With Docker

RCON is enabled by default, so you can exec into the container to access the Minecraft server console:

docker exec -i mc rcon-cli

Note: The -i is required for interactive use of rcon-cli.

To run a simple, one-shot command, such as stopping a Minecraft server, pass the command as arguments to rcon-cli, such as:

docker exec mc rcon-cli stop

The -i is not needed in this case.

When RCON is disabled¶

If rcon is disabled you can send commands by passing them as arguments to the packaged mc-send-to-console script after setting the env var CREATE_CONSOLE_IN_PIPE to "true". For example, a player can be op'ed in the container mc with:

docker exec --user 1000 mc mc-send-to-console op player
                        |                     |
                        +- container name     +- Minecraft commands start here

Enabling interactive console¶

In order to attach and interact with the Minecraft server make sure to enable TTY and keep stdin open.

docker run -d -it -p 25565:25565 --name mc itzg/minecraft-server

services:
  minecraft:
    stdin_open: true
    tty: true

With that you can attach and interact at any time using the following, replacing the {...} placeholders.

...when container is created with docker run

docker attach {container name or ID}

...or when declared using a compose file

docker compose attach {service name}

and then Control-p Control-q to detach.