If you run a Minecraft server, sooner or later you will need to look inside a player’s inventory. Maybe someone is accused of duping items, maybe you are investigating a possible exploit, or maybe you just need to remove a banned item from an active player. EssentialsX makes this trivial with one command: /invsee. It opens the target player’s live inventory in a chest-style GUI, and any change you make is written straight back to their inventory in real time. This guide covers exactly how it works, the permission nodes involved, how to lock it down to view-only for moderators, and the common limitation that trips people up: it only works on players who are currently online.
One thing to get straight before anything else: EssentialsX is a Bukkit-API plugin that runs on Spigot or Paper (and forks like Purpur) for Minecraft: Java Edition. It does not run on vanilla, Bedrock, Fabric, or Forge. If you are running EssentialsX on a properly configured dedicated Minecraft server host built on Paper, every command below will work out of the box.
The /invsee command at a glance
The command to view another player’s inventory is /invsee, and it takes a single argument: the name of the online player whose inventory you want to open.
/invsee For example, to peek inside the inventory of a player named Steve:
/invsee SteveRunning this opens a GUI that mirrors Steve’s full inventory: the main 27-slot storage, the hotbar, and the armor and offhand slots. Because the view is live, you are not looking at a snapshot. If Steve picks up an item or moves something while you have the window open, you are looking at his actual real-time inventory. Drag an item out and it is gone from his inventory; drop one in and it appears in his. That two-way write-back is the whole point of the command, and it is why permission control matters so much.
The /einvsee alias
EssentialsX registers an alias for nearly every command, prefixed with e, so that it can coexist with other plugins that might claim the same command name. For /invsee the alias is:
/einvsee Both forms do exactly the same thing. Use /einvsee if another plugin on your server has hijacked the plain /invsee command, otherwise the shorter form is fine.
The permission node you need
To use /invsee at all, the player (typically a staff or admin rank in your permissions plugin like LuckPerms) needs the following node:
essentials.invseeBy default, granting essentials.invsee gives the holder full read and write access. They can view the inventory and edit it freely. There is no separate “allow modify” node that you need to add on top — modification is enabled the moment you grant essentials.invsee. That is the behavior you want for your top admins, but it is almost never what you want for junior moderators who only need to look. For that, you use the lockdown node described below.
View-only mode: lock down editing with preventmodify
This is the most important part of the article for anyone building a staff permission hierarchy. EssentialsX ships a dedicated node that turns /invsee into a read-only window:
essentials.invsee.preventmodifyWhen a player holds essentials.invsee.preventmodify, they can view but not edit the target’s inventory. They can open the GUI and inspect every item, but any attempt to drag, remove, or add an item is blocked. This is exactly what you want for moderators who investigate reports but should never be able to take or plant items.
The logic is worth spelling out because it is easy to get backwards. The node is named preventmodify, meaning it is an opt-in lock-down, not an opt-in allowance. Modification is permitted by default once you grant essentials.invsee. To remove that editing ability, you layer essentials.invsee.preventmodify on top. There is no essentials.invsee.modify “allow” node — the only switch is the prevent-modify one.
A typical two-tier setup in a permissions plugin looks like this:
- Moderator rank: grant
essentials.invseeandessentials.invsee.preventmodifytogether — they can inspect but never touch. - Admin rank: grant only
essentials.invsee— they can inspect and edit.
Online players only — there is no offline invsee
This is the single biggest source of confusion around /invsee. The command works on online players only. If the player you want to inspect is offline, /invsee will not open their inventory. Viewing or editing an offline player’s inventory is a long-standing community feature request in the EssentialsX issue tracker, but it has never shipped as a feature. There is no flag, alias, or hidden node that changes this — if you need to see what a player is carrying, they have to be connected to the server when you run the command.
In practice this means investigations have to happen while the suspect is logged in. A common workaround is to coordinate with the player or wait until they next join, then run /invsee before they have a chance to stash items elsewhere.
Inventory vs. ender chest — two different commands
A frequent mistake is assuming /invsee has an ender-chest option, something like /invsee Steve enderchest. It does not. EssentialsX handles the ender chest with a completely separate command:
/enderchest With no argument, /enderchest opens your own ender chest. With a player name, it opens another online player’s ender chest. It carries a long list of aliases — /echest, /ec, /endersee, and more — but note that /endersee is only an alias of /enderchest; it is not its own command. The permission to open another player’s ender chest is essentials.enderchest.others, while your own ender chest uses essentials.enderchest.
One critical difference: the ender chest has no view-only equivalent. There is no preventmodify node for it. Anyone with essentials.enderchest.others can edit the contents — there is simply no read-only mode for ender chests the way there is for the main inventory. Keep that in mind when handing out staff permissions, and grant the ender-chest node only to people you trust with edit access. For a deeper walkthrough, see our companion guide on how to see a player’s ender chest using EssentialsX.
