Kitematic tutorial: Set up a Minecraft server

Legacy desktop solution. Kitematic is a legacy solution, bundled with Docker Toolbox. We recommend updating to Docker for Mac or Docker for Windows if your system meets the requirements for one of those applications.

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

This is a quick tutorial demonstrating how to set up a local Minecraft server using Kitematic and Docker.

Create Minecraft Server Container

First, if you haven’t yet done so, download and start Kitematic. Once installed and running, the app should look like this:

Create a container from the recommended Minecraft image by clicking the “Create” button.

create Minecraft container

After the image finishes downloading, you’ll see the home screen for the Minecraft container. Your Minecraft server is now up and running inside a Docker container. Note that we’ve marked the IP and port you can use to connect to your Minecraft server in red (your IP and port may be different from what’s shown).

Minecraft server port and IP info

Connect to Minecraft server

Open your Minecraft client, log in with your Minecraft account and click on the “Multiplayer” button.

Minecraft login screen

Click the “Add Server” button to add the Minecraft server you want to connect to.

Add server

Fill in the “Server Address” text box with the marked IP and port from Kitematic you saw earlier.

Minecraft server address

Click on the play button to connect to your Minecraft server and enjoy!

Change map using Docker volume

Open the “data” folder from Kitematic (You’ll need to “Enable all volumes to edit files via Finder”). We use Docker Volume to map the folder from the Minecraft Docker container onto your computer.

Minecraft data volume

The Finder will open, allowing you to replace your current map with the new one you desire.

Minecraft maps

Restart your container by clicking the “Restart” button.

Restart Minecraft container

Go back to your Minecraft client and join your server. The new map should load.

Next Steps

For an example using Kitematic to run Nginx, take a look at the Nginx web server page.

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