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serv update stops the server during the update process. Schedule updates during a maintenance window to avoid interrupting active players.

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PaperMC

1

Check for an available update

Run serv chk to query the PaperMC API and compare the latest build against your current version:
serv chk
If an update is available, the output will show the current and latest build numbers and prompt you to run serv update.
2

Apply the update

serv update
You will be shown a summary of what the command will do and asked to confirm before anything changes.
3

What happens during the update

The update process runs the following steps automatically:
  1. Stops the server (if running)
  2. Backs up the current jar to backups/jars/paper_VERSION.jar
  3. Downloads the latest build from the PaperMC API
  4. Restarts the server
If the download fails at step 3, the backup jar is automatically restored and the server is left unchanged.

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Vanilla

1

Check for an available update

serv chk
For Vanilla servers, this checks against Mojang’s version manifest.
2

Apply the update

serv update
3

What happens during the update

  1. Stops the server (if running)
  2. Backs up the current jar to backups/jars/old.vanillaserver.jar
  3. Downloads the latest release from Mojang
  4. Restarts the server
If the download fails, the backup jar is automatically restored.

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API sources

The serv script queries the following APIs to determine the latest available version:
Server typeAPI endpoint
PaperMChttps://fill.papermc.io/v3/projects/paper
Vanillahttps://piston-meta.mojang.com/mc/game/version_manifest_v2.json

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Silent update check

Use the -s flag to suppress output when the server is already up to date. This is useful in cron jobs or scripts that should only produce output when action is needed: 
serv chk -s
The backup jar is always kept in backups/jars/ after an update. If you need to roll back manually, replace server.jar with the appropriate file from that directory and restart the server.