Minecraft 26.2 Fabric Server + CraftDeck Panel

A production-quality, self-hosted Minecraft Java 26.2 server for friends:

• Fabric loader with invisible server-side performance mods — any vanilla client (including TLauncher) can join, no client mods needed
• Offline mode + gated authentication: only usernames you approve can join, each must register a password within a short window, and log in on every visit
• CraftDeck, a full web management panel: live console, players & stats, lag diagnostics, performance graphs, mod manager with Modrinth search, backups & restore, file browser/editor, config editor, scheduled tasks, Discord alerts
• Automatic backups with retention, one-command deployment, everything in Docker

Minecraft	26.2 (change one line to upgrade)
Loader	Fabric (NeoForge/Forge/vanilla supported via config)
Server mods	Fabric API, EasyAuth, spark, Lithium, FerriteCore — auto-updated
Panel	Next.js, port 8080, LAN/VPN only
Host needs	Linux x86_64, Docker + Compose, ~10 GB RAM

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Quick start

git clone <this-repo> minecraft && cd minecraft
./scripts/setup.sh          # creates .env with generated secrets, prints your panel login
docker compose up -d        # first start downloads the server + mods (a few minutes)

Then open http://<server-ip>:8080, log in (admin / password printed by setup.sh), change the password, and you're live:

• Minecraft: <server-ip>:25565
• Dashboard: http://<server-ip>:8080

No setup.sh? Copy .env.example to .env and fill in RCON_PASSWORD, PANEL_SESSION_SECRET, PANEL_ADMIN_PASSWORD yourself.

Letting a friend join (the auth flow)

1. Panel → Access & Auth → type their Minecraft username → Approve & open window
2. Tell them to join <server-ip>:25565 right away (TLauncher: any username works, but it must match the approved name exactly)
3. In game they run /register <password> <password> before the countdown ends (default 2 minutes — configurable in Settings)
4. Done. On every future visit they just /login <password>

If the window lapses, the name is auto-removed from the whitelist — re-approve when they're ready. Full details: docs/auth-flow.md.

Everyday operations

Task	Where
Start / stop / restart	Overview page (or docker compose restart mc)
Watch console, run commands	Console page
See who's lagging (them vs you)	Performance & Lag page
Add/remove mods	Mods page (Modrinth search built in)
Back up / restore	Backups page
Change version, memory, MOTD…	Configuration page → Save → Apply
Auto-restarts & scheduled backups	Schedules page
Discord alerts	Settings page

Documentation

• docs/auth-flow.md — how the approval/registration system works
• docs/mods-and-modpacks.md — adding mods, switching to modpacks or other loaders
• docs/updating.md — upgrading Minecraft, mods, and the panel
• docs/backups-and-restore.md — backup schedule, restores, disaster recovery
• docs/networking.md — ports, firewall, Tailscale, why the panel stays off the internet
• docs/troubleshooting.md — common problems and fixes

Architecture

docker-compose.yml
├── mc         itzg/minecraft-server  (Fabric 26.2, offline mode, whitelist enforced,
│              RCON on the internal network only, mods resolved from Modrinth at start)
├── backup     itzg/mc-backup         (scheduled world tars + retention pruning)
└── dashboard  ./dashboard            (CraftDeck: Next.js + node:sqlite; talks to the
                                       Docker socket, RCON, and the server files)
data/
├── mc/        world, configs, mods, logs      (bind mount → survives everything)
├── backups/   world-*.tgz
└── dashboard/ panel database

The panel's registration-window enforcement, activity feed, metrics sampler, and scheduler run inside the dashboard container; state lives in data/dashboard/ and the .env file is the single source of truth for server configuration.

Security model (read this once)

• The Minecraft port (25565) is the only thing that should ever be internet-exposed.
• online-mode=false means Mojang doesn't verify usernames — the whitelist + EasyAuth passwords are what keep strangers out. Keep registration windows short.
• The dashboard can start/stop containers and edit server files (it mounts the Docker socket), so treat it like root on the host: LAN or VPN only, never port-forward 8080. See docs/networking.md for the Tailscale setup.
• RCON is not published outside the Docker network.