auto-broadcaster

AutoBroadcaster

AutoBroadcaster is a lightweight and feature-rich PaperMC plugin that automates server announcements. It allows you to schedule broadcasts at specific intervals or at exact server times, with advanced targeting options.

Features

• Interval Messages: Broadcast messages sequentially or randomly at a set interval (e.g., every 5 minutes).
• Scheduled Messages: Broadcast specific messages at exact server times (e.g., daily at 14:00 or 20:30) with a 2-minute window to handle lag gracefully.
• Per-World Targeting: Send broadcasts only to players in specific worlds.
• Per-Permission Targeting: Restrict broadcasts to players with specific permissions.
• In-Game Management: Add, remove, list, and reload messages and configurations directly from the game without needing to edit files manually.
• Modern Formatting: Fully supports Paper's MiniMessage formatting out of the box (e.g., <red>Hello</red>), while seamlessly falling back to legacy color codes (e.g., &cHello) if preferred.
• Performance Optimized: Pre-computed messages and zero-allocation filtering ensure minimal CPU/memory usage between broadcasts.
• Reliable Scheduling: Scheduled messages use a 2-minute detection window and per-day tracking to prevent duplicates and missed broadcasts.
• bStats Integration: Anonymous usage statistics via bStats (service ID: 32227). Server owners can opt-out via plugins/bStats/config.yml.

Commands & Usage

The main command is /autobroadcaster (aliases: /abroadcaster, /ab). All commands require the autobroadcaster.admin permission.

Permissions

• autobroadcaster.admin - Grants full access to all plugin commands. Defaults to server Operators (op).

Configuration (config.yml)

You can configure the plugin directly via the config.yml file located in plugins/AutoBroadcaster/config.yml.

Basic Configuration

# AutoBroadcaster Configuration

# The prefix for all plugin messages
prefix: "<gray>[<gradient:#ff0000:#ff7f00>AutoBroadcaster</gradient>] <reset>"

# Messages that are broadcasted at a specific interval.
# interval_seconds: How often in seconds the messages should be broadcasted (minimum 10).
# random_order: If true, picks a random message. If false, goes in order.
# target_worlds: List of worlds to broadcast to. Leave empty for all worlds.
# required_permission: If set, only players with this permission will see the message. Leave empty for everyone.
interval_messages:
  enabled: true
  interval_seconds: 300
  random_order: false
  target_worlds: []
  required_permission: ""
  messages:
    - "<green>Welcome to our server!</green> Remember to read the rules."
    - "Join our discord at <aqua><click:open_url:'https://discord.gg/example'>discord.gg/example</click></aqua>"

# Messages that are broadcasted at specific server times (HH:MM).
# Make sure the time matches the server's time zone.
# target_worlds and required_permissions are per-time-key maps.
scheduled_messages:
  enabled: true
  messages:
    "12:00": "<gold>It is noon! Don't forget to grab your daily rewards!</gold>"
    "20:00": "<light_purple>Evening event is starting now!</light_purple>"
  target_worlds:
    "12:00": []
    "20:00": []
  required_permissions:
    "12:00": ""
    "20:00": ""

Advanced Targeting Examples

World-Specific Broadcasts:

interval_messages:
  target_worlds: ["world", "world_nether"]  # Only broadcast to players in these worlds

Permission-Based Broadcasts:

interval_messages:
  required_permission: "server.vip"  # Only players with this permission see the message

Per-Scheduled-Time Targeting:

scheduled_messages:
  messages:
    "12:00": "<gold>Noon event in spawn!</gold>"
    "20:00": "<light_purple>Evening event!</light_purple>"
  target_worlds:
    "12:00": ["world"]  # Noon message only in overworld
    "20:00": []          # Evening message in all worlds
  required_permissions:
    "12:00": ""           # Noon message for everyone
    "20:00": "server.vip" # Evening message for VIPs only

Performance

AutoBroadcaster is designed for minimal resource usage:

• Zero CPU between broadcasts: The plugin uses virtually no CPU while waiting for the next broadcast
• Pre-computed messages: All message components are built once at config load, not on every broadcast tick
• Zero-allocation filtering: World and permission checks use simple loops with no object allocation
• Cached time parsing: Scheduled message times are parsed once and cached
• Minimum interval safeguard: Intervals below 10 seconds are automatically clamped to prevent performance issues

Reliability

• Scheduled message duplicates prevented: Each scheduled message can only fire once per day, even after reloads
• Lag-tolerant scheduling: Uses a 2-minute detection window instead of exact time matching
• Error handling: All tasks and broadcasts are wrapped in try-catch blocks to prevent silent failures

Compilation / Building

This plugin targets PaperMC 26.2.build.22-alpha and requires Java 25 to compile and run. To build it yourself:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Ensure you have a Java 25 JDK installed.
3. Run ./gradlew build.
4. The .jar will be generated in build/libs/.