Getting Started with Add-On Development for Bedrock Edition

Whether you create them yourself or get them from another creator, add-ons are the first step on the journey of bringing greater levels of customization to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Add-ons allow players to transform the look of their worlds and even change the behavior of entities. For example, you can change the blast radius of a creeper and the texture it's wearing.

In this article, you'll learn:

• How to download add-ons for various devices.
• The file structure used by Minecraft add-ons.
• How Visual Studio Code can be used for editing JSON files.
• Where to find applicable extensions for Visual Studio Code.

Installing add-ons

Add-ons can be installed on a variety of platforms running Minecraft. Here's how:

Windows 10 or Windows 11

1. First, you'll need a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer with Minecraft: Bedrock Edition installed.
2. Download the world or add-on file from the provided source. If the file downloads as a .zip file, change the file extension name to ".mcworld" or ".mcpack".
3. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the file.
4. Open the file and the add-on should open in Minecraft.

• If you're opening a .mcworld that contains add-ons, the game will notify you that you've successfully imported the world. It will then be available from the "Play" menu.
• If you're opening a .mcpack, a pop-up notification will alert you that you've successfully imported the pack. Depending on the pack type, this will then be available when editing worlds in either the Behavior Pack tab or Resource Pack tab.

Realms/Console

1. You will need a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer with Minecraft: Bedrock Edition installed, a subscription to Realms, and a Minecraft world with add-ons activated.
2. On the computer, launch Minecraft and upload the world with add-ons active to your realm.
3. Go to your console, launch Minecraft, and open the add-on enhanced world on the realm.

Android

1. Launch Minecraft.
2. Download the world or add-on file to your Android device.
3. Go to the Settings app and select Storage > Explore (at the bottom). If you do not have a settings app, you can install a file explorer app like ES File Explorer.
4. Select the directory where you saved the file, usually "Download".
5. Select the file & the add-on should open in Minecraft.

• If you're opening a .mcworld that contains add-ons, the game will notify you that you've successfully imported the world. It will then be available from the "Play" menu.
• If you're opening a .mcpack, a pop-up notification will alert you that you've successfully imported the pack. Depending on the pack type, this will then be available when editing worlds in either the Behavior Pack tab or Resource Pack tab.

iOS

1. Launch Minecraft.
2. Tap on the world or add-on file you want to open (URL, e-mail attachment, etc.).
3. Your device will prompt you to open the file with Minecraft.
4. Tap Open in Minecraft. This will launch Minecraft with your selected file.

• If you're opening a .mcworld that contains add-ons, the game will notify you that you've successfully imported the world. It will then be available from the "Play" menu.
• If you're opening a .mcpack, a pop-up notification will alert you that you've successfully imported the pack. Depending on the pack type, this will then be available when editing worlds in either the Behavior Pack tab or Resource Pack tab.

Oculus Rift

1. Open Minecraft for Windows 10 in Rift Mode (if not in Rift mode, add-ons will open in the regular version of Minecraft for Windows 10).
2. Download the world or add-on file from the provided source (URL, email attachment, etc.). If the file downloads as a .zip file, change the file extension name to ".mcworld" or ".mcpack".
3. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the file.
4. Open the file, and the add-on should open in Minecraft.

• If you're opening a .mcworld that contains add-ons, the game will notify you that you've successfully imported the world. It will then be available from the "Play" menu.
• If you're opening a .mcpack, a pop-up notification will alert you that you've successfully imported the pack. Depending on the pack type, this will then be available when editing worlds in either the Behavior Pack tab or Resource Pack tab.

The com.mojang folder

A folder called com.mojang was added to the AppData folder during Minecraft installation. You'll need to find this folder so you can add your content to it.

To locate the com.mojang folder on your computer, you'll need to have the Hidden items checkbox set to true, as shown below. Also, check the box for File name extensions.

Showing hidden items

1. Open File Explorer from the taskbar.
2. Select the View tab.
3. In the Show/hide section, select the checkboxes for File name extensions and Hidden items.

Locating com.mojang on a Windows device

1. Press Win+R to open Run.
2. If you are using the main Minecraft releases, copy and paste the following into the Open field: %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang
3. Alternatively, if you are using the preview Minecraft preleases, copy and paste the following into the Open field: %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftWindowsBeta_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang
4. Click OK.

Tip

This is a great time to save a shortcut to this folder on your desktop.

As shown in the image below, there are multiple subdirectories located within the com.mojang folder.

Tip

If you see more content in this folder than what is shown above, do not panic! This image shows a fresh install of Minecraft.

Behavior, Skin, and Resource Packs

There are three folders called behavior_packs, resource_packs, and skin_packs that will store finalized custom content that will be added to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Don't worry about these folders right now; you're going to be developing content, so you'll be working in the development versions of these folders, as discussed in the next section.

Development Packs

Use the development_resource_packs and development_behavior_packs folders for the Resource Pack and Behavior Pack tutorials. Development pack folders are updated each time Minecraft is launched, so you can quickly load and test the changes you made to their contents.

minecraftWorlds

minecraftWorlds contains each world that has been generated within the current build of Minecraft. Each folder also contains resource and behavior pack folders for any packs that may be in use within the world.

Tip

When installing a new build of Minecraft, you should save a copy of this folder as a backup to prevent any potential loss of Minecraft worlds that you may have.

Visual Studio Code

The files you'll be creating to customize Minecraft: Bedrock Edition will be written in JSON, a popular format for describing data. JSON can be edited in any text editor such as Notepad or Word, but it's easier to edit it with a programming editor that understands JSON natively. Microsoft's Visual Studio Code is a free programming editor that not only works great with JSON, it supports extensions that add functionality—including some built specifically for Bedrock development.

Installing Visual Studio Code

Follow this link to install Visual Studio Code.

Visual Studio Code Extensions

Visual Studio Code supports extensions created by the Visual Studio Code developer community. Extensions are a great way to help write and understand Minecraft syntax when working on resource and behavior packs.

Here's two recommended extensions for Minecraft development:

• Blockception's Minecraft Bedrock Development
• Bedrock Definitions

What's next?

Now that your development environment is set up, you can start creating your first add-on and learn more about resource packs.

Introduction to Resource Packs

Alternatively, if you'd like to learn how to use commands, head on over to Getting Started with Command Blocks and learn how to use command blocks to chain together different commands.

Getting Started with Command Blocks