Recipe Crafter
A mod that lets modpackers and map-makers author Minecraft
recipes visually, inside a workbench block — no KubeJS, datapack JSON, or
external tools required. Recipes are written to a single hand-editable config
file and go live instantly.
Overview
Place a Recipe Crafter block, open it, and build a recipe by dropping items
into a familiar workbench grid. Pick the recipe family from a dropdown, set the
result, fill in an id, and click Save — the recipe is appended to
config/recipecrafter/recipes.json5 and becomes craftable immediately (no
restart). You can also Export the generated JSON to your clipboard for use
in datapacks/KubeJS, or Load and edit recipes that already exist in the game.
The Recipe Crafter Block
- A standalone block + item (
recipecrafter:recipe_crafter) with a custom
Blockbench model.
- Creative-only: ships with no crafting recipe; appears in the Redstone
creative tab, right after the Crafting Table.
- Block entity inventory (13 slots) that persists its contents across
open/close and world reloads, and scatters its items like a chest when broken.
Supported Recipe Types
Selected from a dropdown; the GUI swaps to the matching vanilla workbench texture
and slot layout for each:
| Type |
Vanilla recipe |
Layout |
| Crafting Table |
crafting_shaped / crafting_shapeless |
3×3 grid + result |
| Furnace |
smelting |
single input + result |
| Blast Furnace |
blasting |
single input + result |
| Smoker |
smoking |
single input + result |
| Campfire |
campfire_cooking |
single input + result (smoker panel) |
| Stonecutter |
stonecutting |
single input + result |
| Smithing Table |
smithing_transform |
template + base + addition + result |
- Shapeless toggle is available for crafting recipes (hidden for other types).
- Shaped crafting auto-computes the minimal pattern bounding box and a
compact key map (so a 1×1 item in the corner becomes a 1×1 recipe, not 3×3).
- Cooking recipes capture cook time (with sensible per-type defaults:
200 / 100 / 600 ticks) and experience.
- Stonecutting carries the output count.
- Smithing requires all three pieces (template, base, addition).
The Editor GUI
Left panel
- Type dropdown — switch recipe family; the panel texture and slots update live.
- Shapeless checkbox — crafting only.
- Edit field + "Edit" button — type a recipe id (
namespace:path) to load an
existing registered recipe back into the grid for modification.
- "Load recipe(s)" button — finds recipes that match the current contents.
Center
- The workbench grid / inputs and a result preview slot you drag the output into.
Right
- Done — opens the confirm screen.
Confirm / Save Screen
Opened via Done. Fields:
- Recipe ID — prefilled as
recipecrafter:<result item>; editable.
- Group — optional; placeholder hints + Tab-to-autofill from groups that
already exist in the game.
- Category — shown only for crafting/cooking (the types that use it); offers
the valid vanilla categories with Tab-autofill.
- Cook time (ticks) and XP — shown only for cooking recipes.
Actions:
- Save — writes the recipe to
recipes.json5, refreshes recipes, and
copies the id to your clipboard.
- Export to Clipboard — builds the recipe JSON and copies it (does not save).
- Cancel — returns to the editor with all contents preserved.
After a successful Save or Export, the crafter wipes itself clean
(contents returned to you, type reset) so the next recipe starts fresh. Cancel
leaves everything untouched.
Quality-of-life: commit buttons are greyed until the id is filled and the
recipe is valid, and the screen fields slide and fade in when it opens.
Loading & Looking Up Existing Recipes
- Edit by id decomposes a registered recipe back into the crafter's grid —
supports shaped, shapeless, all cooking types, stonecutting, and
smithing-transform recipes.
- Lookup searches for recipes matching the current contents:
- If the result slot has an item → every recipe that produces that item.
- Otherwise, if the grid is filled → the first matching crafting recipe.
- Returns up to 20 matches in a scrollable list, each with its id and
type and Copy ID / Copy JSON buttons.
Config File: recipes.json5
Located at config/recipecrafter/recipes.json5.
- Hand-editable at any time. Each entry is a normal vanilla recipe JSON
augmented with a unique
"id".
- Lenient parsing:
// comments and trailing commas are tolerated.
- Comment- and formatting-preserving saves: new recipes are spliced into
the array rather than rewriting the file, so your comments and hand-formatting
survive every save.
- Edit by hand, then
/recipecrafter reload (or relaunch) to apply.
Example shape:
{
"recipes": [
{ "id": "recipecrafter:my_recipe", "type": "minecraft:crafting_shaped", ... }
]
}
