Input Keys and Dynamic Button Prompts

Because Minecraft Bedrock runs across desktop, mobile, and consoles, players rarely share the exact same physical controls. Even on a single platform, a player might remap their jump or interact keys in the settings menu. If you write a static tutorial message telling the player to press the W key, anyone using a controller or touch screen gets a confusing prompt.

To solve this, the text rendering engine listens for tokens wrapped in colons that begin with the prefix :_input_key. followed by the internal name of an action. When the engine draws a string containing one of these tokens, it looks up the active input mode of the local player. If the player is on a keyboard and mouse, the token expands into the localized name of the bound key, such as [W] or [Button 2]. If the player is holding a gamepad, the engine swaps the token for a bitmap glyph from the active resource pack's controller font sheet, drawing the actual Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch button icon inline with your text.

This replacement happens purely on the client side during text layout. That means the same server-side command, script, or localization entry can broadcast a single string to every connected player, and each client will render the exact button or key appropriate for their own hardware and settings.

Every input token corresponds to an internal control binding registered by the game client. The token must start and end with a colon, with no spaces inside. Below are the most reliable input key tokens used across vanilla strings and custom add-ons.

The cleanest place to put input key tokens is inside your resource pack's language (.lang) files. Storing prompts in localization keys keeps your behavior pack files clean and lets translators move the button prompt around to match the grammar of different languages.

When you include an input key token inside a .lang file, you can combine it with standard %s or %1 placeholder tokens or just drop it directly into the translated sentence. You should also append a comment starting with a tab and a hash symbol (###) on the same line if you need to leave context for translators, ensuring they do not accidentally translate the internal token name.

action.hint.exit.custom_seat=Tap :_input_key.sneak: to dismount the cannon
tutorial.hint.fire_weapon=Aim at the target and press :_input_key.attack: to fire!
tutorial.hint.reload_weapon=Hold :_input_key.use: while holding ammo to reload.

You do not have to use a resource pack to render input keys. Any command or component that accepts rawtext JSON—such as /titleraw, /tellraw, NPC dialogue, or the @minecraft/server Script API—can render input tokens directly inside a raw text string or by referencing a translation key via the translate component.

Below is an example of a behavior pack NPC dialogue scene that uses rawtext to display an input prompt directly inside the NPC's speech bubble, alongside a button command that pushes an actionbar reminder to the player.

{
  "format_version": "1.17.0",
  "minecraft:npc_dialogue": {
    "scenes": [
      {
        "scene_tag": "combat_training_intro",
        "npc_name": "Weapon Master",
        "text": {
          "rawtext": [
            {
              "text": "Welcome to the range. Walk up to the dummy using "
            },
            {
              "text": ":_input_key.forward: "
            },
            {
              "text": "and strike it with "
            },
            {
              "text": ":_input_key.attack:"
            },
            {
              "text": " when you are ready."
            }
          ]
        },
        "buttons": [
          {
            "name": "Got it",
            "commands": [
              "/titleraw @initiator actionbar {\"rawtext\":[{\"translate\":\"tutorial.hint.fire_weapon\"}]}"
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

While input keys automatically adapt between keyboard and controller, touch screens require extra care. On mobile devices using standard touch controls, several actions do not have a dedicated virtual button on screen at all times—for example, attacking and interacting are performed by tapping or long-pressing the world rather than pressing a labeled key. Depending on which touch control scheme the player has selected (such as Touch, Crosshair, or Joystick), some input tokens may render as a touch icon, while others may fall back to blank text or generic labels.

If your add-on heavily targets mobile players and relies on complex prompts, test your strings across all three touch control modes. When you need completely separate phrasing for touch versus controller (for example, saying 'Tap the screen' instead of 'Press :_input_key.attack:'), note that a single static string cannot rewrite surrounding verbs automatically unless you swap the string via script using the player's input permissions or platform info.

Finally, keep in mind how Minecraft section-sign (§) formatting codes interact with input tokens. If you place a color code like §e right before :_input_key.jump:, a keyboard prompt like [Space] will adopt the yellow color, whereas a controller button glyph may either remain in its native full-color sprite or become tinted by the color code depending on the UI context. To keep controller icons crisp and readable, reset your formatting with §r immediately before the input key token, and reapply your text color right after the closing colon.

Applies to Minecraft Bedrock 1.16.0 and newer in stable builds. No experimental toggles are required.

Read out of the game itself, so the ids match the version you are building for.