Minecraft Bedrock 1.26.20 Update Notes for Creators

Video version of this article from the Minecraft Creator Channel

Minecraft Bedrock has been updated to 1.26.20. This release brings the full rollout of the modern block JSON parser and tag definition format, a significant set of new entity components for fine-grained control over friction, spawn, and equipment changes, the release of @minecraft/server v2.7.0, and a wave of Editor improvements. The following features do not require experimental toggles unless otherwise specified.

Tags Definition Change (Breaking)

There is a breaking change to how tags are defined. As of version 1.26.20, tags cannot freely live as top level entities in the components array. They must live inside the minecraft:tags component, which accepts an array of tags of the format:

"minecraft:tags": ["minecraft:crop", "custom:custom_tag"]

• The values must have the format <namespace>:<tag_name>
• They no longer need to be prefixed with tag:

Block Components

Chest Obstruction Released

Released the component minecraft:chest_obstruction from experimental for block format versions 1.26.20 or higher.

• obstruction_rule defines how a block above a chest affects its opening:
  • "always" — always obstructs
  • "never" — never obstructs
  • "shape" — uses the block's AABB to determine obstruction (default)

Block Validation Changes

The block schema parsing update tested during 1.26.10 previews is now fully enabled. The custom block JSON API has the following changes that affect loading of block JSON with format_version 1.26.20 and up.

Namespace constraints have been tweaked but everything permitted before should still be valid. This affects identifiers used for blocks, states, and menu category groups.

Block Traits

• placement_direction trait, validation change: The rotation offset no longer accepts a 0.5 tolerance.
  • Input value must be a multiple of 90.0
  • The value must be in the range 0.0 to 360.0 inclusive
• blocks_to_corner_with now requires minecraft:corner_and_cardinal_direction to be one of the enabled_states for the placement_direction trait

Menu Category

• menu_category, validation change: An empty group value is not allowed. The group field can either exist with a non-empty value or not exist at all.
• category is now a required field, when using menu_category. This is strictly enforced now.

Components

• minecraft:flower_pottable, validation change: It is restricted outside of root components object.
• minecraft:geometry, validation change: The constraint on culling_shape identifier is strictly enforced.
  • When using the minecraft namespace, the only currently available culling shape identifiers are minecraft:empty or minecraft:unit_cube
  • When using no namespaces or a custom one, the names must start and end with an alpha-numeric character
• minecraft:light_dampening and minecraft:light_emission, validation change: They now strictly enforce the value to be between 0 and 15 inclusive.
• minecraft:material_instances, validation change: ambient_occlusion does not accept booleans as valid input. It must be a float between 0.0 - 10.0 inclusive. It defaults to 1.0 if not provided.

Entity Components

Friction Modifier Behavior Change

The behavior of the minecraft:friction_modifier component now matches its description. The higher its value, the more friction affects an entity:

• 0.0 means no friction
• 1.0 means regular friction
• 2.0 means double friction

The component now affects ground friction only, and no longer partially affects air or liquid drag. The component now properly works on players, and on other client-predicted entities.

The legacy incorrect behavior can be re-enabled by adding the minecraft:uses_legacy_friction component. This component is automatically added to all entities with a format_version lower than 1.26.20, to ensure their behavior stays unaltered.

On Equipment Changed

Added the minecraft:on_equipment_changed component, which allows executing entity events when items are equipped or unequipped in specific equipment slots.

• Contains a slots field with a list of entries, each with:
  • slot — the equipment slot to monitor
  • on_equip — event to fire when a non-empty item is placed in the slot
  • on_unequip — event to fire when the slot is cleared
• When equipment changes, the first matching slot entry is used
• Does not apply to minecraft:inventory slots — use minecraft:equippable instead

Spawn On Death

Added the minecraft:spawn_on_death component for spawning entities when an entity perishes.

• entity_to_spawn (optional) — what entity to spawn, defaults to the owning entity when not set
• spawn_method (optional) — born, spawned, or summoned, defaults to spawned when not set
• spawn_amount (optional) — how many entities to spawn, defaults to 1
• inherit_parent_name (optional) — if true, the entity inherits the name of the parent entity (defaults to true)
• additional_spawn_range (optional) — additional random range of entities to spawn (defaults to 0, 0)
• filters — entity filter for whether the spawn is triggered

Knockback Resistance

The minecraft:knockback_resistance component now accepts negative values down to a minimum of -2, resulting in knockback being increased instead of being diminished.

