How to Write Custom Recipes in Json Things

Recipe File Structure

Recipes live in a recipes folder inside your pack, not the things folder. Each recipe is a JSON file with a type field matching a vanilla recipe type — shaped crafting, shapeless crafting, smelting, blasting, smoking, stonecutting, and so on. Json Things reads these alongside vanilla recipes, so your custom items and blocks can be used as ingredients or results.

For a shaped recipe, define a pattern array of strings and a key object mapping each character to an ingredient. The ingredient can be a vanilla item, a tag, or your own Json Things item using its full ID. The result field holds the output item and count.

Shapeless and Smelting

Shapeless recipes skip the pattern and use an ingredients array instead — order doesn't matter. Smelting recipes need an ingredient, a result, and an experience value plus a cookingtime in ticks. After saving, run /reload and test in a crafting table or furnace. If the recipe doesn't appear in the recipe book, your JSON likely has a syntax error or an ingredient ID that doesn't resolve. Use /give to confirm the ingredient exists before blaming the recipe.