Install a data pack on your Minecraft server

A data pack is a folder or .zip file that changes how a Minecraft world behaves: recipes, loot tables, advancements, functions and world generation (dimensions, biomes and structures). It lives in the world folder, so it works on every Java software we offer, Vanilla included. This guide adds one from the Datapacks tab or uploads your own, then checks that the server loaded it.

Checked against Minecraft Java Edition 26.3, October 2026.

Before you start

• Start the server once. Packs go inside the world folder, so the world has to exist. Until it does, the Datapacks tab says "Your world hasn't been generated yet" and refuses the install.
• Match your Minecraft version. Check it in the JAR Manager tab. Download pages list which versions a pack supports.
• Take a backup. If the server has no successful backup from the last 14 days, the tab asks first with a "No backup yet" message, with Go to Backups or install anyway. Create and restore backups has the steps.

Install from the Datapacks tab

1. Open Datapacks in the Content group of the left rail.
2. Stay on the Store view. Type a name into the search box, or browse. The list comes from Modrinth, and the game version is already set to your server's.
3. Click Install on the pack you want. A message confirms "installed" and says to run /reload or restart.
4. Restart from the Console tab so the world picks it up.

The Installed view lists what is in the world's datapacks folder. Each row has Enable or Disable and a delete button, and a change there needs the same reload or restart.

Upload a pack yourself

Use this for a pack from a creator's own site or one you built.

1. Check the file first. A data pack is a folder or a .zip file that contains a pack.mcmeta file in its root directory. Open the .zip on your computer: if pack.mcmeta sits inside a second folder, unzip the download and zip the contents of that inner folder instead.
2. In the File Manager, open your world folder. It is world unless you changed World folder in the Config Editor. Open the datapacks folder inside it, or make it with New folder if it is missing.
3. Click Upload and pick the .zip. Browser uploads stop at 100 MB per file, so send anything bigger over SFTP (Connect over SFTP).
4. Leave the .zip as it is. The server reads a zip file or an unpacked folder.
5. Restart the server.

Check that it loaded

Open the Console tab and run:

datapack list enabled

A pack from the datapacks folder appears as file/ followed by its file name. To switch one off without deleting it, run datapack disable "file/name.zip" with your own file name. The quotes are needed because the name contains a slash. You can also press Disable in the Installed view.

Some pack features load with the reload command, and others need the world or server restarted. A restart is the safe choice on every software.

If something goes wrong

• The tab says the "world" folder isn't a world. The folder has no level.dat, so the server cannot start. Delete that folder in the File Manager and start the server to generate a fresh world.
• The pack is missing from datapack list. One cause is a zip with an extra folder around pack.mcmeta. Rezip as in step 1 of the upload section.
• The server stops starting after you add a pack. A pack with invalid data can stop the world loading. Delete the file from datapacks in the File Manager and start again, or restore the backup you took.

For more commands to run once the pack is in, see Use your server console.