Getting started
From the email
to your first build.
Eight steps, none of them technical. The dashboard walks you through each one; here is the same route on one page, so you know what is coming.
A lighthouse on a rocky headland, as asked for in one sentence. Cog placed it in 1.5 seconds, then read every block back.
Step by step
What happens, in the order it happens
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Your invitation arrives by email
When a place opens, we email the address you gave us. The subject line is “Your Cubelings trial is ready to start”. Your 14 days do not begin until you start setting up a world, so there is no rush to open it.
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Sign in with a code, not a password
Go to the dashboard, type the same email address, and we send an eight-digit code. It lasts ten minutes; check spam if it is slow. There is no password to make up or forget.
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Set up your world
Give it a name, pick a server address, choose the region nearest your players (United States, Europe, Australia) and enter your own Minecraft Java username. Choose Paper with Cog, or a hosting-only option if your invitation offers one. The dashboard then reserves your world, prepares its home, prepares Minecraft and connects your address, showing each stage as it goes. This first build takes longer than any later start.
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Add your friends, pick a mode
Your world only lets in the players on its list. Add each Java friend by their Minecraft Java username, not an email. Add each Bedrock friend by their Xbox gamertag, under Bedrock players. The trial list holds you and up to four friends, and nobody on it needs a Cubelings account. The same panel has one switch for survival or creative; it sets the whole world, Cog included, and you can flip it any time.
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Join from Minecraft
Copy the server address from your dashboard. On Java, start a Minecraft 1.21.4 installation from Minecraft Launcher, then choose Multiplayer, Add Server, and paste it in. On Bedrock, choose Play, Servers, Add Server, and use port 19132. No mods for a Paper world; a modpack world lists what each player needs during setup. If any of this is new, the joining guide has a picture of every step.
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Say hello to Cog
On a new Paper world Cog comes to find you the first time you spawn, once. After that, talk in the ordinary chat: “what can you see?”, “come to me”, “build me a small cabin here”. Cog answers there too, like any player.
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Leave whenever you like
Close the game. Five minutes after the last player leaves, the world saves and sleeps. Join again and it wakes with everything where you left it. Waking takes a little longer than joining a world that is already running. Nobody has to leave a laptop open.
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When the trial ends
Nothing is charged automatically and the trial does not become a subscription on its own. To keep the world, open Billing in your dashboard and choose a plan; the world you built carries straight on.
Before you ask
Three things worth knowing
- You need Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.4, or Bedrock in beta. Bedrock works on iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows; Xbox, PlayStation and Switch cannot join yet. Every friend needs their own copy. The joining guide walks through both, with pictures.
- Cog has a monthly allowance. Your dashboard shows how much is left. When it runs out, Cog pauses and the world keeps running. Nothing is charged for going over.
- Some things are not here yet. See what the beta does not do yet, kept in one honest list.
Read next
Once you are in
- What you can ask for: everything Cog will go and do.
- Joining your world: Minecraft Launcher and Add Server, step by step, for Java and Bedrock.
- Hosting: the server underneath, and the questions people ask about it.
- Safety: what Cog will and will not do, and what we keep.