Hytale Permissions & Ranks Guide

Permissions on a Hytale server are handled by permissions.json – a JSON file at the root of your server directory, alongside config.json, whitelist.json, and bans.json. This guide covers how to give yourself admin rights, how groups work, and some practical warnings about Early Access realities.

Before we start: Hytale's command syntax and permission node naming are still shifting between Early Access builds. A lot of the "Hytale permissions" guides you'll find online list specific commands and node names (things like hytale.command.kick) that I haven't been able to verify against any official documentation, and some of them are clearly borrowed wholesale from Minecraft plugins like LuckPerms. I'd rather be slightly generic and correct than paste in specific strings that might be wrong on your build. If something in this guide doesn't match what you see on your own server, run /help in the console and trust your server over this document.

How permissions.json is laid out

The file has two main sections: groups (which define a set of permissions) and users (which get assigned to one or more groups). A minimal example of the shape looks something like:

{
  "groups": {
    "admin": {
      "permissions": ["*"]
    },
    "player": {
      "permissions": []
    }
  },
  "users": {
    "<your-uuid>": {
      "groups": ["admin"]
    }
  }
}

The exact key names and the format your server expects can drift build to build. If your permissions.json looks different from this, use whatever your existing file is using rather than pasting this blindly – the server will only accept the shape it's actually built to read.

Always stop the server before editing permissions.json by hand. In-game permission actions can overwrite the file on shutdown, which means edits made while the server is running can silently disappear.

Finding your UUID

Hytale players are identified by a UUID (a long hexadecimal string) rather than by username – usernames can change, UUIDs don't. The two easiest ways to find yours:

• Check the server logs after you connect once. When a player joins, the server logs the player's UUID alongside their name. On LOW.MS, open Log Viewer and look for your connection entry after you've joined the server.
• Check the panel. Some hosting panels surface player UUIDs in a player-management view if they have one.

Once you have the UUID, it goes in the users section of permissions.json.

Giving yourself admin

The reliable, build-independent way to give yourself admin access is to edit permissions.json directly:

1. Stop the server.
2. Open permissions.json (in Configuration Files on LOW.MS, or directly if you're self-hosting).
3. Add an admin group with elevated permissions, if one doesn't exist.
4. Add your UUID to the users section and assign it to the admin group.
5. Save the file and start the server.

When you join the server after that, you should have admin rights. If you've got a friend who's helping you run the server, add them the same way.

Some builds also have runtime commands for admin management in the server console, but which commands exist and what their exact syntax looks like varies by build. Run /help at the console to see what your server accepts today, rather than me listing specific command names that might not exist on your version.

Group shape for a typical server

Most community servers settle on something like three levels:

• Admin / owner – you and anyone you fully trust with the server. Broad permissions.
• Moderator / staff – people you trust with moderation powers (kick, ban, whitelist management) but not the ability to break things.
• Player – default group, minimal or no extra permissions.

Whether your build of Hytale supports group inheritance (Moderator automatically getting everything Player has) depends on the version you're on. If you're setting up groups and inheritance isn't working the way you expect, check /help in the server console or look at whichever example file your server shipped with.

Managing players over time

The part of permission management that's most reliable across builds is editing permissions.json directly. Runtime commands for assigning players to groups via chat or console exist in some builds, but the syntax has changed between Early Access versions. I'd rather not paste specific command strings that might not work on yours.

The safe workflow is:

1. Stop the server.
2. Edit permissions.json.
3. Start the server.

Slower than runtime commands, but it works on every build and there's no risk of the server overwriting your change mid-edit.

Related files

A few other files live alongside permissions.json and work the same way:

• whitelist.json – who's allowed to join when the whitelist is enabled. Covered in the whitelist and password guide.
• bans.json – banned players. Usually easier to manage through whatever ban command your build supports than by editing the file directly.
• config.json – server-wide settings (name, password, game mode). Covered in the server settings guide.

All four are read by the server on startup. Edit them with the server stopped.

A note on Minecraft plugins

If you've landed here because you're used to Minecraft and you're looking for LuckPerms or an equivalent: LuckPerms is a Minecraft/Paper plugin and does not run on Hytale. It's built against the Paper plugin API, which Hytale doesn't have. You'll see some AI-generated guides around the web claiming LuckPerms has been "ported to Hytale" – as far as I can tell that isn't a real project, and I'd treat anything claiming to be "LuckPerms for Hytale" as suspect until you can verify it against an authoritative source.

Hytale's built-in permission system doesn't have everything LuckPerms does, but for the kind of server you're likely running in Early Access it's enough. A big-league Minecraft community might miss LuckPerms; a friend group or a small community server will probably never notice.

Troubleshooting

"You do not have permission" after editing permissions.json

• Double-check the JSON syntax. Missing commas and unmatched braces are the usual cause – JSON is fussy.
• Double-check that you used the correct UUID (not a username) in the users section.
• Make sure the server was stopped when you saved the file, and then started again after. Edits saved while the server is running can be overwritten.

Changes to permissions.json keep reverting

• You were editing while the server was running, and an in-game action overwrote your change on shutdown. Stop the server first, edit, then start it again.

The server console doesn't recognise an admin command you saw online

• Command names and syntax are actively changing in Early Access, and a lot of online guides were written against a different build than the one you're on. Run /help at the console for the list your specific build supports, rather than trusting a random guide from six months ago.