Damage Sensor

The minecraft:damage_sensor component's deals_damage field now supports an additional value: "no_but_entity_effects_apply":

• Damage is not applied to the entity
• Knockback and enchantments are applied
• The attacker's weapon is used as normal
• The entity does not flash red

Entity Filters

• Added has_same_equipment_in_slot_as entity filter

Float Range Field Changes

The following Float Range fields now only accept an object with min and max values (other formats will fail to parse):

• sound_interval in minecraft:behavior.admire_item
• valid_distance_to_target and landing_distance_from_target in minecraft:behavior.jump_around_target
• cooldown_range in minecraft:behavior.jump_to_block
• destination_position_range in minecraft:behavior.move_around_target
• hover_height in minecraft:behavior.random_hover

Pickup Items Triggers

Added on_pickup_item_start and on_pickup_item_end triggers to minecraft:behavior.pickup_items.

Follow Target Leader

Refactored minecraft:behavior.follow_target_captain to minecraft:behavior.follow_target_leader. The following fields have been added:

• always_look_for_leader (default: false) — if true, the mob always searches for a valid leader to follow if none is found or the current leader is not valid anymore
• leader_filters (required) — the filters to use when determining if a mob is a suitable leader
• search_cooldown (default: 20) — number of ticks that must pass before a new search is initiated after a target is not found, lost, or becomes invalid

Features

Structure Template Feature Rotation

Added a boolean rotate_around_center field to the minecraft:structure_template_feature feature.

• When set to true, it rotates the structure around its center when placing it in the world
• Defaults to false if omitted

Snap to Surface Feature

A new field embed_in_surface has been added to the schema of snap_to_surface_feature, which allows specifying whether the snapped feature should be embedded in the located surface. Defaults to false.

Biomes

World Generation

• You can now use minecraft:feature_pool_element in Jigsaw Structure Template Pools in order to place Features
• Features can now connect to a Jigsaw Block with any Target Name, rather than only minecraft:bottom
• Updated new features in structure pools to include data driven features

Items

• Items that have their item_lock mode set to either lock_in_inventory or lock_in_slot can no longer be placed in shelf blocks
• Fixed pickblock overriding items in the hotbar with item_lock
• New 1.26.10 attachables now use a new controller.render.armor.v2 render controller rather than using an updated controller.render.armor. This fixes some creator content's custom armor not rendering properly.
• Fixed furnace recipe categorization so custom items using minecraft:block_placer with replace_block_item are correctly treated as block recipes
• Added tags for the Sulfur Cube to use for physics determination and absorbing:
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_bouncy
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_regular
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_slow_flat
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_fast_flat
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_light
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_fast_sliding
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_slow_sliding
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_sticky
  • minecraft:sulfur_cube_archetype_high_resistance

Components — Other

• Fixed an issue with mob projectile accuracy going negative on higher difficulty settings
• Descriptions for custom blocks with minecraft:display_name now return correct values

Mobs

• Fixed a bug where the summon_cap for custom entities was ignored
• Fixed actor textures not loading properly when applying packs with older min engine version
• Fixed player friction not resetting for older content

Commands

• Fixed an issue where players could still auto-jump after using the /inputPermissions command to disable jumping
• /loot failing no longer stops the rest of an /execute command from continuing

Scripting API

Released @minecraft/server v2.7.0

This release ships @minecraft/server v2.7.0 with the following promotions from beta to stable:

Entity APIs

• Entity.addItem moved from beta to v2.7.0
• InvalidEntityComponentError moved from beta to v2.7.0

Biome Type Promotions

Moving the following from beta to v2.7.0 in @minecraft/server:

• BiomeTypes.getAll
• BiomeTypes.get
• BiomeType.hasTags
• BiomeType.getTags

Localization Key Fix

Values returned by localizationKey on Block, BlockPermutation, and BlockType now correctly respect minecraft:display_name keys for custom blocks.

