Add-on

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.

	“	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^[1]

Add-ons are sets of Resource Packs and Behavior Packs officially supported by Mojang for use in Minecraft. They allow players to transform the look of their worlds and change the behavior of mobs. Currently, add-ons are supported only on Bedrock Edition platforms, which includes the Windows 10, Gear VR and Fire TV Editions. 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.^[2]

Add-ons use Behavior Packs and Resource Packs to can change the behavior of entities, blocks, and even the player. In newer versions of the game, new content can also be added without overwriting old content, such as, but not limited to: new blocks, items, biomes, particles, and entities. 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, entities, and structures).

Add-ons are also often used in maps for the Minecraft Marketplace, as they 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 if the developer allows this. The Marketplace is the only official add-on market, but there are external websites that have add-ons by non-Minecraft partner developers. However, only Marketplace content is guaranteed to be original material.

Reference guides[]

Important documentation pages:

Tutorials[]

Templates[]

Newest Official (1.21.0)

Newest Beta (beta 1.20.40.22)

Beta Resource Pack files (beta 1.20.40.22)
Beta Behavior Pack files (beta 1.20.40.22)

Script Engine Example Packs

History[]

Since the early development of the original Java Edition 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 Java Edition Alpha v1.0.1_01.^[3] It was then stated to be released in Beta 1.8.^[4] The Modding API was then rebranded as the Plugin API,^[5]^[6] 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.^[7]^[8]

At MINECON 2012, Mojang shared their vision for the future of the Plugin API.^[9] The API was to be developed by the Bukkit team^[10] and intended to simplify the modding^[11]^[12]^[13] and downloading process,^[14]^[15]^[16] although containing a slightly limited feature set.^[17]^[18] 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,^[19] Grum at the "The Minecraft Team - Behind the Scenes" panel on July 5, 2015^[20] and Dinnerbone again on October 19, 2015 while working on the loot tables for Java Edition 1.9.^[21] A user replied "I think an official "we're working on it" would really help a lot"^[22] to which Dinnerbone replied, "We're working on it."^[23]

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."^[24] The next day it was confirmed by Grum to be for Pocket Edition^[25] and at MINECON the plan and roadmap for the development of Add-Ons were outlined.

Minecraft introduced an experimental Physically Based Rendering (PBR) pipeline in 2023. It is designed for use with Deferred Lighting and Ray Tracing. This feature enables precise modeling of surface details and scene illuminators, ensuring a consistent lighting model throughout the day. Leveraging PBR and the innovative Deferred Lighting pipeline provides enhanced creative control over scene mood and lighting conditions.

References[]

↑ "Add-Ons: What's in a name?"
↑ "Minecraft Add-Ons: Customize Your Experience"
↑ Server scripting
↑ Back in the office, and some words on 1.7 and 1.8!
↑ "Re-decided on the whole "mods" vs "plugins" thing. Again. It's really definite this time; it's probably still "plugins"!" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 27, 2012
↑ "The Future of Minecraft: what lies ahead for the all-conquering sandbox game?" – PC Gamer, November 11, 2012
↑ "No" – @jeb_ (Jens Bergensten) on X, September 13, 2012
↑ "I'm not sure where people are getting this from, but we never said that the API is in 1.5 in either of our panels (1.5 one or API one)" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, November 25, 2012
↑ https://youtu.be/1uTl3aWEvEA
↑ Modding API: Bukkit Developing API
↑ "Still working on that command library, today I'm trying to tackle automatic help/usage generation. But first, test cases. So many test cases" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, October 8, 2014
↑ "The idea is that it would take care of autocomplete, parsing, error handling, usage generation etc for you. Ultimately for the API,of course" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 29, 2014
↑ "Been working on this for the past 2 weeks, it's a command registration, dispatching and handling system." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 29, 2014
↑ "Re-re-discussing the naming. What do you guys think it should be? "Mod" or "Plugin" - this being something that you just drop into a folder." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 27, 2012
↑ Modding API: Curse Interview with Jeb (Part 1)
↑ Modding API: Curse Interview with Jeb (Part 2)
↑ "The big issue I have with calling them mods is that there will still be actual mods modifying the game files, not really compatible." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 27, 2012
↑ Modding API: Modding API
↑ "Good idea. Fortunately, almost everything I've been doing for the past few years is for the plugin API :)" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, July 29, 2014
↑ https://youtu.be/ZtOLw1LAarE&t=45m4s
↑ "And all I'm saying is that these very things that make the game so much easier to modify are *huge* steps towards an API." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, October 19, 2015
↑ "I think an official "we're working on it" would really help a lot." – @FrozenDroid on X, October 19, 2015
↑ "We're working on it." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, October 19, 2015
↑ "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." – @SeargeDP (Michael Stoyke) on X, August 12, 2016
↑ "the MCPE on, would be nice to say that too." – @_grum (Erik Broes) on X, August 13, 2016

External links[]

[minecraft.net-1] "Add-Ons: What's in a name?"

[2] "Minecraft Add-Ons: Customize Your Experience"

[3] Server scripting

[4] Back in the office, and some words on 1.7 and 1.8!

[5] "Re-decided on the whole "mods" vs "plugins" thing. Again. It's really definite this time; it's probably still "plugins"!" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 27, 2012

[6] "The Future of Minecraft: what lies ahead for the all-conquering sandbox game?" – PC Gamer, November 11, 2012

[7] "No" – @jeb_ (Jens Bergensten) on X, September 13, 2012

[8] "I'm not sure where people are getting this from, but we never said that the API is in 1.5 in either of our panels (1.5 one or API one)" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, November 25, 2012

[9] ttps://youtu.be/1uTl3aWEvEA

[10] Modding API: Bukkit Developing API

[11] "Still working on that command library, today I'm trying to tackle automatic help/usage generation. But first, test cases. So many test cases" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, October 8, 2014

[12] "The idea is that it would take care of autocomplete, parsing, error handling, usage generation etc for you. Ultimately for the API,of course" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 29, 2014

[13] "Been working on this for the past 2 weeks, it's a command registration, dispatching and handling system." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 29, 2014

[14] "Re-re-discussing the naming. What do you guys think it should be? "Mod" or "Plugin" - this being something that you just drop into a folder." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 27, 2012

[15] Modding API: Curse Interview with Jeb (Part 1)

[16] Modding API: Curse Interview with Jeb (Part 2)

[17] "The big issue I have with calling them mods is that there will still be actual mods modifying the game files, not really compatible." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 27, 2012

[18] Modding API: Modding API

[19] "Good idea. Fortunately, almost everything I've been doing for the past few years is for the plugin API :)" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, July 29, 2014

[20] ttps://youtu.be/ZtOLw1LAarE&t=45m4s

[21] "And all I'm saying is that these very things that make the game so much easier to modify are *huge* steps towards an API." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, October 19, 2015

[22] "I think an official "we're working on it" would really help a lot." – @FrozenDroid on X, October 19, 2015

[23] "We're working on it." – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, October 19, 2015

[24] "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." – @SeargeDP (Michael Stoyke) on X, August 12, 2016

[25] "the MCPE on, would be nice to say that too." – @_grum (Erik Broes) on X, August 13, 2016

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Mods
Official	MinecraftEdu Project Malmö
Add-ons (BE)	Introduction Getting Started Resource Packs Behavior Packs Installing Add-Ons