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Holograms and NPCs on your Minecraft server with DecentHolograms and Citizens

Place floating text with DecentHolograms and use Citizens to create NPCs with their own skin that run a command when clicked.

EliteStarHosting Team2 November 20263 min read

With DecentHolograms you place floating text, for example your rules at the spawn. With Citizens you make NPCs: characters that do something when you click them. Both work on Paper and Purpur.

Installing DecentHolograms

In the game panel, go to Plugins, search for DecentHolograms and click Select version. Pick the newest version, click Install plugin and restart your server. On 2 November 2026 that is version 2.10.2, which works on Minecraft 1.8 up to 26.3.

The Plugins tab with the search bar and the Select version button

Creating a hologram

Stand where the hologram should go and type:

/dh h create welcome &6Welcome to the server!
/dh l add welcome 1 &7Online: &f%server_online%

welcome is the name of the hologram and 1 the page number. /dh l add adds a line below it.

  • /dh l set welcome 1 2 &aOther text replaces line 2.
  • /dh l remove welcome 1 2 removes line 2.
  • /dh h movehere welcome moves the hologram to where you stand.
  • /dh list shows all your holograms, /dh h delete welcome deletes one.

{player} shows the name of whoever looks at it. Placeholders from PlaceholderAPI work too, such as %server_online% with the Server expansion (see TAB and PlaceholderAPI).

Holograms are in plugins/DecentHolograms/holograms. After a change there, type /dh reload.

Installing Citizens

Citizens is not on Modrinth, so not under Plugins. Upload it yourself, as in Install plugins:

  1. Download the newest .jar file for free from the official build server ci.citizensnpcs.co.
  2. In the panel, go to Files and open the plugins folder.
  3. Click Upload, choose Upload Files and select the .jar file.
  4. Restart your server.

The Upload menu with Upload Files, Upload Folders and Upload from URL

On 2 November 2026, the newest build (2.0.44) only works on Minecraft 26.1, 26.2 and 26.3. Running an older version? Then update your server first.

Creating an NPC

As an operator, type in the game:

/npc create Guide
/npc skin Notch
/npc lookclose

/npc create places an NPC shaped like a player where you stand and selects it, so the commands after it apply to that NPC. /npc skin copies the skin of a Minecraft account. With --url and a direct link to a .png file you set a skin of your own. With /npc lookclose the NPC looks at players nearby.

To select another NPC, look at it and type /npc select. /npc tphere brings the NPC to you, /npc remove deletes the NPC.

A command on click

With /npc command an NPC runs commands when someone right-clicks it. By default the server runs them, and <p> becomes the name of the player who clicked. Leave out the / of the command itself:

/npc command add give <p> bread 3
/npc command add -p spawn
/npc command add --cooldown 1h give <p> diamond 1
  • The first gives the player three loaves of bread.
  • With -p the player runs the command themselves, here /spawn from EssentialsX. The player then does need the permission for that command.
  • With --cooldown 1h each player can use it once per hour.

/npc command shows the list with numbers. /npc command remove 1 removes command 1.

Tips

  • Give an NPC a name that no player has. Otherwise TAB also puts that player's rank above the NPC.
  • Citizens keeps your NPCs in plugins/Citizens/saves.yml. Make a backup before you update Citizens.