Other Stable Additions

• Added InvalidType and UnsupportedValue to InvalidArgumentErrorType enum in @minecraft/common v1.3.0
• Added the pack name to Error content log lines for easier debugging
• Added locale property to ClientSystemInfo that provides the player's selected language (e.g., en_US, fr_FR, ja_JP)

Audio

Fixed an issue where content packs that override entity sound events without defining variants could incorrectly clear the variant key from the base sounds.json, causing content warnings during loading.

General

Upgraded particles, trading, and cameras JSON resources to Cereal slice 1.26.10 and re-serialized to align with the updated schema.

Atmosphere and Water Configuration

• Added a new version of the atmospheric scattering config:
  • New format version is 1.26.20
  • Fields minecraft:atmosphere_settings and minecraft:atmosphere_settings/description are now required

Network Protocol

• Modified the binary format of PlayerEnchantOptionsPacket
• Packet UpdateClientOptionsPacket added bool Filter Profanity Change

Editor

Editor continues to receive significant updates in this release. For the latest detailed release notes, see the Editor GitHub Discussions.

Primitives Tool

• Added the Primitives tool to the Editor tool rail. See this update discussion for a video preview of this tool.

Terrain Tool

• Fixed a bug in Terrain Flatten mode where adjusting the brush height made the brush harder to use
• Ensured proper offsets are applied when switching flatten modes in the Terrain Tool
• Fixed an issue where Flatten Up was sampling too far into the ground

Selection Tool

• Updated how incomplete 3-point select volumes are handled by the Selection Tool:
  • Switching between tools now clears the incomplete 3-point select volume
  • Deselect (Ctrl+D) correctly clears the incomplete 3-point select volume and no longer logs an error
  • Fill (Ctrl+F) correctly ignores the incomplete 3-point select volume and no longer logs an error
• Fixed an issue in 3-point selection mode where single-clicking to create a volume didn't finalize it
• Updated the outdated tooltip for the 2-point select checkbox in the Selection Tool

Paste Preview

• Disabled left mouse button paste in Paste Preview when Keyboard-only cursor mode is active
• Changed default X and Z axis mirror keybindings for Paste Preview to use SHIFT + CTRL modifiers
• Fixed Paste Preview appearing at an unpredictable position when entering Keys Only cursor mode. The preview now appears at the block the player is looking at, or 32 blocks in front of the camera if no block is in view.
• Added Ignore Air Blocks toggle to Paste Preview, allowing air blocks in the clipboard to be excluded from the paste operation

Ruler Tool

• Changed default axis lock keybinding for the Ruler tool to use SHIFT + CTRL modifiers

Vibrant Visuals Pane

• The Local Lights and Shadow configurations in the Vibrant Visuals pane no longer have a non-functioning plus button and are disabled
• The Vibrant Visuals generate resource pack button now exports any edited configurations to a resource pack with a folder link provided

Jigsaw

• Fixed Jigsaw Collection names allowing case-variant duplicates which caused file conflicts and potential data loss on case-insensitive file systems

Layout Instance Editor

• Fixed label values for the 'Deselect' and 'Delete Instance' shortcuts for the layout instance editor
• Fixed tooltips for the mode selectors for the layout instance editor

Editor APIs

• Added optional drag and drop support for ICollectionTreePropertyItem API entries
• Added location to IRootPropertyPaneOptions to display root panes over the viewport instead of within a drawer
• Added view control pane API support for ICollectionTreePropertyItem
• Implemented auto-save for structure detail setting and removed Save button and Save menu from structure detail pane
• Added unbound keybindings for core panels

Other Editor Improvements

• Toast notifications are grouped when multiple errors are triggered rapidly
• Fixed a Vector3 Timeline bug to avoid time values beyond neighboring nodes' time bounds in the edit popup
• Fixed a bug where you can't undo/redo the operations of deselect and replace blocks from the manifest table in Marquee and Freehand mode
• Fixed a bug that caused the Test World panel to not open when the menu item was clicked
• Fixed an error that occurred when running the /reload command from the tool mode chat shortcut

User Interface

• Furnace recipes will now unlock when you collect the corresponding material (this feature is available under "Experimental")
• Improved how scrollable screen content is displayed in Ore UI menu screens on devices with notches, rounded corners, or safe zones applied
• Fixed a bug where entering custom settings of a behavior pack screen disables the pack
• Fixed an issue causing the HUD to fail to load after disabling Screen Animations in-game

Get started with Editor!

