Commands

WARNING: Before you can run any commands, you must first acknowledge the destructive properties of this plugin by changing plugins/CoreProtectTimeLapse/config.yml to acknowledgesDestruction: true.

Only run this on a backup of the world (and backup your CoreProtect database as well). Replay and undo are destructive operations, and some game behavior cannot be perfectly restored.

All commands require coreprotecttimelapse.use, which defaults to server operators. The /cptl command is also available as /coreprotecttimelapse.

Setup

/cptl setup

WARNING: This is a destructive process, please either make a backup or ONLY run this on a backup!

This is not a necessary command, but performs a series of helpful other commands that can make the time-lapse look better. Currently, it runs:

  • gamerule randomTickSpeed 1000
  • gamerule doTileDrops false
  • gamerule doFireTick false
  • gamerule doEntityDrops false
  • gamerule doMobSpawning false
  • gamerule doPatrolSpawning false
  • gamerule doTraderSpawning false
  • gamerule doWeatherCycle false
  • gamerule doMobLoot false
  • gamerule tntExplodes false
  • kill @e[type=!player]
  • kill @e[type=!player]
  • kill @e[type=!player]
  • kill @e[type=!player]
  • say Natural tree growth is always disabled with CPTL.
  • time set 0
  • weather clear

Start

/cptl start
/cptl start <radius> <startTime> <endTime> <interval> <x> <y> <z>
/cptl start cancel

WARNING: This is a destructive process. Use a backup.

This command will start the timelapse, so make sure you have ReplayMod, Flashback, or your recording software set up.

Running /cptl start without arguments opens the CPTL 1.3.0 interactive chat picker. The picker walks through radius, start time, end time, interval, center location, and a final confirmation.

The bracketed suggestions shown in chat are clickable. For example, you can click [256] for radius, [7d ago] for start time, [now] for end time, [1d] for interval, [current] for center location, and [yes] on the confirmation step. You can also type exact values if the suggested buttons do not match what you need. Type back to change the previous answer or cancel to exit. /cptl start cancel also cancels your active picker session.

Example picker flow:

  1. Run /cptl start.
  2. Click [256], click [7d ago], click [now], click [1d], click [current], then review the summary and click [yes].
  3. If you need exact values, type values like 2026-04-01 18:30, ~10 ~ ~-5, or 3600 instead of clicking a suggestion.

The full command form is still available for scripted use or for experienced users:

  • Radius (in blocks) controls how much area around the center coordinate is included in the timelapse. It must be between 100 and 512.
  • startTime and endTime in the full command form should be entered in POSIX/Unix time. https://www.epochconverter.com/
  • The wizard also accepts now, relative times like 30s ago, 15m ago, 6h ago, 7d ago, 2w ago, compact relative times like 7d, and local server date/time values like 2026-04-01, 2026-04-01 18:30, 2026-04-01 18:30:00, 2026-04-01T18:30, or 2026-04-01T18:30:00.
  • Wizard date/time values are interpreted in the server JVM timezone shown in the prompt. Date-only values resolve to local start of day. Future wizard times are rejected.
  • Interval is the duration between each timelapse snapshot. In the full command form it is raw seconds and must be greater than 0. In the wizard it can be raw seconds or duration forms like 1h, 6h, 1d, or 1w.
  • Internally, CPTL converts your timestamps into CoreProtect's "seconds back from now" rollback format.
  • x, y, and z are the block coordinates for the center of the radius. You can enter ~ ~ ~ to use the current player's location, or offsets such as ~10 ~ ~-5.
  • If startTime and endTime are entered in reverse order, CPTL will normalize them before running.

When this is run, the server rolls back to your desired endTime and then continues moving backward every interval seconds until startTime.

If CoreProtect is missing, disabled, or older than API v11 (CoreProtect 23.1+), the command will not start.

Stop

/cptl stop

This stops (or pauses) the current timelapse. You cannot continue a timelapse after stopping it; you can only undo and restart.

Undo

/cptl undo

Once the timelapse is over or stopped, you can undo the changes and bring the server back to its current state. This will not be perfect; there may be issues with entities, leaves, plants, and similar behavior. Only run this process on a backup.