/kick accepts an exact account name or a player selector like @a[tag=afk]. Either way it only reaches players who are online right now; there is nothing to kick once they have logged off.
Free text, spaces allowed, no quotes needed. It appears on the player's disconnect screen. Leave it empty and Minecraft shows the default message: Kicked by an operator.
Disconnects Steve if they are online right now. A kicked player can rejoin immediately.
Same target and reason, but permanent: the player is refused at login until you /pardon them. /ban only exists on dedicated servers.
The player is dropped on the spot and sees your reason on the disconnect screen. Chat confirms it with Kicked PlayerName: reason.
A kick writes no list entry anywhere. The player can click Reconnect and be back in seconds; use /ban when they should stay out.
Unlike /ban, /kick also works in worlds opened to LAN. The world owner can never be kicked; everyone else is fair game.
Permission: /kick needs operator permission level 3. Run it from the server console or an opped account. In an offline singleplayer world it fails with: Cannot kick in an offline singleplayer game.
The /kick command instantly disconnects an online player from your server and shows them a message of your choice. It needs operator permission level 3, saves nothing to any list, and the player can rejoin the moment they click Reconnect. For a permanent block, use /ban instead.
When the command runs, the targeted player is dropped from the server on the spot. Their disconnect screen shows your reason, or the default text Kicked by an operator if you did not give one, and the chat confirms it with Kicked Steve: reason. That is the entire effect: no file is written, no ban list entry is created, and nothing stops the same player from joining again seconds later.
That makes /kick the warning shot of server moderation. It clears AFK players before a restart, breaks up a chat argument, or forces a client-side glitch to reset by making the player log back in, all without the paperwork of a ban. Unlike the ban family of commands, /kick also works in worlds opened to LAN with cheats enabled, with one rule: the world owner can never be kicked.
Use the generator above to compose the command: pick a name or build a selector, type the reason the player will see, and copy the result into the server console or chat. The second output gives you the matching /ban command in case a kick turns out not to be enough.
The full syntax is /kick <targets> [<reason>]. Only the target is required:
Common examples you can copy directly:
/kick requires operator permission level 3. The default op level on a vanilla server is 4, so any opped player can kick, and the server console always can. In a singleplayer world that is not open to LAN the command exists but fails with Cannot kick in an offline singleplayer game, because there is no other player to disconnect.
Kicking and banning look similar in chat but do very different things. The quick comparison:
The practical rule: /kick is for the moment, /ban is for the future. A kick resolves whatever is happening right now, such as an AFK player blocking a farm, someone flooding chat, or a buggy client state that a relog fixes. Because nothing is stored, there is no cleanup later and no risk of accidentally locking out a regular.
The other difference is reach. /kick only works on players who are connected, while /ban accepts an exact account name even when the player is offline. So if a griefer logs out before you can react, a kick is no longer possible, but a ban by name still lands. Many servers chain them: kick with a warning first, then ban with the same reason if the behavior repeats, which is exactly the pair of commands this generator produces.
Run /kick followed by the player's exact account name, for example /kick Steve AFK for too long. Everything after the name becomes the reason shown on their disconnect screen. You need operator permission level 3, so run it from the server console or as an opped player.
A kick disconnects the player once and saves nothing, so they can rejoin immediately. A ban writes the account to banned-players.json and refuses every login until someone runs /pardon. Use /kick as a warning for minor problems and /ban when the player should stay out.
Yes. Everything you type after the player name is free text shown on their disconnect screen, spaces included, no quotes needed. For example /kick Steve Server restarting, back in a minute. If you leave the reason out, Minecraft shows the default message: Kicked by an operator.
The three usual causes: you are not opped (kick needs operator permission level 3), the player is not online (kick only reaches connected players, unlike ban), or you are in a singleplayer world that is not open to LAN, where the command fails with: Cannot kick in an offline singleplayer game.
It works in worlds opened to LAN with cheats enabled, which is something /ban cannot do. The world owner can never be kicked; trying it fails with: Cannot kick server owner in LAN game. In a plain singleplayer world that is not published to LAN there is nobody to disconnect and the command errors.
Run /kick @a to disconnect every online player in one command, optionally with a reason like /kick @a Server restarting. Selectors can also narrow it down, for example /kick @a[team=red] or /kick @a[tag=afk]. On a LAN world @a skips the host automatically.
Need a permanent block instead? Or browse more Minecraft tools:
