Villager

Villagers are passive mobs that inhabit villages, work at their professions, breed, and interact. Their outfit varies according to their occupation and biome. A player can trade with villagers using emeralds as currency.

Natural generation
Villagers can be found in villages, which spawn in several biomes such as plains, snowy tundras, savannas, deserts, taigas, and snowy taigas. A cleric villager and cleric zombie villager spawn locked up in the basements of igloos (if the basement generates) under the carpet of the floor. $$, the villager and zombie villager inside igloo basements have random professions instead of always being clerics. The cleric villager can also turn into a leatherworker villager since the cauldron in the basement is closer to the villager.

Curing
When a zombie villager is cured, it transforms into a villager, displaying purple Nausea status effect particles for 10 seconds after being cured. The villager retains the profession it had as a zombie, if it had one before turning into a zombie villager. If the zombie villager is player spawned, it adopts a randomly chosen profession, since all zombie villagers are unemployed in Bedrock Edition. The villager can also be a nitwit, as the game counts it as a "profession" but the nitwit villager still can't work. If employed, such as in Java Edition, where the zombie villagers have a profession, the cured villager offers discounts on each of its trades, but to get the maximum discount you can zombify and cure them multiple times. Doing this can cause the villager to trade most of their items for only 1 emerald, but $$, attacking the villager causes it to progressively reduce the discount, just like the player loses popularity.

Spawning regularly
A village can also spawn villagers regularly if there are at least 20 villagers and 10 beds.  {Needs game testing}  The village can be an expanded village that is naturally generated, or a player built village. An easy way of expanding the village is breeding villagers, or you can cure a few zombie villagers you find around the village. Beds can be crafted like normal.

Zombie villagers
When a zombie kills a villager, it can turn the villager into a zombie villager, depending on the difficulty: 0% chance on easy, 50% chance on normal and 100% chance on hard. Zombie villagers also spawn naturally in the Overworld in the same conditions as a normal zombie, although much less commonly, with a 5% chance. Zombie villagers also spawn in abandoned villages and igloos.

Illagers


Illagers are hostile villager-like mobs that spawn in woodland mansions as well as pillager outposts, illager patrols, or raids. The varieties of illagers are vindicators, evokers, pillagers, and illusioners (which can be summoned only by using commands), along with two associated mobs: vexes and ravagers. The ravager is considered a illager in Bedrock Edition, but not in Java Edition. Illagers are considered to be outcasts from villages, meaning they were once villagers, but turned evil, so the villagers kicked them out forever, leaving them the hatred of villagers. In addition to attacking players, they also attack villagers, wandering traders, and iron golems. They do not go seeking for villagers, and never naturally come to villages, except during raids and patrols. In Bedrock Edition, sometimes a pillager outpost can generate on the border of a village, leading to altercations if any villager goes near the outpost.

$$, illagers attack snow golems but do not attack baby villagers, although baby villagers still flee from them. "Johnny" vindicators still attack baby villagers.

Witches
Witches are hostile villager-like mobs that spawn anywhere in the Overworld in light levels of 7 or less, in swamp huts, as part of raids, or when a villager gets struck by lightning. Once a villager becomes a witch it cannot be turned back to a villager. Witches attack by throwing splash potions of harming, slowness, weakness and poison. They also use beneficial potions on themselves, especially healing potions when damaged, fire resistance potions if on fire, and water breathing potions if submerged in water. Witches in raids heal and buff illagers and other raider mobs by throwing beneficial potions and healing potions on them in Java Edition. Despite being allies with and looking similar in appearance to illagers, witches themselves are not considered illagers, are passive toward villagers and wandering traders, and are neutral toward iron golems $$. If a witch's negative splash potion hits a illager, the illager retaliates, leading to a fight.

Wandering trader
Wandering traders are a type of villager that spawn randomly close to the player in both editions, or periodically in village gathering sites $$. Two trader llamas spawn leashed to the wandering trader. Players may use emeralds to buy items from wandering traders, but cannot trade items for emeralds. They also lock trades like villagers, but never unlock the trade. Like villagers, wandering traders are attacked by most zombie variants (though they do not have a zombified form, they die if a zombie kills it), illagers, ravagers, and vexes. Wandering traders also drink a Potion of Invisibility at night (or when they see a hostile mob such as an illager or zombie). $$, they drink a milk bucket in the morning to remove the Invisibility. They despawn after 40-60 minutes (even with a name tag or in a minecart or boat). Wandering traders also spawn near bells.

