Chat Canvas

Chat Canvas is a client-side chat HUD customization mod for Minecraft Java Edition. It provides a visual editor that lets you move, resize, style, and preview the chat interface directly inside the game.

Instead of editing configuration files manually, you can drag the chat box to the desired position, resize it from any edge or corner, and immediately preview how your messages, input field, backgrounds, player names, and notifications will look.

Chat Canvas also includes per-player name colors, mention notifications, player quick actions, and a persistent command clipboard.

Two Editor Themes

Chat Canvas includes two selectable visual themes:

Chat Canvas Theme

A modern interface featuring:

Semi-transparent floating panels
Custom controls
Modern accent colors
Smooth panel movement
A clean, contemporary appearance

Minecraft-style Theme

A theme designed to match Minecraft’s visual language:

Minecraft-style buttons
Square borders and panels
Vanilla-style sliders and text fields
Familiar gray interface colors

Both themes use the exact same editor layout, features, settings, and editing session. Switching themes only changes the appearance of the editor.

You can switch themes at any time without losing unsaved changes, undo history, or the current page.

Visual Chat Editor

The editor displays a live preview over the current game world.

You can:

Drag the chat HUD to any position
Resize it from all four sides and four corners
Preview the chat in opened and closed states
Use edge and center alignment guides
Adjust exact X and Y positions
Adjust width and height
Undo and redo changes
Cancel changes without modifying your saved configuration
Save and immediately apply changes to the real chat HUD

The settings panel automatically moves to the opposite side when it would overlap the chat preview.

Text Customization

Chat Canvas provides extensive text controls:

Text size
Line spacing
Character spacing
Text opacity
Text shadow
Left alignment
Center alignment
Right alignment

Text wrapping, clickable links, hover events, player name hitboxes, and chat interaction coordinates are adjusted together with the visual text layout.

Character spacing also works with the chat input field, including its cursor, selection area, and mouse positioning.

Background Customization

Message backgrounds can be configured independently from the text.

Available message background modes:

Follow Text
Full Width
Hidden

Additional options include:

Message background color
Message background opacity
Horizontal padding
Vertical padding
Input field background color
Input field opacity
Input field border
Input field border color
Input field border opacity

Background height remains independent from line spacing, preventing large dark blocks between widely spaced messages.

Per-Player Name Colors

Chat Canvas can assign a stable color to each player based on their UUID.

Features include:

Automatic UUID-based colors
Stable colors across sessions
Manual color overrides
Customizable color palette
Online player search
Restore automatic color
Preserve server-provided colors

Only the player name is recolored. Message content, prefixes, formatting, click events, hover events, signatures, and indicators remain intact.

Mentions

Double-click a player name in the opened chat screen to insert:

@PlayerName

The mention is inserted at the current cursor position or replaces the selected text.

Chat Canvas never sends the message automatically.

Mention features include:

Configurable double-click interval
Mention text highlighting
Custom highlight color
Optional bold highlighting
Optional requirement for the @ symbol
Case-insensitive player name matching

Mention Notifications

When another player mentions your name, Chat Canvas can notify you in several ways.

Available notification methods:

Configurable sound
Adjustable sound volume
Adjustable sound pitch
Toast notification
Configurable message preview length
Full-screen color flash
Configurable flash color
Configurable flash opacity
Configurable flash duration

Each notification method can be enabled or disabled independently.

Repeated processing, message rewrapping, and chat refreshes do not trigger duplicate notifications for the same message.

Player Quick Actions

Right-click a player name in the chat history to open a quick-action menu.

Available actions:

Mention Player
Message Player
Copy Player Name

The private message template can be customized for different servers, for example:

/msg {player}

/tell {player}

/w {player}

These actions only modify the chat input field. They never send messages automatically.

Persistent Command Clipboard

Chat Canvas includes a global command clipboard for saving frequently used commands.

The command clipboard is not tied to a world or server. Saved commands remain available after leaving a world, changing servers, or restarting the game.

