How to Use spark health to Check a Minecraft Server

Direct answer

Run /spark health for a live status dashboard, or /spark health upload for a static shareable report. These commands show system health; they do not identify the exact plugin or method causing lag.

Recommended procedure

1. Use Paper 1.21+ with its bundled spark or install an appropriate spark build on another supported platform. Confirm your console has permission to run spark commands.
2. Run /spark health to open the live dashboard. It refreshes automatically, so observe it during a busy period.
3. Run /spark health upload to generate a static link for support; use /spark health show to print a short summary in the console.
4. For additional checks use /spark health show --memory or /spark health show --network. Note whether CPU is system-wide or process-specific before concluding the server is CPU-bound.
5. Record the time, player count, TPS, memory and disk usage. If tick processing is slow, collect a spark profiler report while the problem occurs.

Why this matters

A health report is a snapshot of symptoms, not the source of an expensive event. You can see normal TPS and still experience short high-MSPT spikes or a player’s network problem.

How to verify the result

• Confirm the commands return the expected dashboard or console metrics, not an unknown command error.
• Re-check during the actual problem period and compare against quiet-server measurements.
• Avoid posting sensitive data or private report URLs publicly unless you are comfortable sharing the contained environment information.

Version and compatibility notes

Official references

• spark: Commands and health reports
• PaperMC: Built-in spark profiling

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