Old villagers
Old villagers are not used in Minecraft 1.14 and above. In Bedrock Edition, villagers that are in a world created before the Village & Pillage update look like old villagers. In Java Edition, villagers in any world templates gets updated into the new villager.

NPC
NPCs are villager-like mobs $$ and $$. NPCs can behave almost like players. They can also chat to players and turn their heads. They are the only companions to chat with in a single player game. but can't move. NPCs cannot be pushed, but are affected by gravity. Breaking a block under a NPC causes it to fall like an armor stand. Using a bubble column on a NPC makes it go up.

Drops
A villager, either adult or baby, does not ordinarily drop any items or experience when killed. However, when a player holds an emerald or other item a villager is willing to trade for, the item it offers in trade appears in its hands. Killing the villager at such a time has a chance to cause it to drop the item it was holding.

Upon successful trading, a villager drops.

Upon successful trading, while willing to breed, is dropped.

Movement patterns
Nitwit and unemployed villagers leave their homes at day and begin to explore the village. Generally, they wander inside the village during the day. They may go indoors or outdoors, periodically making mumbling sounds. Occasionally, two villagers may stop and turn to look at each other, in a behavior called socializing, during which they stare at another villager for 4–5 seconds at a time. They continuously stare at a nearby player unless the villager is trying to get into a house at night, farm food, work, or flee from a zombie or illager. Baby villagers may jump on beds and play tag with each other, similarly to how baby piglins and baby hoglins play tag.

$$, baby villagers do not stop continuously in front of players, though they still do stare as they move.

Villagers tend to not travel far from their beds in a large village unless the job site or the nearest gossip site (bell) is far from their beds.

Villagers, like other mobs, can find paths around obstructions, avoid walking off cliffs of heights greater than 3 blocks, and avoid some blocks that cause harm. However, in crowded situations, one villager can push another off a cliff or into harm's way.

Villagers emit green particles if they join a village, set a bed or acquire a job site/profession.

Villagers run inside at night or during rain, closing doors behind them. They attempt to sleep at night, but if they cannot claim a bed, they stay indoors until morning. In the morning, they head outside and resume normal behavior. However, some villagers stay outside later than others unless being chased by an illager or zombie.

If a villager finds itself outside the village boundary, or a villager without a village detects a village boundary within 32 blocks, it moves quickly back within the boundary. A villager taken more than 32 blocks away from its village boundary forgets the village within about 6 seconds. Whether in a village or not, a villager is never prone to despawning.

Villagers can open all wooden doors and find paths or blocks of interest behind the doors. However, they cannot open trapdoors, fence gates, or iron doors. Villagers can climb ladders, but do not recognize them as paths and do not deliberately use them. Any climbing of ladders seems to be a side effect of them being pushed into the block by another mob, (likely, and most often, other villagers). Unfortunately, this behavior can leave them stranded on the second floors and roofs of some structures, as they lack the necessary AI to intentionally descend ladders. A simple fix for these situations is for the player to manually push the villager back toward the ladder hole and then install a wooden trap door at the top, after the villager is returned to the ground level. One way to prevent a villager from climbing ladders is to break the first ladder touching the ground thus requiring a player to jump to the ladder to climb.

Getting attacked
Villagers flee from zombies, zombie villagers, husks, drowned, zombified piglins, zoglins, vindicators, pillagers (even if their crossbow has been broken), ravagers, and vexes within 8 blocks, and evokers and illusioners within 12 blocks. Like other passive mobs, villagers sprint away when attacked. Villagers do not run away from skeletons (and their variants), spiders, or cave spiders since these hostile mobs are passive towards villagers, although a skeleton arrow might hit a villager by accident.

Preferred path
Villagers favor pathways to reach a selected destination and try to stay in low cost blocks, like the grass path or cobblestone blocks. They also avoid jumping.

Job site blocks
Villagers who have already claimed beds (other than babies and nitwits) seek employment by searching a 48-block horizontal radius for a job site block. An unemployed villager acquires a profession and a job by claiming the first unclaimed job site block it can detect in that area. A job site block can be detected as long as it is in range, not already claimed, and the villager can pathfind to the block to claim it. This means if they cannot see or get to the block, they cannot claim it.

When the block is claimed, its owner emits green particles and no other villager can claim it unless the owner relinquishes it.

