The Magic Sorting System is a free Data Pack available for Minecraft v1.13, v1.14, v1.15 and v1.16 (Java edition). It provides an easy way to craft an automatic, extensible item sorting system, which does not require redstone, nor console commands, nor command blocks. Items are teleported to matching item frames, where they can be routed via hoppers into chests or furnaces (so it still requires considerable resources and building). The whole system can be entirely built in survival mode, and supports both single and multiplayer (local or server install).

The sorting system works by providing a special magic drop off area, where you can dump any number of unsorted items (for e.g. when you come back from a mining trip), and they will be automatically sorted into 36 different categories, each with its own item frame. Note that you do not need all 36 categories to start out -- you can progressively build your storage system over time, and have it look however you want. You can also provide a "misc" (catch-all) category, which catches all items which don't have their own group built.

Items are teleported directly to their matching item frames for the category. The idea is that you can place a hopper directly under each item frame, which then routes the items into a connected chest (or multiple chests), or furnaces for auto-smelting. Item routing and storing is left up to the player, which can be simple or quite complex.

Why?

It is entirely possible to build a complete item sorting and storage system using built-in vanilla Minecraft features. I've seen some incredible systems, and my hat is off to those amazing builders. However in practice, actually doing it is very difficult and tedious in my experience. It requires a large amount of hoppers and complex redstone contraptions for filtering. For example, to filter and store every item in the game, it would take at least 2 hoppers per unique item, or 1,550 hoppers total (3,875 iron ingots). Doing this in survival mode would take a very long time, and use up an enormous amount of space just for the machinery.

The magic sorting system is designed to make all this much easier to build. It requires only 1 hopper per category (36 categories total for sorting all items in the game), and handles all the item filtering and routing "magically" (i.e. by automatic item teleportation). It is server-friendly (lag-free), and it keeps survival gameplay balanced by requiring some expensive resources to start out.

Players can still build out custom storage systems using hoppers, chests, furnaces and more. They can be as simple or complex as they want. The magic sorting system only teleports items to special item frames. The rest is up to the player.

See our GitHub page for full documentation, including installation instructions:

https://github.com/jhuckaby/magic-sorting-system

Magic Sorting System (Datapack)