How AFK works

A player in AFK mode is safe: nothing hurts or moves them, and mobs leave them alone. The protection can’t be used to gain anything, and it ends the moment the player does something.

Going AFK

A player goes AFK in one of two ways:

• /afk [reason]. Others see the reason in the broadcast. manual.enabled turns the command off, and manual.reason_length cuts long reasons (64 characters by default).
• Idling. After auto.seconds (five minutes) without activity, the plugin puts the player into AFK mode itself. auto.enabled turns this off.

The plugin refuses AFK when the protection would save a player from danger they’re already in:

• in a fight: within anti_abuse.combat_seconds (15) of taking damage or hitting a mob or player;
• falling or gliding;
• on fire or freezing;
• in water or lava;
• with a mob within 32 blocks after them.

/afk tells the player why. An idle player waits until the danger is over and then goes AFK. Each check has a switch under anti_abuse.

What safe mode covers

Each row is a switch under protection or gains in Configuration.

Switch	While AFK
damage	No damage of any kind but /kill: attacks, PvP, explosions, fire, lava, falls, drowning, freezing, magic, poison, wither, the world border. The player doesn’t catch fire, and their air doesn’t run out under water
void	A fall into the void takes the player back to where they went AFK, and they stay AFK
knockback	Hits, explosions, wind charges, and shields don’t push them
collision	Mobs and players walk through them
projectiles	Arrows, tridents, snowballs, ender pearls, wind charges, and fishing hooks fly through them. A rod that hooked them earlier can’t reel them in
effects	Harmful potion effects don’t stick, unless a command gives them. Good effects stay
hunger	Hunger stays where it was, and so does health: no drain, no healing from a full bar. Potions, beacons, and Regeneration still heal
mobs	No mob targets them. Wardens, endermen, and zombified piglins don’t get angry at them, and phantoms don’t spawn for them. Mobs within 32 blocks drop them as a target
vehicles	Boats and minecarts can’t pick them up or push them
raids	Bad Omen doesn’t start a raid while they stand in a village
vibrations	Sculk sensors, shriekers, and wardens don’t hear them
gains.items (off)	Items, arrows, and tridents stay on the ground
gains.experience (off)	Experience orbs wait for them

Pistons still move an AFK player, so an AFK player never jams a machine. AFK farms keep spawning mobs, and vanilla statistics, play time included, keep counting.

Night skipping

With sleep_ignored on, AFK players don’t count when the server checks whether everyone sleeps. On a server where everyone has to sleep, one friend away from the keyboard no longer keeps the night going.

Coming back

A player comes back the moment they act. Each kind of activity is a switch under exit_triggers, and each also restarts the idle timer:

• the movement keys, jumping, sneaking, and sprinting;
• turning the camera by more than look_degrees (30) from where it pointed when AFK began, or at the last activity;
• chatting, and any command but /afk and /moafks;
• attacking, clicking a block, an entity, or the air;
• breaking or placing a block;
• opening a container or clicking in an inventory;
• dropping an item, swapping hands, or changing the held slot.

The plugin watches the keys a player presses, not where they are. Water, pistons, and minecarts moving a player never count, so an AFK pool doesn’t keep anyone awake.

On return, the player’s fall distance and freezing reset. If they stand in lava, fire, powder snow, or a wall, the plugin moves them to a safe spot nearby.

The time limit

With limits.enabled on, a player AFK for limits.seconds (20 minutes) gets kicked. Before that, the action bar counts down at the seconds in limits.warning.seconds. Coming back stops the clock.

Nothing left behind

AFK changes nothing the game saves. A player who quits, dies, or changes worlds while AFK leaves AFK quietly and comes back with nothing left over. Only their total AFK time, the number of times they went AFK, and the language they chose stay in their player data.

Vanished players

Vanish plugins like SuperVanish, PremiumVanish, and Essentials mark hidden players, and Mo’Afks reads that mark. Others hear nothing when a vanished player goes AFK or comes back, see no [AFK] mark, and find them in no placeholder and no Plan list. Only the player sees their particle ring. They keep the protection and their own messages, and the console still logs them.

Next: Commands and permissions