diff --git a/BREAKING_CHANGES.md b/BREAKING_CHANGES.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1721e4978
--- /dev/null
+++ b/BREAKING_CHANGES.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Overview of breaking changes for THE MERGE
+
+API
+
+Functionality
+- geyser root commands now always have a permission attached to them, which is granted by default
diff --git a/bootstrap/bungeecord/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/bungeecord/GeyserBungeePlugin.java b/bootstrap/bungeecord/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/bungeecord/GeyserBungeePlugin.java
index 0070a3842..0ba064ab1 100644
--- a/bootstrap/bungeecord/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/bungeecord/GeyserBungeePlugin.java
+++ b/bootstrap/bungeecord/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/bungeecord/GeyserBungeePlugin.java
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ public class GeyserBungeePlugin extends Plugin implements GeyserBootstrap {
             ExecutionCoordinator.simpleCoordinator(),
             sourceConverter
         );
-        this.commandRegistry = new CommandRegistry(geyser, cloud, false); // applying root permission would be a breaking change because we can't register permission defaults
+        this.commandRegistry = new CommandRegistry(geyser, cloud);
 
         // Big hack - Bungee does not provide us an event to listen to, so schedule a repeating
         // task that waits for a field to be filled which is set after the plugin enable
diff --git a/bootstrap/velocity/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/velocity/GeyserVelocityPlatform.java b/bootstrap/velocity/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/velocity/GeyserVelocityPlatform.java
index 7736d3cf1..844d2c528 100644
--- a/bootstrap/velocity/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/velocity/GeyserVelocityPlatform.java
+++ b/bootstrap/velocity/base/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/platform/velocity/GeyserVelocityPlatform.java
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ public class GeyserVelocityPlatform implements GeyserBootstrap, IsolatedPlatform
             ExecutionCoordinator.simpleCoordinator(),
             sourceConverter
         );
-        this.commandRegistry = new CommandRegistry(geyser, cloud, false); // applying root permission would be a breaking change because we can't register permission defaults
+        this.commandRegistry = new CommandRegistry(geyser, cloud);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/command/CommandRegistry.java b/core/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/command/CommandRegistry.java
index 75ea81ff9..cfd527524 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/command/CommandRegistry.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/geysermc/geyser/command/CommandRegistry.java
@@ -104,8 +104,6 @@ public class CommandRegistry implements EventRegistrar {
 
     protected final GeyserImpl geyser;
     private final CommandManager<GeyserCommandSource> cloud;
-    private final boolean applyRootPermission;
-
     /**
      * Map of Geyser subcommands to their Commands
      */
@@ -126,28 +124,15 @@ public class CommandRegistry implements EventRegistrar {
      */
     protected final Map<String, TriState> permissionDefaults = new Object2ObjectOpenHashMap<>(13);
 
-    /**
-     * Creates a new CommandRegistry. Does apply a root permission. If undesired, use the other constructor.
-     */
-    public CommandRegistry(GeyserImpl geyser, CommandManager<GeyserCommandSource> cloud) {
-        this(geyser, cloud, true);
-    }
-
     /**
      * Creates a new CommandRegistry
      *
      * @param geyser the Geyser instance
      * @param cloud the cloud command manager to register commands to
-     * @param applyRootPermission true if this registry should apply a permission to Geyser and Extension root commands.
-     *                            This currently exists because we want to retain the root command permission for Spigot,
-     *                            but don't want to add it yet to platforms like Velocity where we cannot natively
-     *                            specify a permission default. Doing so will break setups as players would suddenly not
-     *                            have the required permission to execute any Geyser commands.
      */
-    public CommandRegistry(GeyserImpl geyser, CommandManager<GeyserCommandSource> cloud, boolean applyRootPermission) {
+    public CommandRegistry(GeyserImpl geyser, CommandManager<GeyserCommandSource> cloud) {
         this.geyser = geyser;
         this.cloud = cloud;
-        this.applyRootPermission = applyRootPermission;
 
         // register our custom exception handlers
         ExceptionHandlers.register(cloud);
@@ -275,10 +260,8 @@ public class CommandRegistry implements EventRegistrar {
     private void buildRootCommand(String permission, HelpCommand help) {
         Builder<GeyserCommandSource> builder = cloud.commandBuilder(help.rootCommand());
 
-        if (applyRootPermission) {
-            builder = builder.permission(permission);
-            permissionDefaults.put(permission, TriState.TRUE);
-        }
+        builder = builder.permission(permission);
+        permissionDefaults.put(permission, TriState.TRUE);
 
         cloud.command(builder.handler(context -> {
             GeyserCommandSource source = context.sender();