Install Inventory Pets on your server

Inventory Pets, by Purplicious_Cow, adds animated pets that live in your inventory. A pet gives you effects, drops or defences while it sits in your hotbar, as long as you keep it fed. The mod is needed on the server and on every player's game.

Checked against Inventory Pets 2.2.8 on NeoForge 1.21.1, October 2026.

Pick the server version

The NeoForge build, 2.2.8 (uploaded 11 March 2026), is made for Minecraft 1.21.1 only and asks for NeoForge 21.1.197 or newer. Modrinth also lists Forge builds for 1.20.1, 1.19.2, 1.18.2, 1.16.5, 1.12.2 and 1.7.10. The 1.18.2, 1.19.2 and 1.20.1 builds need the Curios API as well.

To move your server to NeoForge 1.21.1, open JAR Manager under More, set Server software to NeoForge and Minecraft version to 1.21.1, then press Apply change. Leave Take a backup first ticked, then press and hold Confirm & reinstall for 3 seconds. The panel picks Java 21 for you, and Change your Minecraft version or mod loader has the full steps.

Install it

1. Open Mods under Content. The Modrinth chip is selected by default, and the Game version filter starts on your server's version.
2. Search for Inventory Pets. Two other projects have a similar name, an Inventory Pets by downloadableduck and "Anime Inventory Pets". Pick the one by purplicious_cow.
3. Press Install. The NeoForge 1.21.1 build lists no required add-ons, so no extra prompt should appear.
4. Restart from the Console tab so the server loads the jar.

Open the Installed view afterwards. Inventory Pets should show with no Failed to load badge.

What players need

Every player installs the same Inventory Pets version for NeoForge 1.21.1 on their own game. Join a modded server from your launcher covers the player side, and Fix the mismatched mod channel list error explains the refusal when versions differ.

How pets work

The project page describes the basics. Pet abilities are active while the pet is in your hotbar and stop when it is taken out or not fed. Hold a pet and use the Pet Namer key binding, which the mod adds to the controls menu under an Inventory Pets heading, to name it. A Feed Bag can sit anywhere in your normal inventory, and your pets eat from it directly. Pets come from crafting, from six kinds of dungeon, from the Petrifier wand (which needs a Diamond or Nether Star in your inventory), or by combining three or four pets into a Meta Pet. The page recommends JEI for looking up recipes in game.

Settings worth knowing

The mod writes inventorypets-common.toml. It sits in the config folder. Stop the server before you edit it in the File Manager. Useful keys, with the defaults the mod's own comments give:

• disableAllDungeons (false) turns off every pet dungeon, and disableMobsSpawnInDungeons (false) removes the guardians.
• frequencyTreeTops, frequencySkyDungeons, frequencyUndergroundDungeons, frequencySeaCaveDungeons, frequencyNetherDungeons and frequencySpaceDungeons (5 each) set how often each dungeon generates.
• enableBlackHoleAffectsPlayers (false) and the matching Pufferfish, Moon, Dubstep and Sun keys decide whether those pets can affect other players, which matters on a PvP server.
• disablePetrifier (false) turns off the Petrifier wand.

Common problems

• The mod is missing from the store: the Game version filter follows your server. The NeoForge build exists only for 1.21.1.
• The server stops at startup: open the Console and read the last lines. Fix mod and plugin errors on Minecraft covers reading the log.
• A player cannot join: check their game matches the version and loader named under "What players need".