Classic Protocol

Documentation on the server protocol used by the Minecraft Classic Creative server.

Minecraft.net Communication

Heartbeats

To be able to connect to a server in Minecraft Classic from the Server List, a server must broadcast to minecraft.net a so-called "heartbeat" every few minutes.

The stock server broadcasts this heartbeat every 45 seconds.

A "heartbeat" takes the form of an HTTP request to http://www.minecraft.net/heartbeat.jsp. After sending a heartbeat, the URL for the server is returned.

It can be a GET or POST request. A table of the required parameters is below:

Name	Details
port	Port number of the server. This is usually 25565
max	Maximum number of players on the server
name	The name of the server
public	Whether the server is public (i.e. appears in the server list) or not. Can be True or False, in that capitalization.
version	protocol version number, this should be 7 unless you're using a client version older than 0.28.
salt	A random, 16-character base-62 salt
users	Number of users connected to the server

The simplest way to send a heartbeat is to open a TCP socket to port 80 on minecraft.net, and send the following (with the values changed, obviously):

GET /heartbeat.jsp?port=25565&max=32&name=My%20Server&public=True&version=7&salt=wo6kVAHjxoJcInKx&users=0, plus a CRLF(Carriage-return and Line feed).

Make sure any strings, like name, are escaped.

If everything goes well, in the response body you'll receive a URL to the server. Otherwise you'll get a nice HTML error message. There aren't an HTML headers to parse, as the HTTP version is not specified so HTTP/0.9 is used, which does not have headers.

User Authentication

The "key" provided when a user joins the server can be compared to the MD5 checksum of the server's "salt" plus the username to verify that the user is logged in to minecraft.net with that username. This is useful for establishing enough trust of the name provided to ban or op the player by name.

if( player.key == md5( server.salt + player.name ) ) {
 // player is logged in via minecraft.net
} else {
 // player is forging the username
}

Note: This means that you should make sure your "salt" is kept a secret and shared only with heartbeat.jsp. If your server's "salt" is visible anywhere to users, it is trivial for users to produce valid-looking "key"s without being logged in to minecraft.net.

Skins

Skins for a player are downloaded by the client from http://minecraft.net/skin/skinname.png, where skinname is the name of the player. This means that the name for a player can be faked to give a desired skin.

Packet Protocol

The connection is done over TCP. Every packet starts with a byte representing the Packet ID.

Protocol Data Types

Type	Size [bytes]	Description
Byte	1	Single byte integer (0 to 255)
SByte	1	Single byte signed integer (-128 to 127)
Short	2	Signed integer, network order (-32768 to 32767)
String	64	US-ASCII/ISO646-US encoded string padded with spaces (0x20)
Byte array	1024	Binary data padded with null bytes (0x00)

Client → Server packets

Packet ID	Purpose	Field Description	Field Type	Notes
0x00	Player Identification	Packet ID	Byte	Sent by a player joining a server with relevant information. Current protocol version is 0x07.
		Protocol version	Byte
		Username	String
		Verification key	String
		Unused	Byte (0x00)
0x05	Set Block	Packet ID	Byte	Sent when a user changes a block. The mode field indicates whether a block was created (0x01) or destroyed (0x00). Block type is always the type player is holding, (even when deleting). Client assumes that this command packet always succeeds, and so draws the new block immediately. To disallow block creation, server must send back Set Block packet with the old block type. The XYZ coordinates of the block are just shorts representing the coordinate of the block. (As opposed to player coordinates where the lower 5 bits are fractional coordinates)
		X	Short
		Y	Short
		Z	Short
		Mode	Byte
		Block type	Byte
0x08	Position and Orientation	Packet ID	Byte	Sent frequently (even while not moving) by the player with the player's current location and orientation. Player ID is always 255, referring to itself. Player coordinates are fixed-point values with the lowest 5 bits representing the fractional position (i.e. divide by 32 to get actual position in terms of block coordinates). The angle parameters are scaled such that a value of 256 would correspond to 360 degrees.
		Player ID	Byte
		X	Short
		Y	Short
		Z	Short
		Yaw (Heading)	Byte
		Pitch	Byte
0x0d	Message	Packet ID	Byte	Contain chat messages sent by player. (See How chat works)
		Unused	Byte (0xFF)
		Message	String

