Server, Client, or Both: Who Has to Install Your Mod
The Environment dropdown decides whether your players need to install anything. Here's what each option means and which one your idea needs.
When you build a Fabric, NeoForge, or Forge mod in Creator Hub, the studio asks for an Environment: Server, Client, or Both. It's asking where the mod's code runs, and the answer decides who has to install the file.
#Server
The mod runs on the server only. Players connect with a normal, unmodified client and never download anything. The server itself has to run the matching loader (a Fabric server for a Fabric mod).
Good for:
- Custom commands and admin tools
- Game rule changes
- Player data, stats, and leaderboards
- Events that fire on join, chat, block break, kill, or a timer
- Economy and permissions if you're not using plugins
The limit: it can't show players anything new. No new textures, no new blocks, no new screens.
#Client
The mod runs on the player's computer only. It doesn't touch the server and doesn't change the game for anyone else.
Good for:
- HUD overlays and extra info on screen
- Minimaps and waypoints
- Visual effects
- Sounds
- Key bindings and controls
If you're playing alone, Client covers your own world too.
#Both
The mod runs on the server and on every player's computer. This is required the moment you add content the game has to render or interact with.
Required for:
- New items, tools, and armor
- New blocks
- New mobs and entities
- Custom inventories and GUIs
- New biomes and dimensions
Both means everyone
Every player on your server has to install a Both mod, on the same Minecraft version and the same loader. Anyone without it is refused at the door. If you can't control what your players install, don't pick Both.
#Plugins and Bedrock don't have this choice
Paper and Spigot plugins are always server-side. That's the whole point of them. If you picked Paper or Spigot, you won't see the Environment dropdown.
Bedrock add-ons ship as behavior and resource packs attached to a world. Players get them by joining the world, not by installing a file.
#Pick it in one line
| Your idea | Environment |
|---|---|
| New sword, block, mob, or menu | Both |
| Commands, rules, economy, events, with vanilla players | Server (or a Paper plugin) |
| Something only you see on your own screen | Client |
| Cobblemon or Pixelmon add-on | Both |
#Getting a Both mod to your players
Send them the same JAR you put on the server, plus the loader and Minecraft version, plus Fabric API if it's a Fabric mod. A community page or a Modrinth listing makes this a link instead of a file. Share your mod covers all three.
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