Tutorials/Command NBT tags

This page will be updated as soon as the formatting is complete and more progress has been made into the NBT Tags that can be attached to commands. For now see this Minecraft Forum Topic regarding the NBT Tags that can be added to the commands /give and /summon: [1]

NBT tags can be specified for items and entities created with the /give and /summon commands. Each tag has the format <tagname>:<value>; where <tagname> describes what it will do and <value> is how much it will apply it. Multiple tags are separated by commas. (e.g.: {Enchantments:[{}],display:{}}). The contents of List tags are enclosed in square brackets [], while the contents of Compound tags are enclosed in curly brackets {} – note that the entire data tag is itself a Compound tag (All within a set of {}). Tag names are case-sensitive, and white space is ignored. additionally, some tags are either true or false (Example: {NoAI:1})

The player can quickly find data tags (NBT) without the use of external editors by using /data to figure out the data for each entity or block entity. See more about this in the article Commands/data.

See Entity format for the various NBT Tags that are saved for each entity. This page also contains basic information for each NBT Tag.

When None is used in a tag name that means that this tag can be put directly into the start of the dataTag.

Items

These can be used in /give and /replaceitem commands as well as /clear. For such commands as /summon and /setblock, place them inside of a tag.

Example:

{id:"stone",Count:3 ... tag:{Name:"your name" ...}}

These tags can be used on any item.

NBT Tag	Description	Allowed tagnames	Required tagnames	Syntax
Item	The name of the item as it will be visible on the ground and in the inventory, how many and tag data / damage value. The item cannot be picked up if it has no Count tag.	id, Damage, Count, tag	id, Count	{Item:{id:"",Damage:#,Count:#,tag:{Item NBT data here}}}
Enchantments	Allows the addition of enchantments to items. Contains information on the id of the enchantment and the level of the enchantment. Can specify one enchantment or multiple enchantments. It is possible specify no enchantment, which will just give the item Protection 0.	id, lvl	All	{Enchantments:[{id:"",lvl:#},{id:"",lvl:#}]}
display	Used to add custom names, colors (leather armor), and lore to items. Lore may have multiple lines. Color is a hexadecimal color value, except in decimal. An RGB to hexadecimal converter can be found here and a hexadecimal to decimal converter can be found here.	Name, color, Lore, LocName	At least one	{display:{Name:'{"text":"Name here"}', color:#, Lore:['"Lore here."']}}
AttributeModifiers	Can be used to add attributes to mobs or items. For more information, see Attribute.	AttributeName, Name (Attribute), Amount, Operation, UUIDLeast, UUIDMost	All	AttributeModifiers:[0:{AttributeName,Name,Amount,Operation}, 1:{AttributeName,Name,Amount,Operation,UUIDLeast,UUIDMost}]
Unbreakable	Used to make items with durability that never degrades.	Unbreakable	All	{Unbreakable:1b/0b} (1b = true, 0b = false)
SkullOwner	Used for getting player heads.	SkullOwner	All	{SkullOwner:"player name"}
HideFlags	Used to hide flags (the info in the tool tip) such as enchantments, CanDestroy, CanPlaceOn, etc. To hide multiple tags, you need to add the value of the tags you want to hide. For example, if you want to hide the "Enchantments" and the "Attributes modifiers" tags, the value you need to put is 3 (1+2).	HideFlags	All	{HideFlags:VALUE} VALUE ranges from 1 to 63, representing 63 combinations. When adding to create a unique VALUE: Adding 1 will hide Enchantments Adding 2 will hide Attributes modifiers Adding 4 will hide Unbreakable Adding 8 will hide CanDestroy Adding 16 will hide CanPlaceOn Adding 32 will hide Others, such as potion effects & shield pattern info In binary form: [+32] [+16] [+8] [+4] [+2] [+1] For example: "000111" has a value of 7, and it will hide Enchantments, Attribute Modifiers, and Unbreakable.
CanDestroy	Similar to CanPlaceOn this tag is used when making adventure maps to allow a specific tool/item to break a block. Apply the tag to any item/tool. If the value is not a valid block or item it will display as "missingno".	An array of strings, each one saying the id of a block. Uses # for block tags (groups).	At least one	{CanDestroy:["minecraft:stone","#minecraft:logs"]}
PickupDelay	The number of ticks before an item entity can be picked up.	Any number. Set to 32767 for items that can't be picked up	All	{PickupDelay:#}
Age	The length before an item will disappear.	Any number. Set to -32768 for items that don't disappear. If Age counts up to 6000 (5 minutes if Age started at default value 0), the item disappears.	All	{Age:#}
generation (Minecraft Java Edition 1.8)	Defines whether a written book is labeled as an "Original", a "Copy of Original", a "Copy of a copy" or "Tattered".	"Original", "Copy of Original", "Copy of a copy", "Tattered"	At least one	{generation:""}

The following table provides more details on previous sub-tags.

