mcstatus

What it is and what it does

mcstatus is a Python library that abstracts away the complexity of Minecraft server protocols, letting you query server status and player information without implementing the Server List Ping or Query protocols yourself. It supports Java Edition servers (modern and legacy versions), Bedrock Edition servers, and provides both a Python API and a command-line interface.

The library handles the low-level protocol details and returns structured data about player counts, server latency, MOTD, and other server properties. It depends on asyncio-dgram for UDP communication and dnspython for DNS resolution, making it suitable for monitoring dashboards, server browsers, or any application that needs to check Minecraft server availability and player status.

Use it for:

• Build a server browser or status dashboard that displays live player counts and latency for Minecraft servers.
• Monitor Minecraft server uptime and performance as part of a larger hosting or management platform.
• Retrieve full player lists from servers with Query enabled to populate leaderboards or player tracking systems.
• Implement a Discord bot or web service that responds to queries about specific Minecraft server status.
• Automate server health checks and alerting for your own Minecraft infrastructure.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Queries Minecraft servers (Java, Legacy, and Bedrock editions) to retrieve status, player counts, latency, and server properties via the Server List Ping and Query protocols.

Yes. mcstatus is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and solves a specific problem well—querying Minecraft servers without protocol knowledge. It supports current Python versions and is licensed permissively. Install it if you need to check Minecraft server status or player information in a Python application.

Install

mcstatus on PyPI

pip install mcstatus

uv add mcstatus

poetry add mcstatus

Installing mcstatus

Before you install

Low install friction with only 2 runtime dependencies (asyncio-dgram and dnspython). Active maintenance with a recent release 49 days ago and a commit as recent as 2026-08-14. Supports current Python versions (3.10 through 3.14).

License in practice

Licensed under Apache-2.0 (permissive), allowing free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.

Quickstart

from mcstatus import JavaServer

server = JavaServer.lookup("example.org")
status = server.status()
print(f"Players online: {status.players.online}")

Requires Python 3.10 or later. Query protocol requires it to be enabled on the target server's server.properties file.

Verify before relying

• Whether asyncio-dgram and dnspython introduce significant transitive dependencies.
• Performance characteristics when querying many servers concurrently or in rapid succession.
• Whether the library handles network timeouts and connection failures gracefully in production use.

Package facts

Evidence: mcstatus-14.0.0-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: minecraft, protocol

Tags

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