Minecraft Server Can't Keep Up

If you are experiencing lag on your Minecraft server, you may notice this error in the console

[12:30:27] [Server thread/WARN]: Can't keep up! Is the server overloaded? Running 2858ms or 57 ticks behind

This error typically means that the server is given too much to handle all at once. Lag is what happens when the server tries to ‘catch up’ on all of the ticks it has missed. Most commonly this is caused by chunk generation. [You can remedy this by pre-generating your world.](https://help.aleforge.net/article/134-how-to-pre-generate-your- minecraft-world)

This is also commonly caused by either a misbehaving entity, such as a minecart or armor stand, or too many entities such as a large amount of XP orbs or items on the ground.