Bedrock Add-ons: What You Get and How to Install Them
Behavior packs, resource packs, importing the add-on, enabling it on a world, and sharing it with a Realm. For phones, consoles, and Windows Bedrock.
Bedrock Edition doesn't have mods the way Java does. It has add-ons: packs of files a world turns on. Creator Hub's Bedrock studio builds them from a description, same as a Java mod, but installing and sharing them works differently.
#Two packs, one add-on
An add-on is usually two packs that ship together.
- Behavior pack: what things do. Items, blocks, entities, recipes, loot tables, spawn rules, scripted events.
- Resource pack: what things look and sound like. Textures, models, icons, sounds, UI text.
A new item needs both: the behavior pack makes it exist and the resource pack makes it visible. If you ask for gameplay only, you may get just a behavior pack, and that's fine for rule changes.
Ask for both up front
If your feature has a look (a new item, a new mob, a new block), say so in the prompt: "with a custom texture" or "with a resource pack for the icon". You'll get both packs in one build.
#Install it
Download the add-on
The build gives you a .mcaddon file. That's both packs zipped together.
Open it in Minecraft
On Windows, double-click it. On a phone or tablet, open the file and choose Minecraft. Minecraft imports the packs and shows a message when it's done. On console, transfer the file with a method your console supports, or use a Realm (below).
Enable it on a test world
Create a new world or open a test copy. In world settings, go to Behavior Packs and activate yours, then Resource Packs and activate that one too. Both, not one.
Check it in-game
Trigger what you asked for. If the item shows up but it's a pink-and-black square, the resource pack isn't enabled.
#Share it
Bedrock content travels with the world, not as a file each player installs.
- Realm or shared world: enable both packs on that world. Everyone who joins gets them automatically.
- Sending it to a friend: send the
.mcaddonand tell them to enable both packs on their world. - Updating: import the new build, then enable the new pack versions and remove the old ones. Mixing old and new halves is the most common cause of "it worked yesterday".
#Versions
Add-ons are built for the Bedrock version shown in Creator Hub. Match the version your devices or Realm are running. After a big Bedrock update, retest before reusing an old pack, and if something broke, ask the project for a compatibility update against the new version.
#When something's missing
- Item exists but looks wrong: resource pack not enabled, or an older resource pack is still active.
- Nothing happens at all: behavior pack not enabled on this world, or the world is a copy you made before enabling.
- Import didn't show a message: the file didn't open with Minecraft. Try again from the file manager and pick Minecraft explicitly.
Bedrock checklist
Build it yourself
Turn an idea into a working Minecraft mod
Describe it in plain English. Download the build. Drop it in your mods folder. No coding.
Start building