Experimental Features

Custom Projectiles (Add-On)

Added the experimental toggle "Custom Projectiles" which enables improvements around custom projectiles in add-ons without the use of runtime identifiers:

• Adds the isolated_physics property to the minecraft:projectile component for easier trajectory control
• The fire_at_target goal now applies projectile offsets relative to entity rotation
• Custom projectiles can now:
  • Be reflected
  • Update their owner upon launch and reflection
  • No longer collide with their owner on launch
  • Apply their offsets on launch
  • Remain at their point of impact when using stick_in_ground

Scripting API Beta (@minecraft/server v2.8.0-beta)

Debug and Primitive Shapes

• Added maximumRenderDistance property to DebugShape and PrimitiveShape. The default render distance used by DebugShape and PrimitiveShape is now your client's render distance, instead of infinity. To match the old behavior, set maximumRenderDistance to a very large number.

@minecraft/server-net Error Type Renames

The following error types in @minecraft/server-net have been renamed in beta for consistency. Update your scripts accordingly:

• HttpRequestBodyTooLargeError → RequestBodyTooLargeError
• HttpRequestNotAllowedError → UriNotAllowedError
• HttpsOnlyError → TLSOnlyError
• MalformedHttpRequestError → MalformedUriError

The @minecraft/server-net configuration module permissions parameter force_https has been renamed to force_tls.

Data-Driven UI (DDUI)

• Made close buttons client authoritative so that forms close more quickly
• Added DataDrivenScreenClosedReason to @minecraft/server-ui beta
• Replaced MessageBoxResult.wasShown with MessageBoxResult.closeReason (a DataDrivenScreenClosedReason)
• Changed return type of CustomForm.show() from Promise<boolean> to Promise<DataDrivenScreenClosedReason>
• Added FormCloseError, PlayerLeftError, and ServerShutdownError to @minecraft/server-ui beta for use with CustomForm and MessageBox

Custom Dimensions

Added the ability to register custom dimensions during the before startup event:

• Added method DimensionRegistry.registerCustomDimension to allow registrations of new custom dimensions in beta

See this article for more on getting started with custom dimensions.

3D World Text Primitives

Added new tech to support 3D world text objects and rendering to @minecraft/server:

• Added new beta PrimitiveShapesManager class used to add and remove text primitives to the world
• Added new beta PrimitiveShape base class used to represent 3D shape objects in the world
• Added new beta TextPrimitive class used to render 3D text shape objects in the world
• Added new beta primitiveShapesManager property to World
• Maximum number of PrimitiveShape objects is now 1000
• Maximum length of the text parameter on setText for TextPrimitive is 128 lines and 128 characters per line
• Min and max scale value of PrimitiveShape objects is now -1000 and 1000 respectively
• Added backfaceVisible and textBackfaceVisible properties to TextPrimitive

Container Access Events

• Added EntityContainerOpenedAfterEvent / EntityContainerClosedAfterEvent and their signals
• Added BlockContainerOpenedAfterEvent / BlockContainerClosedAfterEvent and their signals
• Added ContainerAccessSource and ContainerAccessSourceFilter interfaces
• Added EntityContainerAccessEventOptions and BlockContainerAccessEventOptions interfaces

Player Chat Display

• Added Player.chatNamePrefix to beta — an optional string prepended to the player's name in chat messages
• Added Player.chatNameSuffix to beta — an optional string appended to the player's name in chat messages
• Added Player.chatDisplayName to beta — a read-only property returning the composed chat name (chatNamePrefix + name + chatNameSuffix)
• Added Player.chatMessagePrefix to beta — an optional string prepended to the text of the player's chat messages, useful for applying color/formatting codes

Party Info

Added beta read-only property partyInfo to Player that returns a PartyInfo object ({ partyId: string, isLeader: boolean }) or undefined if the player is not in a party.

