Diagnosing Lag with Timings

Timings v2 is like your server’s history book. It records everything that happens in your world and gives you a detailed breakdown of where your resources are going. If you’re running Paper or Spigot, this should be your first stop when things feel sluggish.

1. Creating Your Report

Timings is usually watching in the background automatically. To see what it’s found, run this command:

/timings paste

The server will spit out a link. Click it to open the web dashboard.

2. The Big Three Metrics

Before you dive into the lists, look at the top of the report:

TPS (Ticks Per Second): You want this to be 20.0. Anything under 18.0 means your players are starting to feel the lag.
Loaded Chunks: If this number is huge, your players are exploring too much too fast!
Entities: This is the total number of mobs and items. If it’s over 1000, you likely have some massive farms that need thinning out.

3. How to Spot the Problem

Paper breaks down every "tick" into categories:

The "Full Server Tick"

This is the most important section. Look for anything that has a high percentage:

Entities: Mobs, items on the ground, and players.
Tile Entities: This is the big one, as it includes chests, furnaces, and especially hoppers.
Plugins: A list of every plugin you have and exactly how much lag each one is causing.

4. Pro-Tips for Common Lag

Hoppers are Heavy: If you see "Tile Entities" is high, check your sorting systems. Pro-tip: Place a block or a furnace on top of hoppers to stop them from constantly searching for items above them.
Villager Trading Halls: Large groups of villagers are CPU killers because they’re constantly trying to "find paths" to their workbenches.
Collision Lag: If you have 200 cows in a 1x1 hole, the server is doing thousands of calculations to see if they're touching. Use max-entity-cramming to fix this!

Want a more visual, real-time look? Check out our Spark Profiling Guide.