If a job site block is broken or destroyed, its owner (if any) emits anger particles and becomes jobless, but retains its profession after trading. A villager who already has a profession but no job site attempts to find one:
 * A villager who has not yet traded can claim any job site block and changes its profession along with acquiring a new job.
 * Villagers who have made their first trade can claim a job site block only if the block is associated with their profession.
 * For a villager to claim a job site block $$, the block must be on the ground to allow the villager to pathfind to the job block. A job site block placed decoratively on scaffolding or a fence post, for example, cannot be found by a villager and no job assignment results.

$$, villagers can change professions only while awake.

Gossiping
Spreading gossip informs other villagers of the reputation of players. Villagers acquire pieces of gossip through various means, and spread them to other villagers when they converse. There are five types of gossip:. cannot be shared.

A villager generates gossip if it is attacked by a player,  gossip if it is killed by a player (which is immediately shared with all other nearby villagers),  gossip if it is cured by a player, and  gossip if a player traded with the villager. $$, negative reputation causes villagers to temporarily increase their prices for the player in question, while a positive reputation results in lower prices. Overall reputation also determines the hostility of the village iron golem toward the player. The village's iron golem becomes hostile toward a player if the value of is  or higher. Attacking pandas makes the villager angry at the player, but does not cause gossiping.

An exact function to calculate the price affected by the gossips is the following:y = x - floor((5a + b + c - d - 5e) × p ). Where y is the final price, x is the base price, a is the value of, b is the value of , c is the value of , d is the value of , e is the value of , and p is the value of.

Each piece of gossip has a type, a target, and strength or "value". The target is the player who caused the gossip. If a piece of gossip would be generated in or spread to a villager, but the villager already has a piece of gossip with the same type and target, the existing gossip's strength is increased instead. If the gossip has a high strength then villagers are more likely to share that gossip.

When a gossip is shared, it is received at a reduced value. The reduction varies by gossip type (&minus;20 for, &minus;5 for & and &minus;10 for ). Gossips also reduce in value every 20 minutes by various amounts (&minus;2 for, &minus;20 for , &minus;10 for and &minus;1 for ;  does not reduce). The max level of obtainable in survival for a single player is 100.

Players can set villagers on fire using flint and steel or lava without affecting reputation. However, using flint and steel to detonate TNT near villagers causes reputation to decrease because the TNT's damage is attributed to the player. Redstone-activated TNT does not have this effect.

Picking up items
Villagers have eight hidden inventory slots, which start empty whenever the villager is spawned. Villagers do not intentionally seek out items to pick up, but they do collect any bread, carrots, potatoes, wheat, wheat seeds, beetroot, beetroot seeds, and bone meal within range (bone meal can be picked up only by farmer villagers). These are the only items they can pick up, although the player may use the command to put an arbitrary item into a villager's inventory. If a player and a villager are in the pickup range of an item at the same time, the player always picks it up first. If several villagers are next to an item, the same one picks up the item every time. Consequently, in constrained space, the same villager picks up any item dropped. This behavior prevents villagers from sharing food in a one-block space.

As of 1.16.1 villagers can fill all 8 inventory slots with the same item.

When killed or converted to a zombie villager, any inventory item of the villager is lost, even when is set to true.

If is , Villagers cannot pick up items, and farmer villagers cannot plant or harvest crops.

Like other mobs, villagers have four slots for worn armor, separate from their inventory. An adjacent dispenser can equip armor, elytra, mob heads or carved pumpkins to a villager, but the armor is not rendered (except for carved pumpkins and mob heads). The equipment functions as normal; for example, a villager wearing an armor piece enchanted with Thorns can inflict Thorns damage to attackers, and a villager wearing Frost Walker boots is able to create frosted ice. If a villager is converted into a zombie villager, the armor it was wearing is dropped, though it may be able to pick it up and equip it again.

Sharing food


If a villager has enough food in one inventory stack (6 bread or 24 carrots, potatoes, beetroots, or 18 wheat for farmers only) and sees a villager without enough food in one inventory stack (3 bread, 12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots for non-farmers; 15 bread, 60 carrots, potatoes, or beetroot, or 45 wheat for farmers), the villager may decide to share food with that villager.

To share, a villager finds its first inventory stack with at least 4 bread, carrots, potatoes, or beetroot or with at least 6 wheat, and then throws half the stack (rounded down) in the direction of the target villager. When wheat is shared, it is first crafted to bread, which may result in 1 or 2 less than half the stack being shared.

Farming
Farmer villagers tend crops within the village boundary. Villagers far enough outside the boundary of any village also tend nearby crops.

