Wake-on-Join Minecraft
I put together a Minecraft server for friends that can sleep while nobody is playing, with the join attempt acting as the signal to bring it back.
Independent infrastructure development. Paper, AWS templates and server operations tooling.
The server was for a small group, and keeping a machine running all the time was a different problem from making it available when somebody actually wanted to play, with the infrastructure keeping the wake mechanism available while the machine that ran the game could sleep.
The project separated the wake path from the game instance, with infrastructure templates, a control script and operating notes describing how the server starts and how idle periods are handled.
The join-triggered approach kept the familiar Minecraft connection as the entry point, though waking an instance still has a startup period before the game server becomes ready.
The catalogue date follows the first preserved commit on 26 July 2026.
Outcome
An on-demand Paper server architecture with deployment templates and a runbook. The entry describes the wake and idle behaviour without claiming instant startup or a measured cost saving.