Channels

Each file in channels/ defines one channel. The file name without .yml is the channel id, so channels/trade.yml gives you a channel called trade. To add one, copy an existing file and change what you need.

The defaults are global, local, world, staff, party and server.

Channel types

Type	Who hears it
`global`	everyone on the server
`local`	players within `radius` blocks of the sender
`world`	players in the sender’s world
`staff`	everyone, in practice locked behind a permission
`party`	the sender’s party
`server`	meant for cross-server chat; `cross-server` defaults to `true` here
`custom`	no extra logic, recipients come from permissions alone

Every field

Field	Default	Meaning
`display-name`	channel id	MiniMessage name shown by `<channel>`
`type`	`custom`	behavior, see above
`enabled`	`true`	disabled channels are ignored entirely
`default`	`false`	new players join this channel automatically
`default-active`	`false`	new players talk in this channel by default
`read-only`	`false`	only channel managers can write
`radius`	`-1`	hearing range in blocks for `local`, `-1` is unlimited
`worlds`	empty	limits the channel to listed worlds, empty means all
`format`	generic	the MiniMessage chat format
`group-formats`	empty	per group formats, by permission group or `voxen.chat.format.<key>`
`world-formats`	empty	per world formats, override everything else
`console-format`	none	separate format for the console log
`external-format`	none	format used when the message came from another server
`aliases`	empty	extra commands that switch to this channel, e.g. `/g`
`quick-prefix`	none	prefix that sends straight here, e.g. `!`
`cooldown`	none	per channel message cooldown, e.g. `3s`
`permissions.read/write/join/manage`	`none`	permission nodes gating access
`empty-warning`	`false`	tells the sender when nobody heard them
`item-tags`	`true`	whether item share tags work here
`scope`	none	limits recipients to a team: `towny`, `factions` or `mcmmo`
`discord`	`false`	forwards messages to DiscordSRV or EssentialsDiscord
`discord-format`	none	how the forwarded message looks on Discord
`cross-server`	`false`	sends messages to other servers over the transport
`sound.*`	disabled	sound played to recipients: `key`, `source`, `volume`, `pitch`

Quick prefixes

A channel with a quick-prefix can be reached without switching to it. Type the prefix followed by the message and it goes straight there:

!hello everyone      → global
@need a hand here    → staff
#regrouping at spawn → party

The prefix is any string, not just one character, so >> or !! work too. When two prefixes overlap, the longer one wins, so !! and ! can coexist. The player still needs write access to the channel, and there has to be something after the prefix — a lone ! is just a message.

Turn the whole mechanism off with quick-chat: false in config.yml.

A full example

display-name: "<gold>Trade</gold>"
type: global
enabled: true
default: true
quick-prefix: "$"
aliases: [trade, tr]
cooldown: "30s"
format: "<gray>[<gold>Trade</gold>]</gray> <prefix><white><player></white><suffix><dark_gray>:</dark_gray> <message>"
console-format: "[Trade] <player>: <message>"
permissions:
  read: none
  write: none
  join: none
  manage: voxen.channel.trade.manage
item-tags: true
empty-warning: false
sound:
  enabled: false
  key: ""

A 30 second cooldown on a trade channel is the usual reason to set cooldown per channel rather than globally. Staff can raise it further at runtime with /voxen slowmode trade 2m, and voxen.bypass.cooldown skips both.

Team-scoped channels

scope narrows recipients to the sender’s own group in another plugin:

type: global
scope: towny

Accepts towny, factions and mcmmo. The channel still applies its own permissions and radius on top; scope only removes people who are not on the sender’s team. Details and the cross-server caveat are on the integrations page.

Discord forwarding

discord: true
discord-format: "[<world>] <player> » <message>"

Rendered to plain text, so MiniMessage tags are stripped before it leaves. Empty keeps the default: the bare message for DiscordSRV, which formats it with its own config, and name: message for EssentialsDiscord.

Formats

Every placeholder available in format, plus per-group and per-world overrides. Chat formats

Across servers

cross-server: true plus a transport in integrations.yml. Cross-server chat