Make a Paper server sleep when empty

When the last player leaves, Aperture waits for the idle timeout, then sends Paper its normal stop command. The Java game process exits. A small responder keeps the server’s game address available.

Your friends can still see the server in Minecraft’s server list. Refreshing that list leaves it asleep. A join attempt starts Paper and shows the player a connection message. They reconnect at the same address once Paper is ready; the first connection does not stay queued while it starts.

This guide covers Paper servers created or configured through Aperture. Your Linux machine must stay powered on and connected. The world stops running while Paper sleeps, including farms and other activity that needs the game process.

1. Open your Paper server’s Status & Sleep page and switch on Enable Status & Sleep.
2. Switch on Automatically sleep when empty. This also enables Wake on join.
3. Set Idle timeout in minutes. The default is 15 minutes; you can choose from 5 to 1440 minutes.
4. Choose Save changes. On first activation, restart this Minecraft server once when the page asks you to.

You can also use Sleep now and Wake now for manual control. The normal panel Stop button stops the whole container, including the responder. A server you stopped that way cannot wake from a player’s join attempt.

Once the restart is complete, leave the game and use Sleep now. Refresh your Minecraft server list: it should show the sleeping message without starting Paper.

Join using the game address shown in your panel. The first attempt wakes Paper and returns the connection message. Wait for the console to show that Paper is ready, then reconnect. You can edit the sleeping message and starting connection message on the same Status & Sleep page.

To check automatic sleep, leave the game again and wait for the full idle timeout. Startup time depends on the machine, world and plugins; sleep does not provide instant joins.

Automatic sleep needs zero reported players for the full timeout. An unknown player count, a failed status check or an established game connection prevents that decision. Check the player count and runtime details before shortening the timeout.

If joining does nothing, check that Enable Status & Sleep and Wake on join are on, that the initial restart happened, and that the server was put to sleep rather than stopped. The host still needs a working connection to Aperture.

Sleep relies on Aperture’s managed startup configuration. A custom or imported startup command may be rejected. If Paper fails to start, check its console and contact support with the error and the steps you tried.

A login attempt wakes the game before player authentication. A whitelist does not restrict who can trigger that wake-up.

Paper also has a pause-when-empty-seconds setting for pausing an empty server. That is a separate setting from the process-stopping Sleep controls described here.

Aperture hosts the control panel; your game runs on hardware you own or rent. Create a free account, then follow the setup guide. Check the host requirements before installing anything.