Install Modrinth mods on your server

Modrinth is a site where authors publish Minecraft mods and plugins, and your panel's Mods or Plugins tab searches it directly. You pick an add-on, click Install, and the file lands in the right folder for your server. The steps below cover finding the right one, what the prompts mean and how to keep add-ons updated.

Check you have the tab

The tab is named after what your server runs, and it sits under Content in the panel menu.

• Plugins on Paper and Purpur, and on Folia where your JAR Manager offers it.
• Mods on Fabric, Forge and NeoForge, and on Quilt where your JAR Manager offers it.
• No tab on Vanilla, which can't load either. Switch in JAR Manager under More (Change your Minecraft version or mod loader).

Plugins and mods aren't interchangeable, and your players' side differs too (Minecraft plugins vs mods).

Search the store

1. Open the tab and make sure Store is selected next to the search box. Installed lists what's already on the server.
2. Above the search box are source chips: keep Modrinth selected. CurseForge and Hangar are the other two. Hangar only has Paper plugins, so it's greyed out on a mod server. The GitHub button beside them isn't a search: it walks you through adding a jar that's only published on a GitHub release. It only shows for people allowed to use the file manager, so a helper without that permission won't see it.
3. Type a name into the search box, for example Lithium or LuckPerms.
4. Narrow the results with Add filter. The fields are Game version (it starts on your server's version), Loader, Category and Environment. Use the sort dropdown next to the filters (it starts on Relevance) to order by Downloads, Followers, Date published or Date updated.

If a search comes back empty, click Clear next to the filters. The preset version filter is the usual reason, because an add-on without a build for your exact Minecraft version doesn't show.

Read a result before installing

Each row shows the add-on's icon, name and author, a one-line description, badges for versions, loaders and category, and download counts. The name links to its page on Modrinth, which has the full description and a changelog, plus a gallery when the author has added screenshots. Open it, especially for anything you haven't heard of.

The Environment badge says where the add-on runs:

• Client or server: works on a server, though players may still need to install it too. Its Modrinth page lists whether the client and server sides are required or optional. The Environment filter starts on Client/server, which applies no filter and shows everything. Choosing Client or Server keeps the add-ons that support that side, including the ones marked Client or server.
• Server: only runs on a server, and players install nothing.
• Client: only runs in a player's own game. On a Mods tab the button reads Client only and is greyed out, since it does nothing on a server.

Install

1. Click Install on the row. If you have no recent backup, a No backup yet box offers Go to Backups or Install ... anyway. A broken add-on can stop the server booting, so take the backup.
2. If the add-on needs others, a box titled Needs 1 more add-on (the number varies) lists them. Click Install all to add them together. Anything greyed out reads "No file for your loader and version", so you'd have to add that one yourself or pick a different version.
3. When the message says the add-on is installed, restart from the Console tab. Nothing loads until the server restarts.

The add-on goes into plugins or mods, depending on your server.

Manage what's installed

Click Installed to see every jar in that folder, including ones you uploaded yourself. The panel matches uploaded jars to Modrinth by their hash, so they usually show a proper name and icon.

• Disable and Enable rename the jar. The trash button deletes it once you confirm Delete. Restart to apply any of them.
• Check for updates compares each jar against its source and shows an Update button on any that have a newer build for your Minecraft version. Update all appears once it finds some. Restart afterwards.
• Export for players appears on mod servers. It opens a box with a Download zip button. The zip packs the mods your players need with instructions, and leaves out server-only ones.
• A Needs or Failed to load badge means the last start logged a problem for that add-on.

Updates are never automatic: you press the button.

Problems

• Couldn't reach Modrinth: the store says to try again in a minute or pick another source. If it keeps failing, search again a little later.
• Server won't start after an install: disable the add-on you just added in the Installed view and restart. If that doesn't help, restore the backup from the Backups tab (How to create and restore backups).
• The add-on isn't on Modrinth: download the jar from the author's official page and upload it with the File Manager or SFTP (How to manage your server files).