Recipe Introduction

2025-06-18

Recipes in Minecraft are very similar to recipes in real life. You gather a variety of components, prepare them in a specific and unique way, and in the end you create something new and wonderful. The main difference is that in Minecraft, recipes aren't limited to food — you use them to build furniture, complex resources, and more!

In this article, we'll look at the basic components of a recipe and go over the different recipe types to help you get started.

Recipe Parameters

Recipe parameters are the building blocks that make up the recipe. To continue the analogy from earlier — these are our ingredients! While all recipes have parameters, not all recipes share the SAME parameters.

Name	Description	Type(s)
Input	Defines the items used to create a recipe	Furnace; Potion
Output	Defines the item a certain recipe creates	Furnace; Potion
Tags	Define items that can be used to create a recipe	All
Pattern	Represents the item and pattern configuration required to produce the result you assign	Shaped
Key	Assigns a Minecraft item to the key(s) you used in the pattern	Shaped
Priority	Sets the priority level of a recipe (lower numbers represent a higher priority)	Shaped; Shapeless
Result	When input items match the pattern, these items are the result	Shaped; Shapeless; Smithing Transform
Ingredients	Define the items required to complete a recipe (regardless of their orientation in the table)	Shapeless
Reagent	Defines the items combined with a potion in a brewing container recipe	Potion
Addition	Defines the items used to perform the transformation	Smithing Transform
Base	Defines the item that will be transformed	Smithing Transform

Recipe Tags

Recipe tags let you group similar elements together. For example, you can combine different types of wood stairs to construct a recipe that can adapt to a variety of parameters. See this article for more information on recipe tags.

Recipe Types

Shaped vs. Shapeless Recipes

Players use Shaped Recipes at a crafting table, and must place recipe components in a dedicated pattern to generate the output assigned to them. As a creator, you can use resource and behavior packs to tweak pattern assignments and output parameters to make them perfect for your world.

Note

The maximum recipe size supported is 3x3, so anything after the third character in a pattern is ignored.

Shapeless recipes are any recipes that don't require a dedicated pattern to generate the output assigned to them. As a creator, you can also leverage resource and behavior packs to edit and create new shapeless recipes, but the parameters used differ slightly.

Name	Description	Type(s)
Tags	Define items that can be used to create a recipe	Both
Pattern	Represents the item and pattern configuration required to produce the result you assign	Shaped
Key	Assigns a Minecraft item to the key(s) you used in the pattern	Shaped
Ingredients	Define the items required to complete a recipe (regardless of their orientation in the table)	Shapeless
Priority	Sets the priority level of a recipe (lower numbers represent a higher priority)	Both
Result	When input items match the pattern, these items are the result	Both

Furnace Recipes

These are recipes that require a furnace to generate the output assigned to them. When players place the correct item(s) into the furnace (the ones you define as an input in the table's JSON), they transform into the corresponding output assigned in the table. Check out the furnace reference documentation for examples and a more detailed explanation of furnace recipe tables.

Name	Description
Tags	Define items that can be used to create a recipe
Input	Defines the items used to create a recipe
Output	Defines the item a certain recipe creates

Potion Brewing Recipes

Potions require players to use both a potion brewing mix and a potion brewing container, which is created at a potion brewing station. As a creator, you can use resource and behavior packs to tweak the parameters for these potions, stations, and containers. Check out our potion brewing mix reference documentation for examples and a more detailed explanation of potion brewing tables.

Name	Description
Tags	Define items that can be used to create a recipe
Input	Defines the items used to create a recipe
Reagent	Defines the items combined with a potion in a brewing container recipe
Output	Defines the item a certain recipe creates

Smithing Transform Recipes

Players use Smithing Transform recipes at a smithing table to retain an item's properties while transforming it into another item. Check out our reference documentation for examples and a more detailed explanation of smithing transform recipes.

Name	Description
Base	Defines the item that will be transformed
Addition	Defines the items used to perform the transformation
Result	When input items match the pattern, these items are the result

Smithing Trim Recipes

Players use Smithing Trim recipes at a smithing table to add a color trim to an item while retaining the item's properties. Check out our smithing trim reference documentation for examples and a more detailed explanation of smithing trim recipes.

Recipe Unlocking

As of v1.20.10, players can "unlock" recipes ranging from basic starters (like a wooden pickaxe) to some of the most sophisticated items Minecraft has to offer (like diamond ore or enchanted golden apples)! As part of the item and recipe design process, you can define the requirements for unlocking an item with the unlock element in your recipe JSON.

Tip

You can choose an unlock strategy for a recipe based on either the discovery of an item or a specific in-world context.

Unlocking Examples

An item specifies the item to unlock. Optionally you can add a data tag to filter down to a specific type of item.

Acacia Planks:
```
  "unlock": [
    {
      "item": "minecraft:wood",
      "data": 4
    }
  ]
```
A context can be one of the following three values:
- AlwaysUnlocked: Always unlocks the item when the specified context is met
- PlayerInWater: Unlocks the item the first time the player enters the water
- PlayerHasManyItems: Player has more than 10 items in their inventory

Crafting table:

  "unlock": {
    "context": "AlwaysUnlocked"
  }

Chest:

  "unlock": {
    "context": "PlayerHasManyItems"
  }