Tips/Best Practices

Optimizing your CoreItems setup ensures clean configs, smooth performance, and an intuitive experience for both admins and players. Follow these tips to get the most out of CoreItems.

1. Organize Your Namespaces

• Logical Grouping: Create namespaces by category (e.g., weapons, tools, cosmetics) to keep customs/ folders tidy.

• Consistent Naming: Use all lowercase and underscores (my_tools, not MyTools) for folder and item keys.

• Default Namespace: Populate a default namespace with fallback items so commands without explicit namespaces still work.

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2. Maintain Clean YAML

• Lint Regularly: Use an online YAML linter or editor plugin to catch indentation and syntax errors before server reloads.

• Comment Liberally: Add comments above complex item entries explaining purpose or special behavior.

• Group Similar Items: Within customs.yml, list related items together and separate sections with blank lines or comment headers.

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3. Version Control & Backups

• Git Your Configs: Put plugins/CoreItems/ under version control. Commit every change to customs/ and config.yml so you can roll back mistakes.

• Automated Backups: Schedule a daily copy of the customs/ folder to a backup directory or remote storage.

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4. Sync with Your Resource Pack

• Model ID Mapping: Keep a shared spreadsheet or file mapping custom-model-data IDs to model file names for easy reference.

• Pack Updates: After adding new IDs, bump your resource pack version and communicate to players to re-download.

• Test Locally: Before pushing live, run a local server with your pack to verify textures and GUI icons display correctly.

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5. Optimize GUI Layout

• Page Sizes: Adjust namespaces-per-page and items-per-page in config.yml to minimize empty slots.

• Border Choice: Pick a neutral border item (like gray stained glass) so namespace and item icons stand out.

• Search Placement: Place the search button in the same slot across menus (e.g., top-right) for consistent UX.

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6. Performance Considerations

• Limit Heavy Abilities: Actions that spawn particles, summon entities, or run complex commands can lag when spamming—use cooldowns wisely.

• Cooldown Settings: Leverage the global and per-item cooldown to prevent abuse of click-triggered commands.

• Debug Mode: Enable debug: true temporarily if you suspect load-time or runtime issues; disable it on production for best performance.

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7. Collaboration & Sharing

• Export Namespaces: Zip individual namespace folders to share item packs with other server owners.

• Template Repositories: Maintain a GitHub repo of example namespaces (e.g., example-weapons, example-utilities) for newcomers.

• Community Contributions: Invite trusted community members to open pull requests on shared config repos for new ideas or fixes.

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Keep these best practices in mind as you build and expand your CoreItems setup, and you’ll enjoy a clean, maintainable, and high-performing item system!