Set up Visual Workbench on Minecraft

Visual Workbench is a mod by Fuzs that makes crafting tables keep their items. Ingredients stay in the grid after you close the screen, and the ingredients and the result are drawn on top of the table. If you break the table, the contents drop on the ground. It must be installed on the server and on every player's game.

Checked against Visual Workbench 26.3.0 on NeoForge 26.3, October 2026. The same release exists for Fabric 26.3.

Pick the right server version

The newest release, 26.3.0, was published on 23 September 2026 for Minecraft 26.3 on Fabric and NeoForge. Modrinth also has releases for 26.2, 26.1.x and 1.21.1 (21.1.2, from 2 September 2026) on both loaders. Visual Workbench does not run on Paper or Purpur.

For the newest build, open JAR Manager under More, choose NeoForge (or Fabric) under Server software and 26.3 under Minecraft version, then press Apply change. The panel picks Java 25 for you. The NeoForge build asks for NeoForge 26.3.0.9 or newer. Change your Minecraft version or mod loader has the full steps. Switching reinstalls the server and keeps your world, but make a backup first in the Backups tab.

What it needs

Visual Workbench needs the library Puzzles Lib on both loaders. On Fabric it also needs Fabric API and Forge Config API Port. The 26.3.0 NeoForge jar asks for Puzzles Lib 26.3.3 or newer.

Install it

1. Open Mods under Content and keep the Modrinth chip selected. The Game version filter starts on your server's version.
2. Search for Visual Workbench and press Install on the result by Fuzs.
3. A prompt titled "Needs N more add-ons" appears, with N the count. It lists the libraries Modrinth marks as required. Press the Install all button. The number on it counts the mod as well as its libraries.
4. Restart from the Console tab.

Open the Installed view afterwards. Visual Workbench and its libraries should be listed with no Failed to load badge. A Needs badge names a library that is missing.

Players need it too

Each player installs Visual Workbench and Puzzles Lib for the same loader and Minecraft version. 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.

Using it in an existing world

Crafting tables placed before the install are vanilla blocks. The server setting convert_vanilla_workbench_when_interacting is true by default and converts a leftover table when a player tries to use it. Set it to false if you want old tables to stay vanilla.

Settings

The server setting lives in visualworkbench-server.toml in the config folder. Stop the server before you edit it in the File Manager.

How the table looks is a client setting. Each player has their own visualworkbench-client.toml in the config folder of their game, which you cannot change from the server. The keys are:

• ingredient_rendering: FLOATING by default. FLAT lays the items on the table and NONE hides them.
• result_rendering: true by default. It draws the crafting result as well.
• rotate_ingredients: CLOSEST_PLAYER by default. The other values are CRAFTING_PLAYER and NEVER.

Players can also change these in the game with Mod Menu on Fabric, as the Modrinth page describes.

Common problems

• The server stops at startup: open the Console and read the last lines. A missing Puzzles Lib or a wrong NeoForge version is the usual cause. Fix mod and plugin errors on Minecraft covers reading the log.
• The mod is not in the store: the Game version filter follows your server. Check it matches the version you chose in JAR Manager.
• Players cannot join: they are missing the mod or its library, or run a different version.