Farmland to be tended is found by seeking for certain blocks up to 9 blocks away from the villager in the X and Z coordinates and up to 1 away in the Y coordinate (a 19×19×3 volume total).
 * If a farmer villager does not have enough food in one stack in its inventory (15 bread, 60 carrots, 60 potatoes, 60 beetroots, or 45 wheat) and finds fully-grown wheat, carrots, potatoes, or beetroot, the villager moves to the crop block and harvests it.
 * If a farmer villager has any seeds, carrots, potatoes, or beetroot seeds in his inventory and finds an air block above farmland, the villager moves to it and plants a crop. They always plant from the first eligible slot in their inventory.
 * Farmer villagers use and pick up bone meal. They also fill their composter with seeds.
 * If is , villagers cannot farm.

Breeding
Adult villagers breed depending on the time of the day and need to be willing to spawn, who also require beds. Job sites are not required for villagers to breed.

The breeding depends on the number of valid beds. If a villager is "willing" (see below), villagers breed as long as there are unclaimed beds available within the limits of the village. All baby villagers are initially unemployed.

A census is periodically taken to determine the current population of the village. All villagers within the horizontal boundary of the village and 5 vertical blocks of the center are counted as part of the population to determine if continued villager mating is allowed. However, any villager within the horizontal boundary of the village and the spherical boundary of the village attempts to enter mating mode as long as there is at least one villager within the boundary. If two villagers simultaneously enter mating mode while they are close to one another, they breed and produce a child. The appearance is determined by the biome where the breeding occurs $$. $$, the appearance is randomly determined by either the biome type of the parents or by the biome where the breeding occurred.

Willingness
Villagers must be willing to breed. Willingness is determined by the amount of food items a villager has. Becoming willing consumes the villager's food stock, therefore, after mating, villagers cease to be willing until they gather a sufficient stock of food items and breed again.

Villagers must have enough beds within village bounds for baby villagers to spawn. The beds must have 2 blocks of clearance above them because there needs to be room for the baby villager to jump on them. This means that the baby villager needs to be able to path-find the bed; it can't be in an unreachable spot. (Note that mobs view slabs as full blocks for pathfinding, so putting upper half slabs above a bed invalidates the bed.)

Villagers can become willing by having either 3 bread, 12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots in one slot in their inventory. Any villager with an excess of food (usually farmers) throws food to other villagers, allowing them to pick it up and obtain enough food to become willing. The player can also throw bread, carrots, beetroots, or potatoes at the villagers themselves to encourage breeding. Villagers consume the required food upon becoming willing. If is, villagers don't pick up food or break crops.

Baby villagers
Baby villagers sprint around, entering and leaving houses at will. They sometimes stop sprinting to stare at an iron golem. If the iron golem is holding out a poppy, the children may cautiously take the flower from its hands. This is a reference to the 1986 Japanese animated movie, Laputa: Castle In The Sky, where a giant robot covered in vines (inspiration for the iron golem) gives the main characters flowers to put on a memorial. Baby villagers tend to group and chase one another around the village as if playing tag. They also jump on beds.

$$, illagers ignore baby villagers until they reach adulthood. In Java Edition, illagers attack baby villagers just like their adult counterparts.

Baby villagers give gifts of poppies or seeds to players who have the effect $$.

Baby villagers $$ have a slightly bigger head than $$; this also can be seen in other baby mobs in the game as well. Java Edition baby villagers don't have too big of a head, so they look like a tiny normal villager.

A baby villager becomes an adult 20 minutes after birth.

Lightning
When lightning strikes within 3–4 blocks of a villager, the villager is replaced by a witch that can't despawn. Even a baby villager that is struck by lightning is turned into a witch.

Iron golem summoning
Villagers can summon iron golems.

In Java Edition, a villager desires a golem if the villager has gone to bed in the past 20 minutes and has not detected a golem in the past 30 seconds. A villager scans for golems once every 10 seconds, and detects one if the golem's collision box is inside a 32x32x32 block box centred on the villager (obstructions do not matter). A villager that desires an iron golem and has 4 more desirous villagers "in range" attempts to summon one after it successfully spreads gossip (villagers spread gossip at most once every 60 seconds). Alternatively, a villager attempts to summon a golem every 5 seconds on a global timer if they are panicking (see below), desires one, and has 2 more desirous villagers "in range"; that is, within a 20×20×20 block cube centered on the villager. If golem summoning is successful, the villager and all villagers within a 32×32×32 block cube reset their 30-second "seen golem timer". Villagers can summon iron golems regardless of their profession (including nitwits) or latest working time.

