github.com/CraftCanvasMC/Canvas @main

CanvasMC is a fork of Folia introducing numerous fixes to region threading to improve stability, whilst also adding various performance enhancements to the dedicated server

Why Canvas?

• Improved server stability

• SpottedLeaf authored Folia, and his code is no doubt absolutely incredible, however there are still a lot of unresolved bugs and issues still in Folia. Canvas comes packaged with over 80 fixes to region threading to try and fix these issues, and has plans to upstream its patches to Folia. At the time of writing, some of these patches are already in the process of being upstreamed in open PRs.

• Numerous optimizations

• Canvas is not only focused on trying to complete and stabilize region threading. Canvas also comes with numerous performance enhancements to help ensure your server not only is stable, but also smooth and fast at high player counts

• Extensive configuration

• Canvas has a wide array of customization and performance options you can tweak to your liking. The default configurations provided by Canvas are aimed for Vanilla compatibility first and performance second.

• Faster updates

• While Canvas is a fork of Folia, Canvas upstreams from Paper, meaning we can update the region threading patch on our own without having to rely on Folia for an update first. This allows us to even update to newer Minecraft versions before Folia even starts updating

• Spark region profiling

• Canvas includes a modified version of the Spark profiler allowing you to profile specific regions rather than the whole server with Spark, replacing the Folia profiler provided in LeafPile.

• Knowledgeable team

• Our development team is comprised of skilled developers, dedicating hundreds of hours of our personal time and effort working on Canvas and other projects under our organization

What does Canvas upstream from?

Canvas is a bit of an odd fork in the sense of where we upstream from. Yes, technically we are a Folia fork, given our patches are infact based on Folia. However, we bundle the Folia patches in our own repository, allowing us to upstream from Paper, making us sort of a mix of a Folia fork and a Paper fork. We are unsure which one we technically would classify as, so we just call ourselves a Folia fork since that's just easier to understand.

Getting Started

Downloading & Running

1. Download the latest server JAR from the Downloads page on canvasmc.io.
2. Launch using Java (Java 25+ required) with your preferred arguments and configuration.

Building from Source

Requirements:

• Java 25
• Git (configured with name/email)

Common build commands:

./gradlew applyAllPatches # Applies all patches to construct the Canvas source
./gradlew createPaperclipJar # Creates the paperclip jar
./gradlew runDevServer # Starts a development server locally

Documentation & Resources

• Official Documentation: https://docs.canvasmc.io
• Community & Support: Join the Canvas Discord
• Issue Tracker / Contributing: Use this GitHub repo for reporting bugs, proposing features, and submitting pull requests

Contributing

We welcome many forms of contributions:

• Code (bug fixes, features)
• Documentation improvements
• Testing & bug reporting
• Community help & support
• Donations to help support the developers

See the Canvas Contributing Guide for more detail.

Compatibility & Notes

• Canvas is a fork of Folia and is not a drop-in replacement for Purpur, Paper, or other non-Folia forks. It's intended primarily for environments already using Folia or Folia-based forks. If you need help migrating from Folia or from other non-Folia forks, please reach out in our discord and we will be happy to help
• The project adheres strictly to Folia’s threading and safety rules and does not permit bypassing them. While yes, this is the bare minimum, we say this as to showcase our intent for wanting to try not to permit potentially unsafe actions being executed in the server, say via a plugin not marked as supporting Folia for example. If you require this for your own use, you are advised to please search for another fork of Folia or fork the repository yourself and make the necessary changes you require

Licenses and Acknowledgements

Canvas' license inherits from its upstream project sources. As such, Canvas is licensed under GNU General Public License V3 along with the patches authored by the CanvasMC team unless stated otherwise within the patch itself.

Canvas incorporates patches inspired by or derived from other Minecraft projects (e.g. Lithium, Leaf, Luminol, etc) alongside our own patch sets. Canvas includes a full set of licenses from these sources available in the /canvas-server/src/main/resources/META-INF/licenses/ directory of our repository.

Canvas is also dedicated to trying to showcase our contributors in our software. From a "Contributor" role on our Discord to being mentioned by name inside our own software in our version command, we at CanvasMC are always trying to make an effort to showcase our community and contributors since frankly, Canvas would not be what it is without them.

Donating

You can donate to support Canvas' work by donating here