How to Give Yourself OP on Your Minecraft Server

Fresh server, and you need admin powers to actually manage it in-game? Here's how OP works and how to grant it correctly.

What OP Actually Gives You

Operator (OP) status grants full in-game administrative privileges — breaking/placing blocks anywhere regardless of protection, using admin commands (/gamemode, /tp, /give, /kick, /ban, and everything else restricted from normal players), and bypassing most gameplay restrictions.

The Easiest Way: The Console

You don't need to already be OP in-game to grant yourself OP — do it from the live console on your server's management page instead:

op YourUsername

Type that into the console command box and hit enter. It takes effect immediately — no restart needed, and no need to be in-game or even online at the time.

Doing It In-Game (If You're Already OP)

If you're already an operator and want to grant OP to someone else while playing:

/op PlayerUsername

Removing OP

deop PlayerUsername

from the console, or /deop PlayerUsername in-game if you're OP yourself.

Checking Who's Currently OP

Look at the ops.json file in your server's root directory via the File Manager — it lists every current operator by username and UUID.

A Real Security Consideration

OP is genuinely full control — anyone you grant it to can break your world, grant themselves items, or op other people. Only give it to people you'd trust with complete administrative access to the server, not just "a helpful player." For moderators who need in-game command access without full OP-level power, a permissions plugin (LuckPerms is the most widely used) lets you grant specific commands without full operator status — a much safer middle ground than OP for anyone besides yourself and your most trusted co-admins.

If OP Isn't Working

• Make sure you typed the exact username (case matters in some setups) — a typo silently ops a username that doesn't exist rather than erroring loudly.
• On a cracked/offline-mode server, usernames aren't tied to verified accounts — see our cracked vs online post for why that matters here specifically, since OP is granted by username, and username impersonation is possible in cracked mode.
• If you edited ops.json manually instead of using the command, you need a server restart for the file-based change to be picked up.