WorldEdit

WorldEdit is a tool for bulk world editing. Instead of someone clicking block by block, you select an area and change it with a command: replace the material, level the terrain, copy a build, or delete an area.

The foundation is the selection. With the wand (//wand), you click two opposite corners, or you mark the corners with the //pos1 and //pos2 commands. You then run commands on the selected area: //set stone replaces everything with stone, //replace grass_block air swaps only the grass and leaves the rest. The //size command tells you in advance how many blocks the selection contains — before you run something on an area of a million blocks, this is the most valuable information.

The second major part is the clipboard. //copy copies the selection, //paste pastes it where you are currently standing. This way you can move a whole building, place copies of it in another world, or save a build to a file (//schem save) and return to it later.

Every edit can be undone with //undo (and redone with //redo). But the history is only yours, has a limited size, and shrinks after you log out — don't rely on it for large changes and make backups.

For builders, the brush is essential: /brush sphere 5 stone kresl creates a ball of material where you aim, /brush cylinder v a cylinder. Terrain editing is many times faster with it than clicking. You turn it off with /brush none.

WorldEdit m and set safeguards so it doesn't kill the server: maximum number of blocks in one change, selection size limit, and the option to respect other people's regions. They are set in config.yml and can also be changed at runtime with /limit.

FastAsyncWorldEdit (FAWE) is used for large projects. It offers the same commands, but processes edits outside the server's main loop, so the world doesn't freeze — that's why you'll find it on every larger building server.

1. Find out the server version (/version). WorldEdit is released for specific major Minecraft versions — download the one that matches your server.
2. Download the plugin from modrinth.com/plugin/worldedit (Versions tab → version for Paper/Spigot). For servers on Fabric or Forge, WorldEdit is installed as a mod, not as a plugin.
3. Upload the .jar to the plugins folder (for mods to the mods folder).
4. Restart the server. In the console, after startup, a line with the WorldEdit version will appear.
5. Verify in game: /we version mus to print the version (in older versions /worldedit is used).
6. Set permissions: give yourself worldedit.*, regular players nothing at all — or only worldedit.wand, if you want to allow them to select an area but not modify it.
7. Go through config.yml in the plugins/WorldEdit folder. You'll find limits.max-blocks-changed there (how many blocks at most per one change), the selection size limit, and history settings.
8. Try it on a small area: //wand, click on two blocks, then //size and only then //set stone. Before you start building big things, verify that you can //undo.
9. For large areas, consider FastAsyncWorldEdit — it replaces WorldEdit (or extends it) and can handle even millions of blocks.
10. Remember where schematics and builds are: plugins/WorldEdit/schematics. Add this folder to your backups — months of work are often in it.
11. If you have plots or regions on your server (GriefPrevention, WorldGuard), set WorldEdit to respect them. Without that, anyone can modify someone else's build.

Before you run //set on a large area, check its size (//size). For areas above about 100,000 blocks, use FastAsyncWorldEdit — regular WorldEdit makes the change in a single step and the server freezes during that time.
You can only undo what is in your own history (//undo), and that history has a limited size. Before modifying a build you care about, save it with the //schem save command.
Keep limits low for players and high for yourself. This protects the server from accidents too — an accidentally run //set on a wrongly selected area is the most common reason backups are restored on servers.
If you have plots or regions, set WorldEdu to respect them. Otherwise a player can modify someone else's build — CoreProtect can trace it, but restoring it takes work.
Clipboards and selections are kept separately for each world and each player, and the clipboard is lost after a restart. When moving a build between worlds, always save it to a .schem file first.
Watch out for newer blocks: a .schem file created in a newer version of Minecraft may not load on an older server. The blocks will then be replaced with a substitute material, or the build won't load at all.