How to Give Operator (OP) Permissions on Your Minecraft Server

Grant OP status to players on your Minecraft Java server, understand permission levels 1-4, and edit ops.json directly.

Operator (OP) status gives players access to admin commands like /give, /tp, /gamemode, /ban, and more. Minecraft has 4 permission levels that control which commands a player can use.

OP a Player

Open the Console

In the XGamingServer Panel, click Console in the sidebar.

Run the op command

op PlayerName

Use the player's exact Minecraft username. The command takes effect immediately — they don't need to reconnect.

Verify

Check the console output for Made PlayerName a server operator. The player now has OP level 4 (full access).

To remove OP:

deop PlayerName

Stop the server

Go to Console and stop your server.

Open ops.json

Click Files in the sidebar and open ops.json in the server root.

Add the player

Each entry needs the player's UUID, name, and level:

[
  {
    "uuid": "069a79f4-44e9-4726-a5be-fca90e38aaf5",
    "name": "Notch",
    "level": 4,
    "bypassesPlayerLimit": false
  }
]

Find UUIDs at mcuuid.net by entering the player's username.

Save and start

Click Save Content and start the server from Console.

Tip: Editing ops.json directly is the only way to set custom permission levels (1, 2, 3) — the op command always sets level 4.

Permission Levels

Set the default OP level in server.properties:

op-permission-level=4

Level	Access
1	Bypass spawn protection. No commands
2	`/clear`, `/difficulty`, `/effect`, `/gamemode`, `/gamerule`, `/give`, `/summon`, `/setblock`, `/teleport`, `/tp`, `/xp`
3	Level 2 + `/ban`, `/ban-ip`, `/banlist`, `/deop`, `/kick`, `/op`, `/pardon`, `/save-all`, `/save-off`, `/save-on`, `/whitelist`
4	Level 3 + `/stop`, `/debug`, `/reload`, plus full server control

Bypass Player Limit

Set bypassesPlayerLimit: true in ops.json to let an admin join even when the server is full:

{
  "uuid": "...",
  "name": "AdminName",
  "level": 4,
  "bypassesPlayerLimit": true
}

Beyond OP — Use a Permissions Plugin

For granular per-command control, ranks, groups, and prefixes, use a permissions plugin instead of the OP system:

LuckPerms — most popular, supports inheritance and per-world permissions
EssentialsX permissions — simpler, works with EssentialsX

OP gives all-or-nothing access; permissions plugins let you give one player /teleport without giving them /ban.

How to Give Operator (OP) Permissions on Your Minecraft Server

On this page