Expose Entity despawnTime

paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/entity/Entity.java

@@ -536,6 +536,18 @@ final class Holder {
      */
     public void setPersistent(boolean persistent);
 
+    // Paper start
+    /**
+     * @return Returns the amount of time in ticks that the entity will live before being discarded.
+     */
+    int getDespawnTime();
+
+    /**
+     * @param ticks Set the amount of time in ticks that the entity will live before being discarded.
+     */
+    void setDespawnTime(int ticks);
+    // Paper end
+
     /**
      * Gets the primary passenger of a vehicle. For vehicles that could have
      * multiple passengers, this will only return the primary passenger.

paper-server/patches/features/0032-Expose-Entity-despawnTime.patch

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Cryptite <cryptite@gmail.com>
+Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2026 18:00:17 -0600
+Subject: [PATCH] Expose Entity despawnTime
+
+
+diff --git a/net/minecraft/world/entity/Entity.java b/net/minecraft/world/entity/Entity.java
+index 3bf618f1d756bad7755a87803132bd731e7c41be..0e140fd99a28eda7455a61779d52b3f0b58e06fb 100644
+--- a/net/minecraft/world/entity/Entity.java
++++ b/net/minecraft/world/entity/Entity.java
+@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ public abstract class Entity implements SyncedDataHolder, DebugValueSource, Name
+     // Paper end
+     public boolean freezeLocked = false; // Paper - Freeze Tick Lock API
+     public boolean fixedPose = false; // Paper - Expand Pose API
+-    private final int despawnTime; // Paper - entity despawn time limit
++    public int despawnTime; // Paper - entity despawn time limit // private -> public, not final
+     public int totalEntityAge; // Paper - age-like counter for all entities
+     public final io.papermc.paper.entity.activation.ActivationType activationType = io.papermc.paper.entity.activation.ActivationType.activationTypeFor(this); // Paper - EAR 2/tracking ranges
+     // Paper start - EAR 2

paper-server/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/entity/CraftEntity.java

@@ -1331,4 +1331,15 @@ public boolean hasData(final @NotNull DataComponentType type) {
         return this.entity.get(io.papermc.paper.datacomponent.PaperDataComponentType.bukkitToMinecraft(type)) != null;
     }
 
+    // Paper start
+    @Override
+    public int getDespawnTime() {
+        return this.entity.despawnTime;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setDespawnTime(int ticks) {
+        this.entity.despawnTime = ticks;
+    }
+    // Paper end
 }