In Bedrock Edition, a golem can spawn if there are at least 10 beds and 10 villagers. It spawns in a 16×6×16 area around the village center and attempts to spawn once every 700 game ticks, or about every 35 seconds. One golem spawns per 10 villagers. The golem must be killed near the village as villagers have a long cooldown time for golems that wander away.

Panicking
In Java Edition, villagers panic if they see a mob that is hostile toward villagers, like a zombie, zombie villager, husk, drowned, zoglin, illager, vex, wither, or ravager and flee frantically from them, sometimes hiding in houses. In Bedrock Edition, villagers panic by running around in circles around a bed in a village house, such as when a raid happens or when the player rings the village bell. Java Edition villagers in panic are more likely to summon iron golems. To see these mobs, the villager must have an unobstructed line of sight to it (eye-level to eye-level), and be within a certain range (spherical distance between feet center bottom-most point of the villager and hostile mob):

Zombies
Zombies, zombie villagers, husks, and drowned seek out and attack villagers within a 42-block radius or a 16-block radius (even when the villager is invisible). Zombies attempt to break down doors, but only a fraction of zombies can do so and can succeed only when difficulty is set to hard. Zombies who cannot break doors tend to crowd around a door that separates them from a villager. If a zombie or a drowned comes across a set of doors with one open, it usually tries to go through the closed door.

Both zombies and drowned either kill villagers or convert them to zombie villagers. The chance of the villager becoming a zombie villager upon death is 0% on Easy, 50% on Normal, and 100% on Hard. Baby villagers can be infected by zombies as well. Drowned are able to convert villagers to zombie villagers, even when attacking with a trident from a distance.

Raids
During a raid, villagers flee from illagers and run to the nearest house, similar to a zombie siege. For a villager to hide, the house must have a door and at least one bed.

Before the first raid wave $$, at least one villager rushes to ring the bell in the center of the village (if they are close enough) to warn the other villagers of an incoming raid before going into their house. $$, the bell rings automatically regardless of whether a villager is nearby. $$, when a bell is rung, all illagers within 48 blocks get the glowing effect for 3 seconds.

A villager often stays in the house it first entered, but may exit the house occasionally. The player can still trade with villagers during a raid.

On random occasions, the villager displays water particles as if sweating.

$$, once the player gains the Hero of the Village status after defeating a raid, villagers give them a discount for their trades and throw them gifts related to their profession. For a list of items that they can gift, see.

Staring
Villagers stare at any player that stares at them, or goes near them. This also applies for some mobs. A villager first turns its head towards the player, then the body. Villagers can keep staring at the player unless a raid happens or a zombie comes and chases them off.

Schedules
Villagers have set schedules depending on their age and employment status. Schedules define the villager's goals, which mostly determine how they behave throughout the day. However, their goals can be interrupted by higher priority behaviors most villagers have, such as fleeing from an attack, trading, and getting out of the rain.

Working
Employed villagers spend most of their day standing next to their job site blocks. From time to time they "gather supplies" by wandering a short distance away, then returning.

Some professions have additional job-specific goals that are part of their work schedule: When a villager reaches its job site block, it commences "work". Two times a day, this action of working resupplies any locked trades. Villagers can resupply twice per day, even without having a bed or while sitting in a minecart. A villager can "reach" its job site block if the block is in any of the 8 directly adjacent or diagonal block spaces horizontally around it at the height of their feet, or at the 9 blocks below that. Villagers can still "reach" them diagonally, even if they can't see or touch the face of the block.
 * Farmers harvest and sow crops.
 * Librarians inspect bookshelves.

Employed villagers do not breed with each other during their work schedule. Nitwits and the unemployed do not follow this rule as they would breed with each other and the employed villagers.

Wandering
All villagers wander from time to time, but for the unemployed, wandering is their main goal because it maximizes their ability to find a job site block they can claim (thereby becoming employed). Nitwit villagers wander for their whole day before returning home, and sometimes they even hang out with other employed villagers. A wandering villager chooses a random block and walks toward it, then stands there for a variable amount of time before wandering again. If at any time it detects a job site block it can claim, it does so, assumes the skin for the associated profession, and immediately begins following the appropriate schedule.

A villager attempts to claim a job site block by finding a path to a block next to one, showing angry particles when unable to reach it. After a villager fails to reach the job site block several times, it becomes unclaimed, indicated by showing angry particles on it. The villager loses its job site block and eventually becomes unemployed if the villager is at novice-level and no nearby job site block is available. Any other nearby unemployed villager has a chance to become the block's new owner. If there are no unemployed villagers nearby, then the villager who lost the job site block seeks for another unclaimed one or tries to reclaim the same unreachable one in an endless loop (this also happens for claiming beds).