Tagname	Description	Used In	Value Type	Allowed Values
id	Refers to the id of an enchantment. See Enchanting for details on which id correlates to which enchantment.	Enchantments	String	Enchantment ID
lvl	Determines the level of an enchantment. A level between one and ten will display properly on an item, however, any value above that will display enchantment.level.lvl.	Enchantments	Numerical	-2147483648 to 2147483647
Name	Is the name of an item that will be displayed in game. For blocks such as Chests and Dispensers the name will replace the default 'Chest' or 'Dispenser' in the upper left hand corner of the GUI. When used on command blocks the name will be displayed when executing commands. This can be seen by using the /say command.	display	String	Any character that is available within the Minecraft language files (Most characters on your keyboard)
Lore	The text under the name of the item. NBT editors have to be used to make the lore a color other than purple.	display	String	Any character that is available within the Minecraft language files (Most characters on your keyboard)

Blocks

These tags are put on blocks as items.

Tagname	Description	Value Type	Syntax
CanPlaceOn	This tag is used when making adventure maps to determine which block(s) the player can place a block on. Also used on hoes to make them till dirt and on spawn eggs to place them. If the value is not a valid block or item it will display as "missingno".	An array of strings, each one saying the id of a block. Uses # for block tags (groups).	{CanPlaceOn:["minecraft:stone","#minecraft:logs"]}
BlockEntityTag	This is used for tile entities, and stores their data for when they are placed down	Differs based on the block, see Blocks for details. Example: get a white shield by using a command: /give @p shield{BlockEntityTag:{Base:0	BlockEntityTag:{TagName:"tagdata"}

Entities

These tags are used when using the /summon command to spawn entities or when using the /data to edit the data of entities.

NBT Tag	Description	Allowed tagnames	Required tagnames	Syntax
TileEntityData	Used to store all data kept within a block. Mainly used within blocks that can store items or contain various data values, e.g., Command blocks, Chests, Jukeboxes, Dispenser, Beacon, etc.	CustomName, Items, Command, Levels, Primary, Secondary, Delay, MaxNearbyEntities, MaxSpawnDelay, MinSpawnDelay, RequiredPlayerRange, SpawnCount, SpawnRange, EntityID	None	TileEntityData:{}
Motion	Determines the initial velocity of most entities (all other than Dragon Fireballs, Fireballs, Small Fireballs and Wither Skulls) upon being summoned. Must be entered as double precision floating point values (decimals). Example: {Motion:[0.0,1.0,0.0]} summons with an initial upwards velocity of 1.0.	X, Y, Z	All	Motion:[X,Y,Z]
direction	Similar to Motion, determines the initial velocity of Dragon Fireballs, Fireballs, Small Fireballs, and Wither Skulls upon being summoned. This tag is required to summon said entities, otherwise the command will fail. Example: {direction:[0.0,1.0,0.0]} summons with an initial upwards velocity of 1.0. This tag only determines the entity's velocity, not the direction that it's facing.	X, Y, Z	All	direction:[X,Y,Z]
power	Similar to direction, but determines constant acceleration. Example: {power:[0.0,1.0,0.0]} gives the summoned entity a constant upwards acceleration of 1.0. Entities are still affected by drag when power is nonzero and will eventually reach a terminal velocity. Only affects Dragon Fireballs, Fireballs, Small Fireballs, and Wither Skulls.	X, Y, Z	All	power:[X,Y,Z]
ActiveEffects	Sets the effects that will apply to a mob after it is summoned.	Id, Duration, Amplifier, Ambient, ShowParticles	All	ActiveEffects:[{Id:,Duration:,Amplifier:,Ambient:,ShowParticles:},{Id:,Duration:,Amplifier:,Ambient:,ShowParticles:}]
rewardExp	Controls villagers giving xp for trading, set to true or false		True/False	{rewardExp:true/false}
Passengers	Sets which entities are riding on top of the base entity. Allows multiple entities to ride one base entity.	all (not checked)	id	Passengers:[{id:},{id:},etc.]
ArmorItems	Defines what items are being worn by the mob. Items go in slots Feet, Legs, Chest, Head, in that order.	Item	None	ArmorItems:[{Count:#,id:""},{Count:#,id:""},{Count:#,id:""}, {Count:#,id:}]
HandItems	Defines what item is within the mainhand and offhand. First item is the mainhand, second is offhand.	Item	None	HandItems:[{Count:#,id:""},{Count:,id:#}]
HandDropChances	Determines how likely it is for an entity to drop held Items. The tag Count in the equipment tag must be 1 or greater for this to work.	2 separate float values, one for the main hand and one for the off-hand slot. 0.0-1.0 determines likelihood of dropping, but will apply a random durability if it does. Anything greater than 1.0 will make it always drop with full durability.	Since it is a float value, it must be phrased as "X.Y", with X and Y being values of your choice.	{HandDropChances:[0.1,2.0]}
ArmorDropChances	Determines how likely it is for an entity to drop worn Items. The tag Count in the equipment tag must be 1 or greater for this to work.	4 separate float values, one for each slot. 0.0-1.0 determines likelihood of dropping, but will apply a random durability if it does. Anything greater than 1.0 will make it always drop with full durability.	Since it is a float value, it must be phrased as "X.Y", with X and Y being values of your choice.	{ArmorDropChances:[0.1,2.0,1.0,0.0]}
NoAI	Makes mobs have no AI. Mobs will not move on their own.			{NoAI:0b} or {NoAI:1b}
NoGravity	Makes mobs unaffected by gravity. Mobs will not fall.			{NoGravity:0b} or {NoGravity:1b}
Silent	Makes mobs silent. Does not work for certain sounds, see MC-64242.			{Silent:0b} or {Silent:1b}
Fire	Determines how many ticks a mob is on fire. When Fire reaches one, the fire stops, and the mob no longer takes damage. When a mob is not on fire, this value is 1.			{Fire:1} to {Fire:32767}
Invulnerable	Makes mobs invulnerable to everything except the Void and players in Creative Mode. Mobs will not attack or run away from invulnerable mobs.			{Invulnerable:1}
Attributes	Customizes the attributes of the entity. See Attribute for more details	Name: see Attribute for a list. Base: the amount to apply. Modifiers: how much and how it should vary. Contains values Name, Amount, Operation, UUIDMost, UUIDLeast.	Name and Base	{Attributes:[{Name:"generic.maxHealth",Base:40,Modifiers:[{Name:generic.maxHealth, Amount:7,Operation:0,UUIDMost:4000,UUIDLeast:8000}].
Anger	Pigman will become aggressive towards any player nearby (as if you hit it).		Number in ticks	{Anger:#}

