Minecraft chunk loaders: how they work

Farms, redstone machines and crops only run in chunks the game has loaded. A chunk loader is anything that keeps a chunk loaded when no player is standing next to it. This guide covers what still works on current versions, how to set up the simplest and most reliable option, and the server setting that can quietly switch your machines off.

Checked against Minecraft Java Edition 26.3, with the 1.21.2 and 1.21.9 release notes, October 2026.

What a loaded chunk means

A chunk is a 16 by 16 column of blocks. Minecraft only loads the ones it needs, and a chunk that is not loaded does not process anything: no growth, no machines, no mobs. A player keeps the chunks around them loaded, and the server setting simulation-distance decides how far from the player things keep running. The default is 10 chunks, and in the panel it sits in the Performance group of the Config Editor tab as Simulation distance (chunks).

What can load chunks now

Fixed spawn chunks no longer exist. Minecraft 1.21.9 removed them, and Mojang points to portals and ender pearls as the replacements. Change spawn chunks on your Minecraft server covers older versions.

Keep chunks loaded with forceload

forceload is the easiest loader to set up, and it survives restarts. You run it as an operator.

1. Stand in the dimension you want to change. Marks belong to the dimension where the command runs.
2. Run forceload add <x> <z> with the block coordinates of a point inside the chunk. Add a second pair of coordinates to mark a rectangle, for example forceload add 0 0 31 47.
3. Run forceload query to list the marked chunks.
4. Run forceload remove <x> <z> for one chunk, or forceload remove all to clear the dimension.

The coordinates are block coordinates, not chunk numbers, and one command can mark at most 256 chunks. Whitelist players and set operators shows how to give someone operator status.

Stop the server pausing itself

Since 1.21.2 a server pauses after a set time with nobody online, controlled by pause-when-empty-seconds, which starts at 60 on a Fabric server. A Paper server's file can show -1, which means it never pauses, so check the value in your own file. The console logs Server empty for 60 seconds, pausing when it happens. Nothing runs while the server is paused, so a forceloaded farm stops with it. If a machine has to keep working while everyone is away:

1. Open File Manager and edit server.properties.
2. If the value is a positive number, raise it to a larger number of seconds. If it is -1, leave it alone, because the server never pauses.
3. Restart the server. It reads the file only at startup.

Keep the cost low

Every chunk you keep loaded uses memory and processing time. Mojang's reason for removing spawn chunks was their cost in memory and performance. Mark only the chunks a machine really needs, and remove marks you no longer use. How much RAM does my Minecraft server need? explains how the load adds up.