The wander schedule includes a job-specific goal called "exploring the outskirts" that causes villagers to wander near the edges of the village. This enables them to detect new beds, job site blocks, bells, and houses that players have used to extend the village.

During this time of the day, they may also share items.

Gathering
Late in the day, adult villagers (other than nitwits) gather at a meeting place (the area around a bell). When two villagers encounter one another, they mingle (look at each other and "converse" by humming at other villagers). They may also share food, or breed if both are willing.

If a villager isn't close enough to detect a bell, it wanders randomly, searching for one.

Playing


Baby villagers wander randomly searching for others to play with. When they find one, the two of them follow each other for a while and sometimes run as if racing or chasing each other.

Baby villagers wander randomly searching for beds to jump on.

They sometimes stop to stare at an iron golem. If the iron golem holds out a poppy, the baby villager cautiously accepts it.

In Bedrock Edition, iron golems ignore all villagers and walk as though the villager is not there, kind of like pushing the villager.

Returning home
All villagers except nitwits head home a short time before sunset and nitwits go home after sunset. They roam around until they get near their beds, then target a block beside the bed. Once they reach their beds, they do not go through a door again before sleeping.

A villager who has no bed simply waits inside a house until morning. This includes players stealing a villager's bed to sleep in, mostly the villager stays in the house and doesn't move until sunrise. But sometimes, if they detect a unclaimed bed nearby they walk out of the house and towards the bed.

Sleeping


At sunset, most villagers lie down in their beds and remain there until morning (Nitwits stay up later at night and get up later in the morning). Villagers wake early if food is thrown at them, they are pushed out of bed, or if their bed is destroyed. They also wake up when their bed is, if they are , or when a bell is rung. If possible, they return to sleeping in a bed after the interruption.

Jumping on a bed with a villager sleeping in it doesn't cause the villager to get up.

In Java Edition, villagers can be pushed on beds and sometimes turn their heads. A villager cannot be pushed off a bed.

When sleeping, a villager's hitbox reduces to a cube restricted to the pillow part of the bed. If an anvil is dropped on this hitbox, the villager takes damage and wakes up.

A villager who has no bed continues wandering in search of a bed to claim.

Villagers can sleep in the Nether or The End, without causing the usual consequences (See Bed), if the Overworld's time is correct.

Sometimes when a villager gets in a bed from another direction they turn their body until their head is on the pillow of the bed. Villagers also sleep with their eyes open, just like players.

Healing
Villagers get a brief regeneration effect once leveling up in their profession. Pink particles appear when the villager is healing.

$$, when villagers successfully sleep, they immediately heal themselves when waking up at dawn if they are damaged.

Professions


Each villager can have a profession, indicated by their clothing as well as by the title at the top of the trading interface. A villager can choose their profession by claiming a job site block. When they go to work, they use their daily schedule to get to their claimed job site block. Some professions, like farmers and librarians, do other things. Farmers plant crops, and librarians can inspect bookshelves.

A job site block can be claimed only if it is unclaimed and within a village boundary with at least 1 bed. Removal of a claimed job site block causes the owner to switch to another profession or become unemployed, provided that the villager has no prior trades with the player. If the villager has prior trades, it keeps its profession and claims a new job site block that matches its profession if one is available. So, once a player trades with a villager, the villager keeps its profession forever.

Nitwits and baby villagers cannot change their profession.

Novice-level villagers who have not yet traded can lose their profession and change into unemployed villagers.

Unemployed adults actively seek for an unclaimed job site block and change into the corresponding profession.

Below is a table listing the various professions, along with the specific job site block that each profession requires:

Nitwit


Nitwit villagers wear robes that are green on top. They cannot acquire a profession, trade, or gather around bells, but are still able to breed. They are not equipped with a level stone since they cannot trade. Pressing on a nitwit in Java Edition causes it to grunt and shake its head at the player. They wander around the village for about 2000 ticks after other villagers go to sleep, before seeking a bed. If they can claim a bed, they arise in the morning 2000 ticks after the rest of the village wakes up. A nitwit must be born or spawned; no villagers change to nitwit from unemployed or a profession, and vice versa. Nitwits can be found naturally or by curing naturally spawned zombie villagers. Zombie villagers can also be spawned as babies, so this is the only way to encounter baby nitwits in survival mode. $$, every baby villager has a 10% chance to become a nitwit when they become an adult.

