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Failed to parse whitelist.json (invalid UUID)

whitelist.json and ops.json are JSON lists of player entries with UUIDs. A hand-edited file with a missing comma, a truncated UUID, or entries in the wrong shape can fail parsing at boot — and depending on version, the server either skips the file or refuses to start.

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How to fix it

  1. 1

    Validate the JSON

    Paste the file into any JSON validator. Common breaks: missing commas between entries, a trailing comma, or smart quotes from a word processor.

  2. 2

    Check the UUID shape

    Online-mode servers use dashed-hex UUIDs (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-…). A name-only entry or a trimmed UUID fails parsing. Use the full form from a lookup service.

  3. 3

    Regenerate entries the supported way

    Instead of hand-editing, whitelist from the console (/whitelist add Name) or the panel's player tools — the server resolves correct UUIDs itself.

  4. 4

    Check ops.json too

    It has the same shape and the same failure modes. Fix both while you're in there, and keep a copy of each before editing.

Alternative causes

These can produce the same error message — worth ruling out if the steps above don't resolve it.

BOM or encoding from Windows editors

Notepad-style editors can prepend a byte-order mark the parser rejects. Save as plain UTF-8 without BOM, or edit in the panel's file manager.

Frequently asked

Can I whitelist names instead of UUIDs?

Only on offline-mode servers does name-matching work, and offline-mode trades account security for convenience. Online-mode entries must be UUIDs.

Where do I find a player's UUID?

Use a UUID lookup service with the player's exact name, or add them via console and read what the server wrote — the server fetches the canonical UUID.

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Last reviewed 2026-09-06. If a step is wrong or out of date, tell us — we'll fix the article and the auto-pattern at the same time.