Getting Started

Prerequisites

Lotus 2.x is built for Java 21 across all modules, including lotus-spigot. Even if you target Spigot 1.8.8, your build and runtime environment still need Java 21.

Before you start, decide which server API you are writing against:

Module	Use when	Title type
`lotus-paper`	You are building for Paper 1.21+	`Component`
`lotus-spigot`	You are building for Spigot 1.8.8	`String`

Step 1 — Add The Right Artifact

Add the repositories you already need for Paper development:

repositories {
    maven("https://repo.papermc.io/repository/maven-public/")
    mavenCentral()
}

Then add Lotus:

Add the repositories typically used for legacy Spigot development:

repositories {
    maven("https://hub.spigotmc.org/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots/")
    maven("https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/")
    mavenCentral()
}

Then add Lotus:

Add one platform artifact, not both. lotus-commons is pulled in transitively, so you should not depend on it directly in a normal plugin.

Step 2 — Shade Lotus Into Your Plugin

Lotus is a library, not a standalone plugin. Your final JAR needs to include it.

Relocating studio.mevera is strongly recommended, especially if your plugin ships with several embedded libraries.

Step 3 — Create One Lotus Runtime

Construct one Lotus instance in onEnable(). The platform factory also registers the framework listener for you.

public final class MyPlugin extends JavaPlugin {

private Lotus<Component> lotus;

@Override
public void onEnable() {
    this.lotus = PaperLotus.create(this);
}

public Lotus<Component> lotus() {
    return lotus;
}

} }</CodeTabItem> <CodeTabItem value="spigot" label="Spigot 1.8.8" language="java">{

public final class MyPlugin extends JavaPlugin {

private Lotus<String> lotus;

@Override
public void onEnable() {
    this.lotus = SpigotLotus.create(this);
}

public Lotus<String> lotus() {
    return lotus;
}

} `}

You do not call registerEvents(...) yourself for Lotus. PaperLotus.create(...) and SpigotLotus.create(...) wire the listener automatically.

Step 4 — Customize The Builder If You Need To

Both platform factories accept a second argument: a Consumer<LotusBuilder<C>>.

this.lotus = PaperLotus.create(this, builder -> builder
    .allowBottomInventoryClick(false)
    .dynamicButtonAction(false)
    .debug(true)
);

What the options actually do

Option	Default	What it controls
`allowBottomInventoryClick`	`true`	Whether clicks in the player inventory below the menu are allowed through
`dynamicButtonAction`	`false`	Whether Lotus should internally move buttons when pickup/place inventory actions happen
`debug`	`false`	Whether `lotus.logger().debug(...)` prints `[lotus]` lines

Lotus already cancels clicks in the top menu inventory by default. allowBottomInventoryClick only affects the player's own inventory while the menu is open.

Step 5 — Know Your First Destination

At this point you are ready to write a menu class and open it for a player. The next page walks through that from zero:

Your First Menu