Appearance
Villagers and zombie villagers have seven skin types corresponding to the biome they spawn in. Their appearance also varies based on their profession and their five tiers. They show which trade tier they have unlocked by a badge of a varying material on their belt. A new tier is obtained every time a player trades with a villager and the badge appears as stone, iron, gold, emerald, and finally diamond.

Villagers have different outfits depending on their biome. Naturally generated villagers take on the outfit from the biome they were spawned in. When breeding occurs, the outfit of the child is determined by the biome where the breeding occurs, but $$, it is sometimes randomly inherited from the biome type of the parents. The outfits available are:


 * Desert outfit: and  biome and variants
 * Savanna outfit: biome and variants
 * Taiga outfit:, , , and biome and variants
 * Snowy outfit: any snowy biomes (including, , (and its variants) and )
 * Swamp outfit: biome and variants
 * Jungle outfit: biome variants (including )
 * Plains outfit: and all other biomes not listed above, including mushroom fields and variants, beaches, and ocean biomes. Villagers spawned in the  or the  also have the plains biome outfit.

Villagers have 15 professions:
 * Farmer (straw hat)
 * Trades crops and natural foods.
 * Fisherman (fisher hat)
 * Trades campfires and fishing items.
 * Shepherd (brown hat with white apron)
 * Trades shears, wool, dyes, paintings and beds.
 * Fletcher (hat with feather and quiver on the back)
 * Trades bows, crossbows, all types of arrows (except luck) and archery ingredients.
 * Cleric (purple apron and creeper cloak)
 * Trades magic items like ender pearls, redstone dust, and enchanting or potion ingredients.
 * Weaponsmith (eyepatch and black apron)
 * Trades minerals, bells and enchanted melee weapons. The axe enchantments are weapon related.
 * Armorer (welding mask)
 * Trades foundry items and sells chain, iron and enchanted diamond armor tiers.
 * Toolsmith (black apron)
 * Trades minerals, bells and harvest tools. The axe enchantments are tool related.
 * Librarian (eyeglasses and a book as a hat)
 * Trades enchanted books, clocks, compasses, name tags, glass, ink sacs, lanterns, and book and quills.
 * Cartographer (golden monocle)
 * Trades banners, compasses, banner patterns, papers and various maps, including explorer maps.
 * Leatherworker (brown apron and brown gloves)
 * Trades scutes, rabbit hide, and leather-related items.
 * Butcher (red headband and white apron)
 * Trades meats, sweet berries, rabbit stew, and dried kelp blocks.
 * Mason/Stone Mason (black apron and black gloves)
 * Trades polished stones, terracotta, clay, glazed terracotta and quartz.
 * Nitwit (green coated, no badge)
 * No trades
 * Unemployed (no overlay, base clothing of biome without extra feature)
 * No trades until employed. No badge until employed.

Trading


The trading system is a gameplay mechanic that allows players to buy and sell various items to and from villagers, using emeralds as a currency. Their trades can be valuable or somewhat meaningless, depending on the cost, the items the player might get, and how the player treats the villagers. Only adult villagers with professions can trade; the player cannot trade with nitwits, unemployed villagers, or baby villagers. Attempting to do so causes the villager to display a head-shaking animation and play the villager's declined trade sound.

an employed villager allows a player to trade, making offers based on the villager's profession and profession level. All offers involve emeralds as a currency, and items related to the villager's profession. Trading can allow the acquisition of items that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain, such as enchanted books with "treasure" enchantments (e.g. Mending), bottles o' enchanting, or chainmail armor. When a villager gets a new trade, they receive 10 seconds of Regeneration I (totaling to of restoration), which emits pink particles. The villager also emits green particles suggesting contentment.

Completing a trade with a villager increases its professional-level slightly. Some trades grant higher levels to the villager, while others do not. As it advances through its profession, the villager offers additional trades. When a villager unlocks a new trade at a higher level, it almost always grants more experience than every lower-level trade.

Villagers have a maximum supply of items and after the player has traded for an item that many times, the villager's supply of the item is exhausted. This results in the trade being temporarily locked. A player can continue to trade for the villager's other available items if any. Exhausted items are restocked when the villager works at a job site, up to twice per day.

Clicking use on a unemployed villager or a nitwit villager causes it to grunt and shake their head. {Java Edition only} In Bedrock Edition, clicking use on a unemployed villager or a nitwit villager does nothing.

Using a name tag on a villager always names the villager instead of opening the trading interface.