Block Component Events

• Added BlockComponentBlockStateChangeEvent to beta. Custom Block components can subscribe to onBlockStateChange.
• Added beta boolean property firstUpdate to BlockComponentRedstoneUpdateEvent

EnderChest Inventory

Added EntityEnderInventoryComponent for accessing a player's EnderChest container contents to beta.

Heal Cause: Totem of Undying

• Added EntityHealCause.TotemOfUndying to beta
• Added minecraft:totem_of_undying support to entity heal before/after events

Spawn XP

Added Dimension.spawnXp method to spawn experience orbs at a specified location in @minecraft/server.

Nameplate Properties

• Added Script Entity property nameplateDepthTested to beta
• Added Script Entity property nameplateRenderDistance to beta

Server Admin (@minecraft/server-admin beta)

• Added kickPlayer() to the @minecraft/server-admin module in beta
• Added opPlayer and deopPlayer functions in beta
• Added allowCheats boolean property to the World class in beta
• Added reloadScriptingConfig(), reloadPermissions(), and reloadCDNConfig() to DedicatedServerUtils

WebSocket Clients

Added WebSocket clients to @minecraft/server-net in beta:

• WebSocket class is used to create and connect websocket clients (created as the global websocket object in @minecraft/server-net)
• WebSocketClient class is used to interact with the websocket and receive data from the server through events

Other Beta Additions

• Added Observable.toJSON to @minecraft/server beta so that observables can be easily stringified with JSON.stringify
• Added StructureManager.getPackStructureIds to beta
• Added CustomTexture type to beta. The textureBoundsList in the WaypointTextureSelector now has the option of passing in a CustomTexture with a specified path, height, and width.
• Adjusted GameTest to no longer run callbacks from methods such as succeedWhen and failIf after the test has already completed
• Fixed a bug where in-flight HTTP requests could freeze the game when the HTTP client is destroyed in scripting

Debug Utilities

• Changed color property of DebugShape (in @minecraft/debug-utilities) from RGB to RGBA
• Added depthTest property to DebugText
• Added backgroundColorOverride property to DebugText
• Added useRotation property to DebugText
• Added backfaceVisible and textBackfaceVisible properties to DebugText
• Added localization support to DebugText:
  • The DebugText constructor now allows using either RawMessage or string for the text parameter
  • DebugText.text changed to be a read-only property
  • DebugText.setText method added which allows using either RawMessage or string
  • DebugText.rawText read-only property added to get the text if RawMessage is used via setText
• Fixed a bug when attachedTo on a ShapePrimitive or DebugShape wouldn't update if the attached entity was unloaded and reloaded
• Added maximumRenderDistance to DebugShape in @minecraft/debug-utilities

Data-Driven UI (Experimental)

• Added support for localization for dropdown items:
  • DropdownItem.description and DropdownItem.label now accept UIRawMessage | string
• Added multiline text support for MessageBox.body, CustomForm.label, and CustomForm.header using \n
• Added method Observable.getFilteredText (only available for strings) which gets filtered data from an Observable
• Added enum TextFilteringError representing errors that can occur during text filtering
• Fixed an issue where text input areas were covered by the virtual keyboard at some platforms like Android
• Fixed an issue where showing forms (CustomForm or MessageBox) back to back resulted in the second form not showing
• Fixed buttons getting clipped when in a focused state
• Fix for players getting stuck when DDUI screen is open and server crashes

Blocks (Experimental)

Snow Logging

Added snow_log_no_collision behavior to precipitation_behavior in the minecraft:precipitation_interactions component. This behavior allows creators to specify whether snow should cover their custom block.

Added a scripting method that allows creators to check the snow logging behavior of a block.

Multi-Block Trait Fixes

• Fixed minecraft:multi_block trait not loading properly with the modern block definition loader
• Fixed minecraft:replaceable to work with all parts of a multi-block. The component can no longer be defined in the permutations array — only allowed in the base components object.
• Fixed selection outline for multi-blocks using minecraft:random_offset. For multi-blocks, minecraft:random_offset can no longer be defined in the permutations array, only in the base components object.
• Fixed minecraft:placement_filter not working for blocks with the minecraft:multi_block trait
• Multi-blocks that don't have a minecraft:selection_box component will now default to a full block outline shape for each part

Entities (Upcoming Creator Features)

Entity Versioning

Added a new entity_version description field to entity behavior definitions that enables per-entity versioning and upgrade handling.

