A performance-focused Minecraft server, built on Paper.
Salmon is an open-source Minecraft Java server fork based on Paper, adding configurable spawn caps, optional entity cleanup, plugin metrics, redstone options, MOTD/maintenance tooling, and trusted startup scripting.
Built on Paper. Salmon is an independent project, not an official PaperMC product and not endorsed by PaperMC.
What Salmon adds to Paper
Every optimization is configurable and observable. Nothing here silently changes your world without a setting you control.
Configurable spawn caps
Per-chunk limits on primed TNT and hostile, passive, water, and ambient entities, applied to new spawns only.
Faster redstone by default
Paper's Alternate Current engine speeds up dust updates, with eigencraft, vanilla, and paper implementations selectable.
Observable plugin metrics
Surfaces slow event handlers and scheduled tasks without touching plugin lifecycle or guaranteeing compatibility.
Trusted startup scripting
Automate server setup with .slms scripts and SalmonAPI, both run with console-level authority.
Built for admins who read the config file
Salmon keeps the full Paper/Bukkit plugin foundation, so existing plugins and workflows keep working. On top of that, it adds a focused set of operator tools for busy worlds and long-running servers.
- Per-chunk entity caps that reject new spawns at a limit you set
- Optional, off-by-default persistent cleanup for existing hostile mobs
- Plugin execution metrics that report, never restart or rewrite
- MOTD Builder and /smp maintenance mode with its own allowlist
Before you flip a switch
Some options, persistent hostile-mob cleanup and startup scripts in particular, can permanently change a world or run with console authority. Test changes on a copy of your server and keep world backups before enabling them live.
Read the feature-by-feature caveats →Running Minecraft 1.21.11, build 7e-006
Grab the latest bundled server JAR from GitHub releases, or read the source and license on the repository.