{"id":98,"date":"2022-02-02T08:29:44","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T08:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/browsit.org\/blog\/?p=98"},"modified":"2026-04-15T16:15:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:15:54","slug":"34315","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/browsit.org\/blog\/spigot\/34315\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Vault plugin do?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than you might think. We recommend the Vault plugin for your server.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/
Image credit: MilkBowl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The original CraftBukkit server software (which Spigot and Paper are built upon) was released back in December of 2010. Less than one year later, Vault was made available on BukkitDev. With it keeping its place as one of the most-downloaded plugins to this day, one wonders\u2014why is Vault so popular? For a plugin that appears to do so little, the answer may surprise you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most servers, big or small, must eventually decide on how their economy should function. While some may decide to barter<\/a>, a vast majority choose to adopt an in-game currency. After all, putting a number on that shiny Diamond you found tends to be useful in figuring out how many Emeralds it’s worth. So, you install EssentialsX<\/a> or a dedicated economy plugin, plus Vault because their documentation told you to and, viola\u2014you’ve got money!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…Right? Not so fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that day, you decide to install Quests<\/a> and reward adventure-seekers with that sweet, virtual dosh, but wait… how will Quests know which economy provider to link with? After all, there are hundreds of currency plugins out there. Surely, there must be some standard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, there is, and its name is Vault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vault is a library<\/em> which, in this case, offers all plugins a reliable way to ask how much money a player has. VaultAPI will then check with the economy plugin and report back. The same can be said for deposits, withdrawals, and other banking activities. Vault also provides similar functionality for permissions and chat formatting. At one point, it even offered item conversion (source<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, you can learn most things you need to know about Vault by perusing its simple, pallid project page<\/a> which hasn’t been updated in some time as of writing. While issue tracker support is great, we could not find an official Discord server. Code contributions are infrequent, but its current lead developer, Sleaker, has shown time and again that they will step up to the plate during the rare times when Vault is in need of an update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n