• The entity_version field is a JSON object containing an upgrades array, where each entry specifies an integer upgrade_to version and a name string referencing an upgrade handler defined in a new top-level upgrades section of the entity definition
• Upgrade versions must start at 1 and be contiguous (e.g., 1, 2, 3) — gaps or duplicates are rejected with a content error
• Version 0 is reserved for entities that have no version set ("versionless"), which is the default for all existing entities
• When an entity is loaded with a version older than the current definition version, all upgrade handlers between the entity's saved version and the current version are executed sequentially
• Newly spawned entities are set directly to the latest version without running any upgrade handlers
• Upgrade handlers reuse the existing event system but are defined in a separate upgrades section, keeping them distinct from regular events
• The entity's version is persisted and loaded/saved automatically

This feature is gated behind the Upcoming Creator Features experiment toggle.

Entity Components (Experimental)

Uses Uniform Air Drag

Added the minecraft:uses_uniform_air_drag component. When present, air drag is applied uniformly on both the vertical and horizontal axes, instead of being biased toward horizontal movement.

Apply Knockback Rules

Added the minecraft:apply_knockback_rules component which controls how an entity applies knockback to a target. The component takes an array of presets, each with a filter for matching targets and the following fields:

• horizontal_power — defines how much the target is hit backwards (defaults to 1.0)
• vertical_power — defines how much the target is hit upwards (defaults to 0.4)
• vertical_velocity_cap — defines the target's maximum vertical upwards velocity after the knockback rules have been evaluated (defaults to 0.4)
• check_if_target_is_immersed_in_water — defines whether the target should be fully immersed in water for the knockback rules to apply (defaults to false)

Not defining this component results in default knockback behavior.

Bounciness

Added the minecraft:bounciness component, which controls how an entity bounces when colliding with surfaces:

• Contains a single field, value, defining the bounce strength:
  • 0 results in no bounce
  • 1 results in a perfectly elastic collision with full energy preservation
• If the component is not present, bounciness defaults to 0
• Only available if the entity's format_version is set to beta

Air Drag Modifier

Added the minecraft:air_drag_modifier component:

• The higher its value, the more air drag affects an entity:
  • 0.0 means no air drag
  • 1.0 means regular air drag
  • 2.0 means double air drag
• Only available if the entity's format_version is set to beta

Apply Knockback Rules — Beta Fields

The following fields have been added to the preset element exclusively in the beta version of minecraft:apply_knockback_rules:

• scale_previous_velocity — scales the previous velocity of the target when hit
• horizontal_hit_angle_scale — scales the horizontal angle response of the target when hit based on the attacker's aim direction
• vertical_hit_angle_scale — scales the vertical angle response of the target when hit based on the attacker's aim direction
• vertical_position_angle_scale — scales the vertical angle response of the target when hit based on the attacker's relative feet position
• scale_with_damage — enables scaling the magnitude of knockback based on the inverse square of the damage

Graphical (Experimental)

Water Configuration

Added a new version for the water configuration JSON file:

• New format version is 1.26.20
• Fields minecraft:water_settings and minecraft:water_settings/description are now required

Render Dragon for Creators

Under the RenderDragon Features for Creators Experiment:

• Migrated colored block light storage to the GPU. There may be new artifacts with light leaking through or around blocks. Colored block lights now influence Volumetrics.
• Added static_light shading to weather

Point Lights

• Removed point lights visually fading out once past a certain distance from the camera
• Fixed an issue where point lights were over-exposed at their center (this behavior can be replicated using emissive textures if desired)
• Fixed an issue where the RenderDragon Features for Creators Experimental resource pack would override other resource packs on the stack

What's Next

Looking ahead, here's what you can expect in future releases:

• Continued expansion of Data-Driven UI (DDUI) with more capabilities
• 3D world text primitives moving toward stable
• Custom dimensions API
• Locator bar infrastructure
• Custom projectile improvements
• Voxel shapes for vanilla blocks
• Per-entity versioning system for forward-compatible add-ons