Build your server's message of the day with a server-list preview and ready string
The MOTD (Message of the Day) is the text that appears below the server name in the Minecraft server list. It supports up to two lines and color and formatting codes using the section character (§). This tool shows a faithful server-list preview, with icon, player count and ping bars, while you edit both lines using the color palette, the formatting buttons, or one of the quick presets (survival, whitelist, creative, maintenance, event). Each line fits about 45 visible characters before clipping, and the tool warns you when you go over that limit. At the end it generates the motd= line ready for your server.properties, with § already escaped as \u00A7 and the two lines joined by \n, the format most hosting panels accept, plus a MiniMessage version for proxies like Velocity. That way you never have to handle escapes by hand or count characters yourself.
The server list shows the MOTD in up to two lines, each around 45 visible characters. Colors and formatting use the section character (§) followed by a code: 0–f for the 16 classic colors and l, o, n, m, k, r for bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, obfuscated and reset. Setting a new color clears the previous formatting, exactly as it does in-game.
In the server.properties file, § is not always read directly, so the tool escapes it as the Unicode sequence \u00A7 and joins the two lines with \n. The result is a single motd=... line that you paste into the file without touching anything else.
Example 1, you type "&6&lMy Server" on line 1 and "&aWelcome to the SMP" on line 2. The tool generates: motd=\u00A76\u00A7lMy Server\n\u00A7aWelcome to the SMP. The \u00A76 paints it gold, \u00A7l makes it bold, and \u00A7a starts the second line in green.
Example 2, obfuscation for an animated effect: "&k!!!&r &6Server &k!!!" shows scrambled characters on the ends (the preview animates this) and the name in gold in the middle. The &r resets the formatting before the colored text, so the obfuscated effect does not leak into the rest of the line.
In vanilla Minecraft, the server.properties MOTD uses the 16 classic colors. Hex colors require a proxy or plugin that rewrites the MOTD (such as BungeeCord, Velocity or dedicated MOTD plugins). If your server is vanilla, stick to the 16 colors so everything shows up as intended. If you run a Velocity proxy, the motd in velocity.toml does not use §, it is parsed as MiniMessage instead, so the tool also generates that version ready to paste.
The server icon is not part of the MOTD: it is a server-icon.png file, 64×64 pixels, placed in the server folder. The preview shows a generic icon just so you can see the framing; the player count is illustrative too, since the real one comes from the running server.
Paste the code into your HTML and the tool shows up on your page, without J-Kit's navigation and ads. It still runs in the browser of whoever visits your site.
<iframe
src="https://jkit.tools/embed/en-US/minecraft-motd-generator"
width="100%"
height="600"
style="border:0"
loading="lazy"
title="Minecraft MOTD Generator"
></iframe>These references help contextualize formulas, standards, APIs and limitations used on this page. They do not replace professional validation when a result has legal, financial, medical or operational impact.
The Minecraft server list shows up to two MOTD lines. Each line fits about 45 visible characters before clipping, the tool warns you when you go over that limit. Color codes do not count toward the limit, since they are not displayed as text.
motd=\u00A7b\u00A7lHARD\u00A7f\u00A7lCRAFT \u00A78» \u00A77Survivo \u00A7f26.2\n\u00A7aEvento de Páscoa \u00A77• \u00A7e/vote \u00A77para ganhar!§ is escaped as \u00A7 so it works in server.properties. The two lines are joined with \n.
<aqua><bold>HARD</bold></aqua><white><bold>CRAFT </bold></white><dark_gray>» </dark_gray><gray>Survivo </gray><white>26.2</white>
<green>Evento de Páscoa </green><gray>• </gray><yellow>/vote </yellow><gray>para ganhar!</gray>For proxies like Velocity, whose motd in velocity.toml uses the MiniMessage format instead of §, paste this version instead of the server.properties line.
The MOTD is built entirely in the browser; nothing is sent to servers.