwarding, no dynamic DNS. A volume keeps the world, the TCP proxy gives players a stable address, and when the server is no longer wanted you delete the project. ## Similar templates - [Rocky Linux](https://railway.com/deploy/rocky-linux) — [Jul'26] Hosted Rocky Linux 9 workspace with SSH and persistent storage. 🚀 - [Foundry Virtual Tabletop](https://railway.com/deploy/X5tR6G) — A Self-Hosted & Modern Roleplaying Platform - [Letta Code Remote](https://railway.com/deploy/letta-code-remote) — Run a Letta Code agent 24/7. No inbound ports, just deploy. Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/minecraft-or-paper-server-on-java-25-wit