Install a Minecraft Bedrock server with Nukkit on Debian or Ubuntu

Do you want to run a Minecraft Bedrock server with Nukkit on your Linux server under Debian or Ubuntu? Then you are in the right place.

In this guide we install Nukkit step by step over the SSH console, create a dedicated user, write a start script and launch the server. All commands are written for Debian 13, Debian 12 and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Debian 10 and Ubuntu 20.04 have reached their end of support and no longer receive security updates, so they are no longer suitable for a publicly reachable server.

What is Nukkit and when is it worth using?

Nukkit is a server software written in Java for the Minecraft Bedrock Edition, meaning the version that runs on consoles, smartphones, tablets and Windows. Nukkit is considerably leaner than the official Bedrock server and can be extended through its own plugin system.

One important distinction: Nukkit serves the Bedrock Edition only. Plugins for Bukkit, Spigot or Paper do not run on it. If you are looking for a Java Edition server instead, follow our guide Install a Minecraft server on Debian.

Requirements

• A root server or VPS with Debian 13, Debian 12 or Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
• Root access over SSH
• At least 2 GB of RAM for the server alone
• The UDP port 19132 opened, which is the default port of the Bedrock Edition

Update the package list and install pending updates

Before we start, update the package list of your operating system and install all available updates:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Install Java for Nukkit

Nukkit is a Java application and requires Java 11 as a minimum. The old recommendation openjdk-11-jre-headless leads nowhere on current systems, because Debian 12 and Debian 13 no longer carry Java 11 in their package sources. Install Java 17 instead, which is available on every system listed here:

apt install openjdk-17-jre-headless -y

Afterwards, check whether Java is set up correctly:

java -version

Other ways to install Java and how to set the default version are covered in our guide Install Java 17 on Debian.

Install screen so the server keeps running

Without a helper, Nukkit would be terminated as soon as you close your SSH session. The package "screen" keeps the process alive in a session of its own:

apt install screen -y

Create a dedicated user for Nukkit

Do not run the server as root, use a dedicated user instead. That is particularly important when other applications run on the same server:

adduser --disabled-login nukkit

The option --disabled-login disables the direct login for this user. Skip the questions about name, address or phone number with the Enter key.

Now switch to the new user and into its home directory:

su nukkit
cd

There you create a directory for the server ("server" in this example) and change into it:

mkdir server
cd server/

Download Nukkit

You download the current build directly from the build server of the project:

wget https://ci.opencollab.dev/job/NukkitX/job/Nukkit/job/master/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/target/nukkit-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

Should this link no longer be reachable, please check on the Nukkit project page which address the current build is served from, and adjust the command accordingly.

Create the start script

Create a file called "start.sh":

nano start.sh

Enter the following content. In this example the server gets 4 GB of RAM, and you adjust that value to your server via -Xmx:

screen -AmdS nukkit java -Xmx4G -jar nukkit-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

Save the file with "Ctrl + X", then "Y" and "Enter".

Afterwards, make the script executable and accept the end user license:

chmod +x start.sh
echo "eula = true" > eula.txt

Start Nukkit and work with the console

Now start the server:

./start.sh

On the first start Nukkit asks for the language and then generates the world along with the configuration files. This takes a moment.

With "Ctrl + A + D" you leave the server console without stopping the server. You can get back at any time with:

screen -r nukkit

Important: the screen session belongs to the user "nukkit". So switch to it with su nukkit first, before you call screen -r.

Open port 19132

The Bedrock Edition connects over UDP port 19132 and not over TCP. Open this port in the firewall of your server, otherwise players will not find your server. The port itself can be changed in the file "server.properties", where you also define the game mode, the difficulty and the maximum number of players.

Start Nukkit automatically after a reboot

So that your Bedrock server comes back up on its own after a reboot of the operating system, set up a systemd service unit. The procedure is the same as for a Java Edition server and is described in our guide Start a Minecraft server automatically. Simply replace the user name, the directory and the file names there with your Nukkit values.