How to install datapacks on a Minecraft server

1. Open the World tab of your server and find Data packs.
2. Search for the pack, for example terralith, and click Install next to it.
3. Restart the server. Datapacks load at the next restart.

The pack goes into the datapacks folder of your world. Installed lists what is there, with Remove next to each pack.

A few packs that many servers run, as a place to start. Check that each one lists your Minecraft version before you install it.

For a pack from somewhere else, or one you made yourself:

1. Download the datapack. It is a .zip file, or a folder with a pack.mcmeta file in it.
2. In Files, open your world folder, the name in level-name, which is usually world. Open the datapacks folder inside it.
3. Upload the zip there. There is no need to extract it.
4. Restart the server.

The most common mistake is a zip inside a zip, or one folder level too many. Open the zip on your computer: pack.mcmeta must be right at the top, not inside another folder.

Paper, Purpur and Spigot keep the Nether and the End in their own folders, world_nether and world_the_end. Datapacks do not go there. Put every pack in the datapacks folder of the main world: the server reads them from there for all three dimensions.

Type datapack list in the Console. It shows the enabled packs first, then the packs that are there but switched off. A pack you uploaded shows as file/ followed by the name of the zip.

• datapack enable "file/name.zip" switches on a pack that is listed as available.
• datapack disable "file/name.zip" switches one off without deleting it.

Not listed at all? The pack is in the wrong folder, packed one level too deep, or made for another Minecraft version. The console shows a warning at startup for a pack it could not load.

• reload loads new and changed datapacks without a restart. On Paper and Purpur, type minecraft:reload, which reloads only the datapacks and leaves plugins alone.
• Packs that change world generation still need a restart, and only shape land generated after it.
• When two packs change the same thing, the one loaded last wins. Add first or last after the name in datapack enable to move a pack to the front or the back.

Terrain, biome and structure packs only affect land that is generated after they are installed. Areas players already explored stay as they were, and the new terrain starts where the old land ends.

To have such a pack in a new world from the first chunk:

1. Stop the server and rename the old world folder, as in change your server's seed.
2. In Files, make a new folder with the name from level-name, and a datapacks folder inside it.
3. Upload the pack into that datapacks folder.
4. Start the server. The new world is generated with the pack.

Big terrain packs make new chunks heavier to generate. Pre-generating the land players will use keeps exploring smooth; see pre-generate your world.

Some datapacks add items or blocks that need a resource pack for their look. The pack's page says so. Put that resource pack on the server as in add a resource pack to your server, and players get it when they join.

That makes datapacks the safe choice for changes that should stay close to the normal game. For land claims, ranks or shops, plugins do more; see install plugins. For new blocks, machines and dimensions you need mods, as in install mods on your server.