Chest locks
Protect a chest with a sign — only you (and people you list) can open it. Works on chests, doors, trapdoors, and other containers.
Vanilla chests are wide open — anyone can right-click and loot. On Sunday Market, a sign-based lock turns any chest, barrel, furnace, hopper, door, or trapdoor into a private container. Only you can open it; only people you explicitly add can open it.
This is what makes shared bases possible.
How locks work
Place a sign on the front of the chest with [Private] on the first line. The system replaces it with a colored sign showing your username. Now only you can open the chest.
Other players who try get a "this chest is locked" message and the chest stays closed.
Sign formats
The first line of the sign determines the lock type:
| First line | What it does |
|---|---|
[Private] | Locked to you only (and people on your additional lines) |
[More Users] | Continuation of a [Private] sign — add more usernames here |
[Everyone] | Public access (functionally a no-op, but signals "this is a community chest") |
[Timer:5] | Auto-closes after 5 seconds (good for doors) |
The second / third / fourth lines on a [Private] sign list additional usernames who can also access the container.
Adding multiple users
For a chest you want to share with two friends:
Line 1: [Private]
Line 2: yourname
Line 3: friend1
Line 4: friend2Need more than 3 additional users? Add a second sign on the same chest with [More Users] on line 1, then 1–4 more usernames on lines 2–4. You can chain as many [More Users] signs as you need.
What can be locked
- Chests (single and double — sign on either half locks both)
- Barrels
- Furnaces (and blast furnaces, smokers)
- Hoppers
- Doors (single and double)
- Trapdoors
- Fence gates
Useful for:
- Locking your base entrance — only you and trusted friends through the front door
- Locking critical chests at a shared base — the food chest is public, the diamond chest is yours
- Securing a brewing operation — your tavern stand and fermenting cauldrons stay yours
What can't be locked
- Vaults, ender chest, pack — these are inherently private; no lock needed
- Linked chest network nodes — these have their own access model
- Ender chest blocks — each player sees their own contents anyway, so locking is meaningless
Removing a lock
Two ways:
- Break the sign — restoring the chest to a normal vanilla chest
- Use the unlock command (in-game
/helpshows current syntax) — unprotects without breaking the sign
You can only break the sign on a chest you own. Other players can't remove your locks.
Locks survive owner offline
Your locks persist even when you're offline. A lock you placed today still works in 6 months when you log back in.
If a long-time absent player has chests locking off a shared community area, staff can intervene at the community's request — see Building & griefing rules for the inactivity policy.
Practical patterns
Multi-player base entrance
Front door locked with all four base members listed. Inside, each member's personal chests locked to just themselves. Shared chests (food, blocks) public or locked to all members.
Tavern operation
Your brewing room locked to you. The serving counter chest with finished brews public (or shop-signed for sale). The aging barrels locked to you so no one steals your maturing inventory.
Shop chest separation
Shop chests are normally public-by-design (the shop sign handles sales). For a "back room" inventory chest where you store the bulk stock that you periodically restock to the shop chest, lock the back room.
Trying to grief a lock
You can't. The lock is enforced server-side — a non-listed player physically cannot open the chest, regardless of client. There's no way around it.
If someone is lock-spamming to claim contested space (placing locked chests everywhere to prevent others from building), file a /helpop ticket — staff can clean it up.
See also
- Building & claiming — etiquette for shared bases
- Linked chests — for in-base auto-sorting (a different access model)
- Vaults — inherently private storage that doesn't need locks