Installation¶

Install Minecraft Operator using Helm charts from the GitHub Container Registry.

Install CRDs¶

The operator uses two Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs):

PaperMCServer — Defines a Minecraft server instance
Plugin — Defines a plugin to be installed on matched servers

Install the CRD chart first:

helm install minecraft-operator-crds \
  oci://ghcr.io/lexfrei/minecraft-operator-crds \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system \
  --create-namespace

Separate CRD Lifecycle

CRDs are installed separately to allow independent upgrades. Helm does not automatically upgrade CRDs, so they have their own chart.

Install Operator¶

Install the operator chart:

helm install minecraft-operator \
  oci://ghcr.io/lexfrei/minecraft-operator \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system

Verify Installation¶

Check that the operator is running:

kubectl get pods --namespace minecraft-operator-system

Expected output:

NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
minecraft-operator-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxx   1/1     Running   0          30s

Configuration Options¶

Common Values¶

Value	Description	Default
`replicaCount`	Number of operator replicas	`1`
`image.repository`	Container image	`ghcr.io/lexfrei/minecraft-operator`
`image.tag`	Image tag	Chart appVersion
`resources.requests.memory`	Memory request	`128Mi`
`resources.limits.memory`	Memory limit	`256Mi`
`webui.enabled`	Enable Web UI	`true`
`webui.port`	Web UI port	`8082`

Custom Values File¶

Create a values.yaml for customization:

replicaCount: 1

resources:
  requests:
    cpu: 100m
    memory: 128Mi
  limits:
    memory: 256Mi

webui:
  enabled: true
  port: 8082

# Leader election for HA (if running multiple replicas)
leaderElection:
  enabled: true

Install with custom values:

helm install minecraft-operator \
  oci://ghcr.io/lexfrei/minecraft-operator \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system \
  --values values.yaml

Upgrade¶

Upgrade the operator to a new version:

# Upgrade operator
helm upgrade minecraft-operator \
  oci://ghcr.io/lexfrei/minecraft-operator \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system

# Upgrade CRDs manually (Helm doesn't auto-upgrade CRDs)
helm upgrade minecraft-operator-crds \
  oci://ghcr.io/lexfrei/minecraft-operator-crds \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system

Uninstall¶

Remove the operator and CRDs:

# Remove operator first
helm uninstall minecraft-operator --namespace minecraft-operator-system

# Remove CRDs (WARNING: deletes all PaperMCServer and Plugin resources!)
helm uninstall minecraft-operator-crds --namespace minecraft-operator-system

Data Loss Warning

Uninstalling CRDs will delete all custom resources (PaperMCServer, Plugin). Minecraft world data on PVCs is NOT deleted automatically.

Next Steps¶

Proceed to Quick Start to create your first Minecraft server.