Command and permission reference
| Action | Command | Permission node |
|---|---|---|
| View / edit a player’s inventory | /invsee | essentials.invsee |
| View inventory only (no editing) | /invsee | essentials.invsee + essentials.invsee.preventmodify |
| Alias for invsee | /einvsee | essentials.invsee |
| Open another player’s ender chest | /enderchest | essentials.enderchest.others |
| Open your own ender chest | /enderchest | essentials.enderchest |
Step-by-step: setting up invsee for your staff
Here is the practical workflow for getting /invsee working safely on a fresh server.
1. Confirm EssentialsX is installed on Spigot or Paper
Drop the EssentialsX jar into your server’s plugins folder and restart. Because EssentialsX is a Bukkit-API plugin, it requires a Spigot or Paper server (or a fork such as Purpur). It will not load on vanilla, Fabric, Forge, or Bedrock. If you need help getting a Paper server running, our Minecraft setup documentation walks through the whole process.
2. Assign the permission nodes
Using your permissions plugin (LuckPerms is the standard choice), assign the nodes to the appropriate ranks. For a moderator group that should only inspect:
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.invsee true
/lp group moderator permission set essentials.invsee.preventmodify trueFor an admin group that needs full edit access, grant only the base node:
/lp group admin permission set essentials.invsee true3. Test it on a live player
Have a test account log in, then run /invsee TestAccount. Confirm the GUI opens. As a moderator with preventmodify, verify you cannot drag items in or out. As an admin, verify edits write back to the live inventory. Remember the player must be online for any of this to work.
Where invsee fits in the EssentialsX moderation toolkit
The inventory viewer rarely lives alone. Most servers pair it with the rest of the EssentialsX admin commands to form a complete moderation workflow. A few that work well alongside /invsee:
- Vanish — go invisible with
/vanish(alias/v, nodeessentials.vanish) so you can observe a suspect without them knowing you are watching. See how to use the EssentialsX vanish ability. - Economy adjustments — if an investigation reveals illegitimate money, admins can correct balances with
/ecoand players can transfer with/pay. Our guide on giving balance with EssentialsX covers the full/eco give|take|set|resetsyntax. - Jails — when an inventory check confirms cheating,
/jailremoves the offender from circulation. See creating a jail with EssentialsX.[time]
Together these commands let a single staff member observe quietly, inspect what a player is carrying, and act on what they find — all without leaving the game or touching a config file.
Common problems and fixes
- “You do not have permission” error: the player is missing
essentials.invsee. Grant it through your permissions plugin and re-test. - Command does nothing for an offline name: expected behavior.
/invseeonly works on online players; there is no offline inventory viewing in EssentialsX. - A moderator can still edit items: they are missing
essentials.invsee.preventmodify, or it is set tofalse. Add the node to lock them to view-only. - Trying to open an ender chest with /invsee: use the separate
/enderchestcommand instead —/invseehas no ender-chest mode. - Command name conflicts with another plugin: use the
/einvseealias.
Frequently asked questions
What is the command to see a player’s inventory in EssentialsX?
The command is /invsee , with /einvsee as an alias. It opens the target player’s live inventory in a chest-style GUI. You need the essentials.invsee permission to use it.
Can I edit a player’s inventory with /invsee, or only look?
By default, essentials.invsee lets you both view and edit — changes write back to the player’s inventory in real time. To restrict someone to viewing only, also grant essentials.invsee.preventmodify, which blocks all editing while still allowing inspection.
Why can’t I use /invsee on an offline player?
EssentialsX only supports viewing the inventories of players who are currently online. Offline inventory viewing is a frequently requested feature that has never been shipped, so there is no command or node that enables it. The player must be connected to the server.
How do I see a player’s ender chest?
The ender chest is a separate command: /enderchest (aliases include /echest and /ec). It requires essentials.enderchest.others to open another player’s ender chest. Note there is no view-only mode for ender chests — anyone with that permission can edit the contents.
Does EssentialsX /invsee work on Bedrock, Fabric, or Forge?
No. EssentialsX is a Bukkit-API plugin that runs only on Spigot, Paper, and forks like Purpur for Minecraft: Java Edition. It does not run on vanilla, Bedrock, Fabric, or Forge servers.
Where do I assign the invsee permission?
Assign essentials.invsee (and optionally essentials.invsee.preventmodify) through your permissions plugin, such as LuckPerms, to the staff rank that should have access. EssentialsX reads these nodes to decide who can open the inventory GUI.
Wrapping up
The /invsee command is one of the most useful moderation tools EssentialsX offers. Remember the three rules that matter most: grant essentials.invsee to enable it, layer essentials.invsee.preventmodify on top for view-only moderators, and accept that it only works on online players. Keep the ender chest separate with /enderchest, and you have a clean, well-scoped permission setup that lets your staff investigate fairly without risk of item tampering. Pair it with vanish, economy commands, and jails, and you have a complete in-game moderation kit running on your Spigot or Paper server.
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