Minecraft Server Python Interpreter
minecraft-python is a Spigot plugin providing the ability to control Minecraft using Python. Contrary to other approaches, this project aims to expose the whole Bukkit API to Python, instead of only providing a few commands by hardcoding or wrapping these in a Spigot plugin.
More background information on how this project came to be can be found on this blog post (a bit outdated at the moment).
You can watch a Youtube video showing off some of the possibilities (also a bit outdated by now but gets the idea across).
Implementation
The implementation is based on Jython. This has the benefit that the complete Python interpreter system runs inside of the JVM, but comes with the drawback that it only supports Python 2.
With the Jython based system, you have the ability to interact with a Jython interpreter through a telnet server, websocket server, and through chat commands (/py, /pyload and /pyrestart). /py <code> runs a line of Python code on a Jython interpreter (each player gets their own interpreter instance). A . (dot) at the beginning of the <code> line can be used in case indentation with whitespace needs to be provided (the Minecraft server removes whitespace so this is provided as a workaround). /pyrestart restarts the Jython interpreter. /pyload <file> takes a local Python file (in the running directory or on the Desktop of the server) and executes it in the Jython interpreter.
Alternatively, remote-client.py can be used to set up a Python REPL that will send commands to the remote Jython interpreter over a websocket connection.
A Telnet client can be used to connect to a telnet-based interface to the remote interpreter.
A built-in Python module, mcapi.py, provides some predefined handy commands which can be imported in the remote interpreter. Putting .py files in a python-plugins directory runs these as "plugins" when starting up the plugin. This interpreter keeps running and can be used to set up global hooks. Other interpreters will be cleaned out after some period of inactivity.
A Word on Python 3
Jython only supports Python 2 for now, and it seems it'll remain that way for a long while longer. There are various Python 3 <-> JVM interop projects available, though none of which seem to offer the ease-of-use of a full Python on JVM implementation as Jython does.
Py4j comes close, and an earlier commit did provide a way to interact with Minecraft using this library. However, the Py4J implementation relies heavily on callbacks between Python and a JVM, which are sent over the network. Combining this with lots of thread-juggling and Spigot's internal thread model is daunting. The implementation worked, but was very unstable when trying to perform lots of actions on the Spigot server, so I ultimately removed it from the code base for now. See this commit to get an idea where things ended up -- I might add this back in in a separate branch later on.
Comparison
The explicit goal of this project is to allow programming Minecraft using Python and to provide the full Bukkit API in this environment without resorting to manually wrapping these through a Spigot plugin. Other interesting projects in this space are:
- https://github.com/ammaraskar/pyCraft: modern, Python3-compatible, well-documented library for communication with a MineCraft server. This is on the networking level, however, and rather low-level.
- https://github.com/r1chardj0n3s/pycode-minecraft: similar to command blocks, this plugin allows to code scripts on "Python Blocks". Also uses Jython internally.
- http://www.computercraft.info/: an amazing project adding computers and more to Minecraft, provind a coding interface using Lua. This is all in-game, however, comparable to command blocks or
pycode-minecraft. A fine way to work with computers in Minecraft, though less so to work with Minecraft in computers. - https://github.com/martinohanlon/mcpi: combines https://github.com/py3minepi/py3minepi and https://github.com/martinohanlon/minecraft-stuff. Exposes only some basic commands by sending them over the wire to a Minecraft: Pi Edition server.
- https://github.com/zhuowei/RaspberryJuice: a plugin that implements the Minecraft Pi Edition API, so that
mcpiabove can be used together with a normal Minecraft server. https://github.com/wensheng/JuicyRaspberryPie extends this a little bit. https://www.nostarch.com/programwithminecraft usesRaspberryJuice+mcpito write its examples. A nice approach, with the downside that many "cool" Spigot commands are not available (fireworks, spawning, explosions, ...). - http://scriptcraftjs.org/: similar approach, but uses JavaScript and adds more boilerplate code between the JS engine <-> Java interaction. A bit out of date, sadly.
Setup
As of its latest version, the plugin is installed just like any other Spigot plugin. You'll need Java 8 at least.
On boot, lib-common and python directories will be created automatically. If you want to access other Minecraft plugins in your Python scripts, their JAR files can be copied over to a lib-custom directory.
Example
Below is a short example of what you can do with the interpreter:
# Import some modules
from mcapi import *
from time import sleep
from random import randint
MY_NAME = "Macuyiko"
# Note: all code runs asynchronously by default. If you want to make world edits, Spigot
# forces you to execute these on a synchronised task. Most of the methods included in mcapi
# will take care of this automatically
# Set the time to sundawn
time(0)
# Zap the point where I'm looking at
bolt(lookingat(player(MY_NAME)))
# A small explosion instead
explosion(lookingat(player(MY_NAME)), power=2)
# Generate a tree (only works if there is room)
tree(lookingat(player(MY_NAME)))
# Spawn some particles
particle(lookingat(player(MY_NAME)))
# Spawn an entity (chicken by default)
spawn(lookingat(player(MY_NAME)))
# Fireworks
fireworks(lookingat(player(MY_NAME)))
# Let's create an exploding chicken spell
def exploding_chicken(player_name):
yell("Creating an exploding chicken")
chicken = spawn(lookingat(player(player_name)))
for i in range(5,0,-1):
yell("%s second(s) left..." % i)
sleep(1)
explosion(location(chicken), power=2)
# Try it!
exploding_chicken(MY_NAME)
# Now let's define a command for this spell
# Command functions take a special form func(caller, params)
@asynchronous()
def cmd_explode_spell(caller, params):
exploding_chicken(caller.getName())
# Commands are executed synchronously by Spigot
# This means that all actions in exploding_chicken would use the state of the
# world as it was at the current server tick when executing the command,
# hence, we use the @asynchronous() decorator to force this function to be
# ran asynchronously, only synchronising every time a synchronous command is called
add_command('chickenspell', cmd_explode_spell)
# Try typing `/chickenspell` in Minecraft chat window
# Commands can be unregistered using
remove_command('chickenspell')
# Let's register another command to show of the asynchronous workings
@asynchronous()
def cmd_growme(caller, params):
beginning = lookingat(player(caller.getName()))
position = [beginning.x, beginning.y, beginning.z]
for i in range(100):
setblock(position) # <- will be synchronised
position[randint(0,2)] += randint(-1,1)
position[1] += +1
sleep(0.05)
add_command('growme', cmd_growme)
# Now let's register an event
# These need a func(event) definition
from org.bukkit.event.block import BlockDamageEvent
# Almost all events execute synchronised, so again we force them to be asynchronous
@asynchronous()
def damage_evt(e):
player = e.getPlayer()
position = location(player)
yell("I'll count to ten, get out!")
for i in range(10):
yell(str(i))
sleep(1.0)
explosion(position)
# A block will explode if the player damages it
listener = add_event_listener(BlockDamageEvent, damage_evt)
# Remove specific event hook
remove_event_listener(listener)
# Or all hooks
remove_event_listeners()
Plugins works similarly (place this as a .py file in a python-plugins directory):
from mcapi import *
from time import sleep
from random import randint
from org.bukkit.event.player import PlayerJoinEvent
@asynchronous()
def join_event(e):
player = e.getPlayer()
player_location = location(player)
player_location.y += 20
yell("A chickeny hello to player %s" % (player.getName(),))
for i in range(10):
spawn(player_location)
listener = add_event_listener(PlayerJoinEvent, join_event)
License
This project is distributed as BSD 3-Clause License software. See LICENSE.txt for details.