Minecraft Bedrock Add-on Guides: Make Your Own Mobs, Blocks & Items

6 October 2026 · Checked against Minecraft Bedrock 1.26.50

Written by FoxyNoTail, official Minecraft Marketplace Partner (2-Tail Productions) with 140 skin packs and 336 Marketplace items.

About · YouTube

An add-on is a small set of files that adds new mobs, blocks or items to Minecraft Bedrock. You do not need to be a programmer. You just edit a few JSON files and drop in a texture or a 3D model.

These guides are written for complete beginners. Each one walks you through every file, every folder and every setting, so you can follow along step by step. No prior experience needed.

Already have a pack and want to tweak mob behaviour? Try the Mob Griefing Add-on Maker. Pick which mobs can’t break or take blocks, and download a ready-made pack.

These guides are checked against Bedrock 1.26.50 (the latest stable release as of October 2026). We re-check them every month so the format versions and component names stay current.

Start here

Pick the guide that matches what you want to build. Each one is self-contained. You only need the files it tells you to create.

Getting Started: set up your folders, create a valid manifest.json, and learn how behavior packs and resource packs work together. Do this one first.
Custom Entity (Mob): make your own mob with a 3D model, a texture, a spawn egg and simple AI (wander, look at the player).
Custom Block: add a new block to the creative inventory with its own texture, hardness, light emission and mining time.
Custom Item: create a new item (a gem, a tool, a food) with an icon, a stack size and optional durability or food stats.

None of these guides require an experimental toggle. You can build and test everything in a normal, non-experimental world.

Tools you'll need

All of these are free:

Blockbench: make 3D models (entities, blocks) and paint textures. Runs in your browser or as a desktop app.
Visual Studio Code: a free text editor for writing your JSON files. Install the Blockception Minecraft Bedrock Development extension for syntax highlighting and a UUID generator.
Image editor: Krita, GIMP or Paint.NET for painting 16×16 block and item textures (or use Blockbench's built-in texture editor).
UUID generator: uuidgenerator.net (or the VS Code extension) to create the four unique IDs every pack needs.

That's it. No paid software, no game engine, no compiler.

Keeping up with Minecraft updates

Minecraft Bedrock gets a new stable release roughly every one to two months. Each release can change the recommended format_version numbers inside your JSON files, add new components, or remove old ones.

For example, the format_version you put in a block file today ("1.26.50") may be different six months from now. Using an older number still works, but the game applies looser validation and you miss out on new features.

We check these guides against the latest stable bedrock-samples release every month. The version shown on this page (1.26.50) is the one the examples were verified with. If you are on a newer version, the guides will still work. Just be aware that some component names may have changed.

Before you start a new add-on, glance at the bedrock-samples releases page to see what the current stable version is.

Prefer video?

If you learn better by watching, my How-To video tutorials cover the same topics on YouTube: setting up packs, making entities, blocks and items, with screen recordings you can pause and follow.

And if you just want to see what a finished add-on looks like before you build one, browse my free add-ons. Every pack is downloadable, so you can open the files in a text editor and see exactly how each piece fits together.

FAQ

Do I need to pay for anything?

No. Minecraft Bedrock, Blockbench, VS Code and every tool listed above are free. The only thing you need is a copy of Minecraft Bedrock (Java Edition will not work. These are Bedrock-specific files).

Do I need to turn on experimental toggles?

No. Custom entities, blocks and items as described in these guides work in a normal, non-experimental world. You do not need to enable "Upcoming Creator Features" or any other toggle.

What is the difference between a behavior pack and a resource pack?

The behavior pack (BP) holds the game logic: what the entity does, how hard the block is to mine, how many items stack. The resource pack (RP) holds the visuals: textures, 3D models, names. Custom entities need both. Custom blocks and items need the BP for the definition and the RP for the texture and name.

Will these guides work on older Bedrock versions?

The examples target 1.26.50. If you are on an older version, some component names or format_version values may not be recognised. Update Minecraft to the latest stable version before following the guides. It is free and takes a minute.