AetherPermissions Groups and Permissions

Groups, Ranks & Permission Nodes

The default group

Every player is always in the default group (default-group in config, default out of the box). You never need to add players to it. Put the permissions every player should have here.

Weight

Every group has a weight (a number). A higher weight means a higher priority:

• When two groups set the same node differently, the group with the higher weight wins.
• The player's primary group is the group with the highest weight they have (directly or inherited). Vault reports this group to other plugins.
• The prefix/suffix comes from the highest-weight group that has one.

Recommended spacing: default 0, vip 10, mvp 20, helper 40, mod 50, admin 100. This leaves room to add ranks in between later.

Inheritance

/ap group vip parent add default
/ap group mod parent add vip

mod now has everything vip and default have. Inheritance can go multiple levels deep. Loops are blocked: you cannot make default inherit mod if mod already inherits default.

How the final permission is decided

For each node, AetherPermissions applies these sources in order; later sources override earlier ones:

1. All of the player's groups, from lowest weight to highest weight.
2. The player's own nodes (set with /ap user ... permission set). They override every group.

Within one group or player, a world-specific node overrides the global one.

Use /ap user <player> permission check <node> to see the final value.

Negating (false) nodes

Setting a node to false explicitly denies it, even if a lower group grants it:

/ap group default permission set essentials.fly
/ap group muted permission set essentials.fly false

Temporary permissions & ranks

Add a duration to any node or rank:

/ap user Steve permission set aether.fly 1d
/ap user Alex parent add vip 30d

Expired entries are removed automatically within a few seconds (configurable), and online players are told when a temporary permission expires. The GUI and web editor show the remaining time.

Per-world permissions

/ap group default permission set worldedit.wand world=creative
/ap user Steve parent add builder world=creative

The node or rank only applies while the player is in that world. Permissions update instantly when the player changes world.

Wildcards

Node	Matches
essentials.*	Every registered permission that starts with essentials.
*	Every registered permission on the server

A more specific wildcard wins over a less specific one, and an explicitly set node always wins over a wildcard. Wildcards only expand to permissions that plugins register (in their plugin.yml or in code). This is the same as how LuckPerms behaves on Paper.

Prefixes & suffixes

Both MiniMessage and legacy & codes work:

/ap group vip meta setprefix <gradient:#FFD700:#FFA500>[VIP]</gradient> 
/ap group mvp meta setprefix &b&l[MVP] 

Remember the trailing space if you want space between the prefix and the name. A player's personal prefix (/ap user <player> meta setprefix) overrides their group prefix.

Group membership is also a node

Ranks are stored as group.<name> nodes, so these two commands do the same thing:

/ap user Steve parent add vip
/ap user Steve permission set group.vip

Other plugins can check player.hasPermission("group.vip"). It is true for every group the player has, including inherited ones.