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Installing mods

Choosing mods when you create a server, how to get them installed today, and what to check when one breaks.

Minecraft Java servers install mods and plugins from Modrinth, straight from the dashboard. Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt servers take mods; Paper, Purpur and Spigot servers take plugins. Vanilla runs neither.

Installing

  1. Open your server, then the Minecraft tab, then Mods & Plugins.
  2. Search. Only mods built for your server's type and Minecraft version are listed, so what you see is what will load.
  3. Click Add on each one you want. They collect in the bar at the bottom of the page, so a handful of mods costs one restart, not several.
  4. Click Install. If the server is running it restarts: players are warned in game and the world is saved first, and you can choose to wait five minutes.

Any library a mod needs is added automatically, and removing a mod removes the libraries it brought with it. The first install on a server takes a locked backup of the world before anything changes.

What Sapling will and won't do

  • It installs the exact file Modrinth published for your version, and checks the download arrived whole.
  • It never updates a mod on its own. A mod stays on the version you installed until you change it.
  • Client-only mods are shown but not installed. Things like shaders and minimaps run on each player's own computer, so your players install those themselves.
  • Files you add yourself are left alone. The tab lists them as added outside Sapling and never touches them.
  • Modpacks aren't supported — add the mods one by one.

Mods you chose at setup

If you picked mods while creating the server, they are waiting on the Mods & Plugins tab under Your Picks From Setup. Nothing is installed until you click Add and Install, so you can check they still suit the server first.

When something breaks

  • Server won't start after adding a mod. Check the live console for the stack trace. It almost always names the offending mod in the first few lines. Remove it from the tab and install again.
  • Start small. Two or three mods first makes a crash far easier to trace than fifty at once.
The backup is there if you need it. See Backups & restores.

Licensing

Mods on Modrinth are published under a range of licences. Most permit private use on a server like yours without ceremony. If you're running a public, monetised, or pay-to-play server, check each mod's licence — some require permission for that use case.