Server → Client packets

Packet ID	Purpose	Field Description	Field Type	Notes
0x00	Server Identification	Packet ID	Byte	Response to a joining player. The user type indicates whether a player is an op (0x64) or not (0x00) Current protocol version is 0x07.
		Protocol version	Byte
		Server name	String
		Server MOTD	String
		User type	Byte
0x01	Ping	Packet ID	Byte	Sent to clients periodically. The only way a client can disconnect at the moment is to force it closed, which does not let the server know. The ping packet is used to determine if the connection is still open.
0x02	Level Initialize	Packet ID	Byte	Notifies player of incoming level data.
0x03	Level Data Chunk	Packet ID	Byte	Contains a chunk of gzipped map (not level.dat file). The decompression must be done on the all the chunks sent in Level Data Chunk packets together, not independently. After decompression the map consists of a big-endian int(4 bytes) containing the number of blocks, followed by a raw map array. (chunk is up to 1024 bytes, padded with 0x00s if less).
		Chunk Length	Short
		Chunk Data	Byte Array
		Percent Complete	Byte
0x04	Level Finalize	Packet ID	Byte	Sent after level data is complete and gives map dimensions. The y coordinate is how tall the map is.
		X Size	Short
		Y Size	Short
		Z Size	Short
0x06	Set Block	Packet ID	Byte	Sent to indicate a block change by physics or by players. In the case of a player change, the server will also echo the block change back to the player who initiated it.
		X	Short
		Y	Short
		Z	Short
		Block Type	Byte
0x07	Spawn Player	Packet ID	Byte	Sent to indicate where a new player is spawning in the world. Position and orientation are encoded the same as for packet 0x08 below. PlayerID -1 (255 unsigned) indicates the player's self. This will set the player's spawn point.
		Player ID	SByte
		Player Name	String
		X	Short
		Y	Short
		Z	Short
		Yaw (Heading)	Byte
		Pitch	Byte
0x08	Position and Orientation (Player Teleport)	Packet ID	Byte	Sent with changes in player position and rotation. Teleports player it's sent to if player ID < 0 (For sending initial position in map, and /tp)
		Player ID	SByte
		X	Short
		Y	Short
		Z	Short
		Yaw (Heading)	Byte
		Pitch	Byte
0x09	Position and Orientation Update	Packet ID	Byte	Sent with changes in player position and rotation. Sent when both position and orientation is changed at the same time. Not required for server operation.
		Player ID	SByte
		Change in X	SByte
		Change in Y	SByte
		Change in Z	SByte
		Yaw (Heading)	Byte
		Pitch	Byte
0x0a	Position Update	Packet ID	Byte	Sent with changes in player position. Not required for server operation.
		Player ID	SByte
		Change in X	SByte
		Change in Y	SByte
		Change in Z	SByte
0x0b	Orientation Update	Packet ID	Byte	Sent with changes in player rotation. Not required for server operation.
		Player ID	SByte
		Yaw (Heading)	Byte
		Pitch	Byte
0x0c	Despawn Player	Packet ID	Byte	Sent when player disconnects.
		Player ID	SByte
0x0d	Message	Packet ID	Byte	Messages sent by chat or from the console. (See How chat works)
		Player ID	SByte
		Message	String
0x0e	Disconnect player	Packet ID	Byte	Sent to a player when they're disconnected from the server. "Cheat detected: Distance" - happens not only when setting tile too far away from the player (how far is maximum distance and how it is measured?), but also when player moves and then immediately builds. "Cheat detected: Tile type" "Cheat detected: Too much clicking!" "Cheat detected: Too much lag"
		Disconnect reason	String
0x0f	Update user type	Packet ID	Byte	Sent when a player is opped/deopped. User type is 0x64 for op, 0x00 for normal user.
		User type	Byte

Player Position

Fixed Point

Player position is represented via X, Y, and Z fixed-point coordinates. The fractional portion is 5 bits, so dividing the short integers received in position update packets by 32, you will have floating point coordinates for the player. This position corresponds to the center of the client viewport.

Standing On Things

The bottom of the player's feet is located 1.59375 (fixed-point: 51) units below the center of the viewport, so to position the player on top of a particular block you could send a teleport (0x08) packet specifying a Y value based on the block position as: (Y x 32 + 51)

Orientation

A yaw value of 0 means the player is facing in the Z=0 (negative Z) direction. This value increases in a clockwise direction as seen from above. If we call the negative Z direction "North", then a yaw of 64 means "East", 128 means "South", and 192 means "West".

A pitch value of 0 means level and this value increases in a downward direction. 64 is down, and 192 is up. Values of 65 to 191 should never occur because the player cannot look further up or down than the 64 → 0, 255 → 192 range. However, the Minecraft Classic client does not ignore invalid values, so it is possible to make players' heads "upside-down".

Color Codes

Messages sent from the server to the client can contain color codes, which allow coloring of text for various purposes.

An ampersand followed by a hex digit in the message tells the client to switch colors while displaying text.

Colour coding at the start of the message will only work if the player ID byte is less than 127. If it's 127 or higher, the game automatically adds &e before the message, making it yellow. However, colour codes after the first character still work. If you use an ID below 127, it doesn't add a colour code, so the ones you use will work.

It is important to note that an ampersand at the end of a message that is not followed by a hex digit will crash all clients that receive it, so it is a must to sanitize chat messages received from clients.

Hex digit to color mapping

Sample	Code	Common Name	Foreground Color			Background Color
			R	G	B	R	G	B
	&0	Black	0	0	0	0	0	0
	&1	Dark Blue	0	0	191	0	0	47
	&2	Dark Green	0	191	0	0	47	0
	&3	Dark Teal	0	191	191	0	47	47
	&4	Dark Red	191	0	0	47	0	0
	&5	Purple	191	0	191	47	0	47
	&6	Gold	191	191	0	47	47	0
	&7	Gray	191	191	191	47	47	47
	&8	Dark Gray	64	64	64	16	16	16
	&9	Blue	64	64	255	16	16	63
	&a	Bright Green	64	255	64	16	63	16
	&b	Teal	64	255	255	16	63	63
	&c	Red	255	64	64	63	16	16
	&d	Pink	255	64	255	63	16	63
	&e	Yellow	255	255	64	63	63	16
	&f	White	255	255	255	63	63	63