Features include:

Save the current input command
Custom command titles
Categories
Favorites
Search
Recently used commands
Usage counters
Edit commands
Delete commands
Reorder commands
Clear a category
Clear non-favorite commands
Clear all saved commands
Insert at the cursor
Replace the current input
Shift-click to temporarily reverse the insertion mode
Built-in common command presets

Clicking a command only places it in the chat input field. It is never automatically executed.

The command launcher button automatically hides while the command clipboard is open and returns when the panel is closed.

Command Safety

The command clipboard stores saved commands locally as plain-text JSON.

Do not save passwords, access tokens, or private information on shared or untrusted computers. This includes commands such as:

/login
/register
/password
/changepassword

Chat Canvas displays a warning before saving commands that may contain sensitive information.

Chat Canvas does not upload your commands or send them to the mod author.

Compatibility

Chat Canvas includes compatibility handling for the following mods:

Chat Heads

Chat Canvas does not provide player avatars itself. Chat Heads can continue rendering avatars alongside customized text, backgrounds, and alignment.

Player name click areas do not include the avatar.

More Chat History

Chat Canvas does not replace or restrict chat history capacity. More Chat History remains responsible for increasing the history limit.

ChatAnimation

Chat Canvas does not add a separate message-entry animation. ChatAnimation can continue handling message animations.

Smooth Scrolling

Chat Canvas does not implement another scrolling animation. Smooth Scrolling can continue handling chat scrolling.

Compatibility may vary depending on mod versions, resource packs, custom fonts, GUI scale, and modpack configuration.

Requirements

Minecraft 1.21.1
Java 21 or newer
Fabric Loader 0.19.3 or newer
Fabric API 0.116.14+1.21.1 or a compatible newer version
owo-lib 0.12.15.4+1.21 or a compatible newer version

Optional:

Mod Menu 11.0.4 or a compatible version

Installation

Install Fabric Loader for Minecraft 1.21.1.
Install Fabric API.
Install owo-lib.
Place the Chat Canvas JAR file in the mods folder.
Start the game.
Enter a world and press the default K key to open the editor.

Chat Canvas is a client-side mod. The server does not need to install it.

The mod does not bypass server permissions. Whether a command or private-message command is available depends on the server.

Basic Controls

Press K to open the Chat Canvas editor
Press T to open the normal chat screen
Double-click a player name to mention them
Right-click a player name to open quick actions
Click the Commands button to open the command clipboard
Use Ctrl+Z to undo
Use Ctrl+Y to redo

Numeric controls support:

Hold left mouse and drag horizontally
Use the mouse wheel for small adjustments
Hold Shift for precise adjustments
Hold Ctrl for faster adjustments
Right-click to restore the default value

Configuration Files

Main configuration:

.minecraft/config/chat_canvas.json

Command clipboard:

.minecraft/config/chat_canvas/command_clipboard.json

These files are global client-side data and are not stored inside individual world saves.

Back up the files before editing or deleting them manually.

Deleting the main configuration restores default Chat Canvas settings. Deleting the command clipboard file removes all user-saved commands.

Known Limitations

Currently supports Fabric for Minecraft 1.21.1 only
No Forge or NeoForge version is currently available
Chat Canvas is client-side only
Player avatars are not included
Message-entry animations are not included
Chat scrolling animations are not included
Some server plugins convert player chat into system messages
Player identity may not be detectable in heavily customized server chat formats
Player colors and quick actions may not work when the sender cannot be reliably identified
Custom fonts may change text width, line wrapping, and click regions
Private-message commands vary between servers
Server permissions still apply to every command
Saved commands are stored locally as plain text

Reporting Problems

When reporting a problem, please include:

Chat Canvas version
Minecraft version
Fabric Loader version
Fabric API version
owo-lib version
Mod Menu version
Other chat-related mods
GUI Scale
Chat Scale
Resource packs or custom fonts
latest.log
Screenshots or video
Clear reproduction steps
Whether the issue also occurs with only Chat Canvas and its required dependencies

Report issues on the GitHub issue tracker.

Author and Links

Chat Canvas is developed and maintained by ShouYun / 寿云.

License

Chat Canvas is licensed under the MIT License.

You may use, modify, and distribute the project in accordance with the license terms.