Performance
No packet transcoding overhead. Players connect directly to game servers with minimal latency. Written in Rust for maximum efficiency.
Introduction
Passage is a fast, secure, and stateless Minecraft Server Transfer Router that connects your network effortlessly—scaling infinitely without the hassles of traditional proxies.
What is Passage?
Section titled “What is Passage?”Passage is a modern alternative to traditional Minecraft proxies like BungeeCord, Waterfall, and Velocity. Instead of maintaining persistent connections and transcoding every packet, Passage acts as a smart entrypoint that:
- Authenticates connecting players with Mojang
- Validates their connection and handles resource packs
- Routes them to the appropriate backend server
- Transfers them using Minecraft’s native transfer packet
- Disconnects, leaving the player directly connected to the backend
This stateless approach eliminates the proxy bottleneck entirely.
Why Passage?
Section titled “Why Passage?”Switching from traditional proxies to Passage can mean some additional work on your side. Here’s why we still think it’s worth it:
Reliability
Perform updates and configuration changes without downtime. High Availability is supported out of the box.
Scalability
Stateless architecture means horizontal scaling is trivial. No session state to synchronize. Handle millions of connections with minimal resources.
Security
Full Mojang authentication support with native chat signing preservation. Rate limiting prevents connection floods.
Flexibility
Pluggable adapter system for status, discovery, and routing. Support for fixed configs, HTTP/gRPC adapters, and Kubernetes/Agones integration.
Future-Proof
Works with any Minecraft version 1.20.5+. No need to update for new protocol versions. Modern, actively maintained codebase.
Key Concepts
Section titled “Key Concepts”Transfer Packet
Section titled “Transfer Packet”Passage leverages the Transfer (configuration) packet introduced in Minecraft 1.20.5. This packet allows servers to transfer players to a different server address, enabling seamless routing without persistent proxy connections.
Adapters
Section titled “Adapters”Passage uses a flexible adapter system with three types:
- Status Adapters: Provide server status information (MOTD, player count, etc.)
- Target Discovery Adapters: Discover available backend servers
- Target Strategy Adapters: Select the best server for each connecting player
Stateless Design
Section titled “Stateless Design”Unlike traditional proxies, Passage doesn’t maintain long-lived connections. Each player connection goes through authentication and routing, then Passage steps aside. This means:
- No memory overhead per connected player
- Instant recovery from Passage restarts
- No split-brain scenarios in clustered deployments
Use Cases
Section titled “Use Cases”Passage is ideal for:
- Large Minecraft networks needing to scale beyond single-proxy limitations
- Cloud-native deployments on Kubernetes with dynamic server discovery
- High-availability setups requiring zero-downtime deployments
- Networks prioritizing chat signing and authentication security
- Modern architectures wanting to eliminate proxy bottlenecks
System Requirements
Section titled “System Requirements”- Minecraft client version 1.20.5 or higher
- Linux, macOS, or Windows server
- Minimal resource requirements (typically less than 5MB RAM)
- Optional: Kubernetes cluster for Agones integration
Ready to get started? Check out the Installation Guide.