Template:BlockTileEntity
A shulker box is a block that can store and transport items.
Obtaining
Breaking
Shulker Boxes can be mined with any tool or by hand, but using a pickaxe is the quickest method.
| Block | Shulker Box | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 2 | |
| Tool | ||
| Breaking time[A] | ||
| Default | 3 | |
| Wooden | 1.5 | |
| Stone | 0.75 | |
| Iron | 0.5 | |
| Diamond | 0.4 | |
| Netherite | 0.35 | |
| Golden | 0.25 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Crafting
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Shulker Box | Shulker Shell + Chest |
|
| Shulker Box | Any Shulker Box + Matching Dye |
Creative
When instantly mined in Creative mode, shulker boxes will drop as an item if there are items stored within[Except Legacy Console edition, where it will also drop if renamed], unless /gamerule doTileDrops is set to "false".
Usage
Animation of a shulker box when a player nears (Click to run animation)
Unlike other storage units, such as chests, shulker boxes keep their items when broken, which can be retrieved when placed again. Shulker boxes will drop as an item if pushed by pistons, and can be placed using dispensers. When holding a shulker box with items inside, the items will be listed as properties.
Items inside the shulker box are listed below the block type properties.
Shulker boxes can be stored in other containers, though they cannot be stored in other shulker boxes.
A shulker box has 27 inventory slots, the same number as a chest.
By default, the GUI of a shulker box is labeled "Shulker Box", but this name can be customized by naming it in an anvil before placing it, or by changing the CustomName tag using the /blockdata command.
When placed on a wall or ceiling, shulker boxes will face and open sideways/upside-down.
Shulker boxes cannot be opened if a solid opaque block is on their top surface, similar to a chest. For example, if a shulker box is facing upside-down and a solid opaque block is below it, the shulker box cannot be opened until the block is removed.
Undyeing
Dyed shulker boxes can be undyed using a cauldron. To do this, use a dyed shulker box on a cauldron that has water in it. This will cause the cauldron's water level to decrease by 1, and the shulker box will turn into an undyed one.
Data values
ID
Shulker Box/ID
Block data
In Bedrock Edition, dyed shulker boxes use the following data values:
| DV | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | White Shulker Box | |
| 1 | Orange Shulker Box | |
| 2 | Magenta Shulker Box | |
| 3 | Light Blue Shulker Box | |
| 4 | Yellow Shulker Box | |
| 5 | Lime Shulker Box | |
| 6 | Pink Shulker Box | |
| 7 | Gray Shulker Box | |
| 8 | Light Gray Shulker Box | |
| 9 | Cyan Shulker Box | |
| 10 | Purple Shulker Box | |
| 11 | Blue Shulker Box | |
| 12 | Brown Shulker Box | |
| 13 | Green Shulker Box | |
| 14 | Red Shulker Box | |
| 15 | Black Shulker Box |
Block states
| Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| facing | up | downeastnorthsouthupwest | The direction the shulker box is pointing. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the shulker box. |
Bedrock Edition:
Dyed shulker box:
| Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| color (Deprecated) | 0x10x20x40x8 | white
| white | 0 | White Shulker Box |
orange | 1 | Orange Shulker Box | |||
magenta | 2 | Magenta Shulker Box | |||
light_blue | 3 | Light Blue Shulker Box | |||
yellow | 4 | Yellow Shulker Box | |||
lime | 5 | Lime Shulker Box | |||
pink | 6 | Pink Shulker Box | |||
gray | 7 | Gray Shulker Box | |||
silver | 8 | Light Gray Shulker Box | |||
cyan | 9 | Cyan Shulker Box | |||
purple | 10 | Purple Shulker Box | |||
blue | 11 | Blue Shulker Box | |||
brown | 12 | Brown Shulker Box | |||
green | 13 | Green Shulker Box | |||
red | 14 | Red Shulker Box | |||
black | 15 | Black Shulker Box |
Block entity
A shulker box has a block entity associated with it that identifies its contents.
- Block entity data
- Tags common to all block entities
- CustomName: Optional. The name of this container in JSON text component, which appears in its GUI where the default name ordinarily appears.
- Items: List of items in this container.
- : An item, including the slot tag. Shulker box slots are numbered 0–26, 0 starts in the top left corner.
- Tags common to all items
- : An item, including the slot tag. Shulker box slots are numbered 0–26, 0 starts in the top left corner.
- Lock: Optional. When not blank, prevents the container from being opened unless the opener is holding an item whose name matches this string.
- LootTable: Optional. Loot table to be used to fill the shulker box when it is next opened, or the items are otherwise interacted with.[note 1]
- LootTableSeed: Optional. Seed for generating the loot table. 0 or omitted uses a random seed.[note 1]
Item data
Shulker boxes, as items, use an NBT tag BlockEntityTag to indicate the contents and details of the box when it is placed.
The following NBT structure is provided to show how the BlockEntityTag tag is organized, and is not comprehensive above the tag tag. The full NBT for an item can be found here.
- Entity data
- Item: The item
- tag: Additional information about the item. This tag is optional for most items.
- BlockEntityTag: The details of the shulker box
- tag: Additional information about the item. This tag is optional for most items.
- Item: The item
- CustomName: Optional. The name of this container in JSON text component, which appears in its GUI where the default name ordinarily appears.
- Lock: Optional. When not blank, prevents the container from being opened unless the opener is holding an item whose name matches this string.
Chunk format/Items
- : An item, including the slot tag. Shulker box slots are numbered 0–26, 0 starts in the top left corner.
- Tags common to all items
- : An item, including the slot tag. Shulker box slots are numbered 0–26, 0 starts in the top left corner.
- LootTable: Optional. Loot table to be used to fill the shulker box when it is next opened, or the items are otherwise interacted with.[note 1]
- LootTableSeed: Optional. Seed for generating the loot table. 0 or omitted will use a random seed.[note 1]
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| Organizational Wizard | Name a Shulker Box with an Anvil | — | 30G | Bronze | ||
History
before 1.12.
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.11 | 16w39a | ||||
| 16w39c | Silver shulker boxes are now called light gray, in keeping with naming consistencies across dyed blocks. | ||||
| 1.12 | 17w16a | ||||
| 17w17a | |||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | The ID has been changed from silver_shulker_box to light_gray_shulker_box.
| |||
| Prior to The Flattening, these blocks' numeral IDs were 219 through 234. | |||||
| 18w10b | Added default shulker box. | ||||
| 18w10d | Shulker boxes can now be undyed in a cauldron. | ||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.1 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Added shulker boxes. | |||
| alpha 1.1.0.9 | The color palette for shulker boxes has now been updated. | ||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Added default shulker box. | |||
| Changed the purple shulker box color to the new palette. | |||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU53 | CU43 | 1.49 | Patch 23 | Patch s3 | Added shulker boxes. |
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 1.9.19 | Added shulker boxes. | ||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Shulker Box" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- When opened with an entity on top, they will rise up half a block. This stretch also occurs to the box's hitbox.
- When destroyed by an explosion, the block will always drop as an item.
- With 37 shulker boxes in your inventory, hotbar and off-hand slot, 999 stacks of up to 64 items (up to 63936 total items) can be held. With 36 shulker boxes and an ender chest with 27 shulker boxes in it, 1701 stacks (up to 108864 items) can be held.
- With strength value 5 llamas, each caravan of 10 llamas with inventories full of shulker boxes can carry up to 4050 stacks (up to 259200 items).
- When the camera is far enough from a shulker box, the shulker box will be invisible, even though it is still within the render distance.















