Add-on

"For the uninitiated, an Add-On is basically a pack of files that lets you change how Minecraft's world works. Want 50ft chickens? You can have them! Want to create a pigman army to do your bidding and dress them all in frilly tutus? You can do that too, you weirdo! If you want more examples of what you can do with them, check out our dedicated Add-Ons page. They're pretty powerful things!"

- Michael Ott

Add-ons are the first step towards bringing customization to all editions of Minecraft and are officially supported by Mojang/Minecraft. Currently, add-ons are supported only on platforms, which includes also the Windows 10, Gear VR and Fire TV Editions. They currently allow players to transform the look of their worlds and change the behavior of mobs. They are accomplished by behavior packs. The documentation provided on these pages is officially supported and endorsed. It was provided by the Minecraft development team in order to assist the community.

Behavioral Packs often occur in combination with Resource Packs and can change the behavior of creatures, blocks and even the player. In newer versions of the game, new content can also be added without overwriting old content, such as, but possibly not limited to, new blocks, items, biomes, particles, and mobs. There are two types of behavior packs: one type modifies old content (these add-ons are modifications of a few creatures, blocks or modes of operation, without changing the game goal or character), and one type adds new content (these add-ons change the game by adding new content without overwriting existing content; add-ons can include mini-games, adventure maps, new items, creatures, bosses, and structures).

Add-ons are also often used in maps for the Minecraft Marketplace, as they simply add new Objects and other things. All add-ons needed for the map are automatically downloaded and integrated into the world after purchase, when downloading. The add-ons can be used in other maps, but it always depends on the developer if he allows this. It is also to be noted that the marketplace is the only official add-on market, but there are add-on websites that have community made add-ons by non-minecraft partner developers, and that those add-ons are not just piracy versions of existing marketplace packs, but original work (most of the time).

Reference guides

 * Current Release :
 * Bedrock Edition add-on documentation
 * Bedrock Edition animation documentation
 * Bedrock Edition biomes documentation
 * Bedrock Edition blocks documentation
 * Bedrock Edition entity components documentation
 * Bedrock Edition entity events documentation
 * Bedrock Edition MoLang documentation
 * Bedrock Edition particle documentation
 * Bedrock Edition recipe documentation
 * Bedrock Edition schemas documentation
 * Bedrock Edition scripting documentation
 * Bedrock Edition UI documentation


 * Beta :
 * Bedrock Edition beta add-on documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta biomes documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta blocks documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta features documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta item documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta crafting recipe documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta entity components documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta entity events documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta animation documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta particles documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta schemas documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta scripting documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta MoLang documentation
 * Bedrock Edition beta UI documentation

Tutorials

 * Tutorials/Bedrock Edition creator guidelines
 * Creating resource packs
 * Creating behavior packs
 * Changing Minecraft entity models

Templates

 * Newest Official :
 * Vanilla Resource Pack files
 * Vanilla Behavior Pack files
 * MINECON 2018 New Entity Sample Resources
 * MINECON 2018 New Entity Sample Behaviors
 * Particles Example Pack


 * Newest Beta :
 * Beta Resource Pack files
 * Beta Behavior Pack files


 * Script Engine Example Packs:
 * Minecraft Scripting Mob Arena Demo
 * Minecraft Scripting Turn-Based Demo

History
Since the early development of the original of Minecraft, there have been plans to implement an official way for developers to add and change content in the game. Plans for official game customization date back to July 5, 2010, with the Modding API planned after the release of. It was then stated to be released in Beta 1.8. The Modding API was then rebranded as the Plugin API, with the release originally stated to be planned for 1.3, then for 1.4, and then it was accidentally stated by Curse that it would be implemented in 1.5.

At MINECON 2012, Mojang shared their vision for the future of the Plugin API. The API was to be developed by the Bukkit team and intended to simplify the modding  and downloading process,   although containing a slightly limited feature set. After initially publishing a developer website (http://dev.minecraft.net) and GitHub page, these were both taken down within a year.

Developers on numerous occasions have mentioned that many changes made in the game's code were in preparation for the Plugin API, including Dinnerbone on July 29, 2014, Grum at the "The Minecraft Team - Behind the Scenes" panel on July 5, 2015 and Dinnerbone again on October 19, 2015 while working on the loot tables for Java Edition 1.9. A user replied "I think an official "we're working on it" would really help a lot" to which Dinnerbone replied, "We're working on it."

On August 12, 2016, Searge tweeted: "There will be news about the API at Minecon. I'll talk about the things I'm working on and what our plans are. But no more details for now." The next day it was confirmed by Grum to be for Pocket Edition and at MINECON the plan and roadmap for the development of Add-Ons were outlined.