docker-minecraft-server/docs/mods-and-plugins/index.md

Working with mods and plugins

Mod platforms

By far the easiest way to work with mod and plugins, especially large numbers of them, is to utilize one of the supported mod platforms, such as Modrinth or CurseForge.

Download automation

On the left, there are sections describing some download automation options.

Optional plugins, mods, and config attach points

There are optional volume paths that can be attached to supply content to be copied into the data area:

/plugins

contents are synchronized into /data/plugins for Bukkit related server types. The source can be changed by setting COPY_PLUGINS_SRC. The destination can be changed by setting COPY_PLUGINS_DEST. Set SYNC_SKIP_NEWER_IN_DESTINATION=false if you want files from /plugins to take precedence over newer files in /data/plugins.

/mods

contents are synchronized into /data/mods for Fabric and Forge related server types. The source can be changed by setting COPY_MODS_SRC. The destination can be changed by setting COPY_MODS_DEST.

/config

contents are synchronized into /data/config by default, but can be changed with COPY_CONFIG_DEST. The source can be changed by setting COPY_CONFIG_SRC. For example, -v ./config:/config -e COPY_CONFIG_DEST=/data will allow you to copy over files like bukkit.yml and so on directly into the server directory. Set SYNC_SKIP_NEWER_IN_DESTINATION=false if you want files from /config to take precedence over newer files in /data/config.

By default, the environment variable processing is performed on synchronized files that match the expected suffixes in REPLACE_ENV_SUFFIXES (by default "yml,yaml,txt,cfg,conf,properties,hjson,json,tml,toml") and are not excluded by REPLACE_ENV_VARIABLES_EXCLUDES and REPLACE_ENV_VARIABLES_EXCLUDE_PATHS. This processing can be disabled by setting REPLACE_ENV_DURING_SYNC to false.

If you want old mods/plugins to be removed before the content is brought over from those attach points, then add -e REMOVE_OLD_MODS=TRUE. You can fine tune the removal process by specifying the REMOVE_OLD_MODS_INCLUDE and REMOVE_OLD_MODS_EXCLUDE variables, which are comma separated lists of file glob patterns. If a directory is excluded, then it and all of its contents are excluded. By default, only jars are removed.

You can also specify the REMOVE_OLD_MODS_DEPTH (default is 16) variable to only delete files up to a certain level.

For example: -e REMOVE_OLD_MODS=TRUE -e REMOVE_OLD_MODS_INCLUDE="*.jar" -e REMOVE_OLD_MODS_DEPTH=1 will remove all old jar files that are directly inside the plugins/ or mods/ directory.

These paths work well if you want to have a common set of modules in a separate location, but still have multiple worlds with different server requirements in either persistent volumes or a downloadable archive.

For more flexibility with mods/plugins preparation, you can declare directories to use in the MODS variable

Zip file modpack

Like the WORLD option above, you can specify the URL or path of a "mod pack" to download and install into mods for Forge/Fabric or plugins for Bukkit/Spigot. To use this option pass the environment variable MODPACK, such as

docker run -d -e MODPACK=http://www.example.com/mods/modpack.zip ...

!!! note The referenced URL must be a zip file with one or more jar files at the top level of the zip archive. Make sure the jars are compatible with the particular TYPE of server you are running.

You may also download or copy over individual mods using the MODS environment variable. MODS contains a comma-separated list of

• URL of a jar file
• container path to a jar file
• container path to a directory containing jar files

docker run -d -e MODS=https://www.example.com/mods/mod1.jar,/plugins/common,/plugins/special/mod2.jar ...

Generic pack files

To install all the server content (jars, mods, plugins, configs, etc.) from a zip or tgz file, then set GENERIC_PACK to the container path or URL of the archive file. This can also be used to apply a CurseForge modpack that is missing a server start script and/or Forge installer.

If multiple generic packs need to be applied together, set GENERIC_PACKS instead, with a comma separated list of archive file paths and/or URLs to files.

To avoid repetition, each entry will be prefixed by the value of GENERIC_PACKS_PREFIX and suffixed by the value of GENERIC_PACKS_SUFFIX, both of which are optional. For example, the following variables

GENERIC_PACKS=configs-v9.0.1,mods-v4.3.6
GENERIC_PACKS_PREFIX=https://cdn.example.org/
GENERIC_PACKS_SUFFIX=.zip

would expand to https://cdn.example.org/configs-v9.0.1.zip,https://cdn.example.org/mods-v4.3.6.zip.

If applying large generic packs, the update can be time-consuming. To skip the update set SKIP_GENERIC_PACK_UPDATE_CHECK to "true". Conversely, the generic pack(s) can be forced to be applied by setting FORCE_GENERIC_PACK_UPDATE to "true".

The most time-consuming portion of the generic pack update is generating and comparing the SHA1 checksum. To skip the checksum generation, set SKIP_GENERIC_PACK_CHECKSUM to "true.

Mod/Plugin URL Listing File

As an alternative to MODS, the variable MODS_FILE can be set with the path to a text file listing a mod/plugin URL on each line. For example, the following

 -e MODS_FILE=/extras/mods.txt

would load from a file mounted into the container at /extras/mods.txt. That file might look like:

https://edge.forgecdn.net/files/2965/233/Bookshelf-1.15.2-5.6.40.jar
https://edge.forgecdn.net/files/2926/27/ProgressiveBosses-2.1.5-mc1.15.2.jar
# This and next line are ignored
#https://edge.forgecdn.net/files/3248/905/goblintraders-1.3.1-1.15.2.jar
https://edge.forgecdn.net/files/3272/32/jei-1.15.2-6.0.3.16.jar
https://edge.forgecdn.net/files/2871/647/ToastControl-1.15.2-3.0.1.jar

!!! note

Blank lines and lines that start with a `#` will be ignored

[This compose file](https://github.com/itzg/docker-minecraft-server/blob/master/examples/docker-compose-mods-file.yml) shows another example of using this feature.

It is recommended to combine this option with `REMOVE_OLD_MODS=TRUE` to ensure the mods/plugins remain consistent with the file's listing.

Remove old mods/plugins

When the MODPACK option above is specified you can also instruct script to delete old mods/plugins prior to installing new ones. This behaviour is desirable in case you want to upgrade mods/plugins from downloaded zip file.

To use this option pass the environment variable REMOVE_OLD_MODS=TRUE, such as

docker run -d -e REMOVE_OLD_MODS=TRUE -e MODPACK=http://www.example.com/mods/modpack.zip ...

!!! danger

All content of the `mods` or `plugins` directory will be deleted before unpacking new content from the MODPACK or MODS.