Data Packs
What Are Data Packs?
Data packs are vanilla Minecraft’s built-in customization system. They let you tweak and extend the game – things like custom recipes, modified loot tables, new advancements, custom world generation, and quality-of-life features like one-player sleep – all without needing a mod loader like Forge or Fabric.
That distinction is important. Unlike mods, data packs work with a completely vanilla server. Your players don’t need to install anything on their end. They just join and everything works. This makes data packs perfect for vanilla or semi-vanilla servers that want extra features without the overhead of a full modded setup.
Here are just a few examples of what data packs can do:
- Custom recipes – Add new crafting recipes or change existing ones (craftable bundles, anyone?).
- Modified loot tables – Change what mobs drop, what you find in dungeon chests, or what fishing rewards you get.
- New advancements – Create your own achievement trees for players to work through.
- Custom world generation – Alter biome distribution, add new structures, or completely reshape how your world generates.
- Quality-of-life tweaks – Popular picks include one-player sleep, mob head drops, armor statues, and multiplayer-friendly coordinates.
Data packs are lightweight and server-side only. Your players don’t need to download or install anything – they just connect and play. If you’re running a vanilla server and want to add some extra flavor, data packs are the way to go.
The Data Packs page on the dashboard lets you browse and install data packs from Modrinth directly onto your server with just a few clicks.
Choosing a World
Data packs are installed per-world, so the first thing you’ll need to do is pick which world you want to install the data pack into. At the top of the page, you’ll see a world dropdown – just select the world you want. Your primary world (the one set in server.properties) will be labeled (Primary) so it’s easy to spot.
Make sure you select a world before trying to install anything. If no world is selected, you’ll get an error when you hit the install button.
Browsing Data Packs
Searching
Finding data packs is straightforward. Just type a name into the search bar and results will appear from Modrinth. If you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for, try searching for broad terms like “recipes,” “loot,” or “sleep” to see what’s out there.
Filtering Your Results
If you want to narrow things down, click the filter button to open the advanced filters panel. You’ve got several options to work with:
- Sort By – Choose how results are ordered. You can sort by Relevance, Downloads (this is the default), Follows, Newest, or Recently Updated.
- Categories – Filter by what the data pack does. Options include Adventure, Decoration, World Generation, Utility, or just leave it on Any to see everything.
- Game Version – Lock results to a specific Minecraft version. This is especially handy if you’re running an older version and want to make sure everything is compatible.
- Featured Only – Toggle this on to show only data packs that Modrinth has highlighted as featured.
- Open Source Only – Toggle this on if you only want to see data packs with publicly available source code.
If you’ve changed a bunch of filters and want to start fresh, just click Reset Filters to go back to the defaults.
Switching View Modes
You can toggle between two layouts depending on what you prefer:
- Card View – A 3-column grid layout. This is the default and gives you a nice visual overview of each data pack.
- List View – A more compact row-based layout if you want to scan through results quickly.
Your preference is saved, so you won’t need to switch it every time you come back.
Pagination
Results show 9 data packs per page. You can navigate between pages using the first, previous, and next buttons, or jump directly to a specific page number.
Viewing Data Pack Details
When something catches your eye, click on it to open a detail modal. You’ll find two tabs here:
Overview
This gives you the full picture – the complete description, who made it, download and follower stats, what categories it falls under, its license, and any external links (like a GitHub repo or wiki). It’s a good idea to read through this before installing so you know exactly what you’re getting.
Versions
This tab shows a paginated list of every version available for the data pack. You can filter by game version and version type (Release, Beta, or Alpha) to find the right one for your server. Each entry shows the version name, release date, which Minecraft versions it supports, the file size, and an Install button.
When in doubt, go with the latest Release version that matches your server’s Minecraft version. Beta and Alpha versions may have bugs or incomplete features.
Installing a Data Pack
Once you’ve found the version you want, just click the Install button. The data pack will be downloaded and placed in the /{world_name}/datapacks directory of whichever world you selected earlier. You’ll see a notification confirming the installation along with the exact destination path.
After installing, you may need to run /reload in your server console (or restart the server) for the data pack to take effect. Some data packs – especially ones that affect world generation – may only apply to newly generated chunks, so keep that in mind if you’re adding them to an existing world.
You can install multiple data packs on the same world. They generally play nicely together, but if two data packs modify the same thing (like the same recipe or loot table), one will take priority over the other based on load order.