Supply and demand
The price of an item can rise and fall with changes in demand. The price of a traded item can rise when next resupplied, or fall from a risen price if not traded. Demand is stored per item, not per villager.

Trade offering


When a player holds an item near a villager who wants that item, the villager holds up an item it offers in exchange. For example, a villager who buys 20 wheat for one emerald holds up an emerald, offering it to a player holding wheat. Villagers do not offer trades that are currently out of stock. If the villager has more than one trade for an item, it cycles through the trades, offering a different item every few seconds. This kind of trading interaction makes it easier to find villagers who offer a particular trade, but the player must still open the trading interface to complete the trade. Note that villagers do not hold items to offer trades during their gather or sleep phases, even though it is still possible to trade with them.

Economic trade
Villagers have levels and require experience to unlock the next tiers of trade; level 1 is a novice, level 2 is apprentice, level 3 is journeyman, level 4 is expert, and level 5 is master. Villagers can resupply trades by themselves by working more at their job site block.

Popularity
$$, villagers increase their prices of trades if a player's popularity is low, (e.g. from damaging villagers), and decrease it if their popularity is high (e.g. from trading with multiple villagers). Curing a zombie villager in Bedrock Edition or defeating a raid in Java Edition also increases the player's popularity by 10.

Hero of the Village
When a player receives, players receive discounted prices on all the items traded by villagers in both editions. The also gets gifts. Each villager throws gifts related to its profession. These gifts range in value from common (like seeds) to rare items (like chainmail armor). A player's popularity increases by 10 in Java Edition and doesn't increase in Bedrock Edition. Villagers also shoot off fireworks.

ID




Entity data
Villagers have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Trivia

 * The villagers were inspired by the shopkeepers in Dungeon Master 2.
 * Originally, the mobs populating villages were to be pigmen.
 * Villagers, unlike illagers and zombie villagers, do not visually sit down when riding objects such as boats and minecarts, behavior which also applies to Witches and Wandering Traders.
 * When a villager is in love mode, it walks slowly. However, when a villager runs indoors as the night falls, it runs faster than the player's sprinting speed.
 * Villagers use their schedules if the village is in the Nether or the End. This is because the daylight cycle continues in these dimensions, even though it is not normally apparent to the player.
 * Unlike players, villagers can claim and sleep in beds in the Nether and the End without causing them to explode.
 * The villager skins added in the Village and Pillage update were inspired by 2018 fashion shows, such as Gucci's.
 * Villagers occasionally sleep in odd ways during the night inside their beds, sometimes hanging halfway off the side of the bed or even glitching into walls.
 * Although the villages in snowy taiga biomes spawn the snowy villager variant, they use the taiga village variant.
 * When the Programmer Art resource pack is enabled, all villagers have a green hood on their heads. This is because the Programmer Art nitwit texture (which had the hood in the texture since its addition) is called the same as the Village & Pillage base villager texture.
 * Baby villagers are the only mobs that do not have a disproportionately large head compared to their adult counterparts. Rather, they are smaller versions of the adult villager.
 * Giving a villager any item (with commands) causes it to hold the item as if offering it, but it cannot be traded.
 * Fisherman villagers have been intentionally textured by Jasper Boerstra to display the long-since-removed raw fish texture.
 * Villagers display their held items differently than most creatures do, using the "ground" parameter instead of the usual hand parameter in model display settings.
 * Villagers (and baby villagers) on boats that have claimed a bed can still sleep when the bed is near to them resulting in them sleeping in the boat instead.
 * The Librarian professioned Villager appears to have a book on their head.

April fools
On April 1, 2014, Mojang announced that villagers have taken over the skin servers and content delivery networks (CDN) as an April Fools joke. This caused the player's current skin to turn into villager skins, and caused users to be unable to change their skins unless modifying the launcher .json file. Different career villager skins were used, including the then-unused nitwit villager (green robe).

Many of the sounds were also changed, supposedly by the villagers. They seem to be similar to a villager talking (with words, rather than their normal sounds). The in-game music has also been altered to include villager like noises, and also features a villager version of the "Game of Thrones" theme on the title screen. The sounds originate from the sound resource pack created by Element Animation, titled The Element Animation Villager Sound Resource Pack (T.E.A.V.S.R.P.), which is based on the villagers appearing in their fan videos. The villagers were voiced by Dan Lloyd, Director of Element Animation.

The skins and the sounds were reverted to the way they were before on April 2, 2014. However, this update cannot be activated by setting the computer's date to April 1, 2014.