The following table provides information on each tagname that can be added in an NBT Tag. These tagnames are specific to the /summon command.

Tagname	Description	Used In	Value Type	Allowed Values
Type	Used to change the type of mobs, like horses. Setting a horse's type to 4 will make it a skeleton horse.	Summon	Integer	1 - JavaOverflowLimit
Saddle	Used to spawn horses or pigs that have saddles on.	Summon	Boolean Binary	true / false or 1 / 0
Tame	Used to spawn tamed horses.	Summon	Boolean Binary	true / false or 1 / 0
Variant	Changes the horse variant. Setting no variant or putting an incorrect variant spawns a normal white horse. See Horse Variants for the list of Variants.	Summoning Horses	Integer	1 - 1030
Size	Changes the size of a slime, magma cube or phantom summoned into the game. Anything higher than 255 summons size 255. Anything lower than 0 summons size 0. More than 32 tends to cause extreme lag.	Summoning Slimes	Integer	0 - 255
BlockState	Determines which block is being summoned when using /summon FallingSand. Use Data values to find out the ID of each block. You can also use F3+H in-game to show the ID's of items in-game.	Summoning FallingSand	Block ID {BlockState:{Name:"minecraft:redstone_block"}}	All Strings
Time	Whether or not the block despawns before hitting the ground. If set to 1 the block will fall normally, if set to less than 1 will be set to 0. If set to 0 the block will despawn immediately. Recommended to keep this value as 1. -1 will never despawn.	Summoning FallingSand	Integer (Include Negatives)	-1 - 127
DropItem	Whether or not the block will drop its item form if the block is unable to be placed. If set to 0 the block will not drop its respective item, if set to 1 the block will drop its respective item.	Summoning FallingSand	Boolean Binary	0 or 1
id	Determines the entity the other entity will be riding on.	Summon	Namespaced ID {id:"minecraft:creeper"}	Any namespaced ID of an Entity
Fuse	Determines how long it takes for PrimedTnt or a Creeper to explode.	Summon	Short	0 - 32767
ExplosionPower	Used when summoning fireballs, Withers, and Ghasts to set the power of the explosion	Summon	Integer	0-∞; there is no cap.
ExplosionRadius	Used when summoning Creepers to set the radius of the explosion	Summon	Byte	0-127
powered	Determines whether a Creeper is charged or not	Summon	Boolean Binary	0 or 1

Villager

These tags are used when summoning villagers.

Tagname	Description	Value type	Syntax
Profession	Determines the profession of the villager	Numerical, 0 - 5	{Profession:#}
Offers	Determines what the villager sells	A string	{Offers:{Recipes:[{buy:{id:"stone",Count:1},maxUses:9999999, sell:{id:"stone",Count:1}}]}}

Potion

These tags are used to customize potions

Tagname	Description	Value type	Syntax
Potion	Determines which type of potion be receive in / give	minecraft:(potion effect)	{Potion:"minecraft:#"}
CustomPotionEffects	Customize the effect of potions	Numerical	{CustomPotionEffects:[{Id:#,Amplifier:#,Duration:#}]}
CustomPotionColor	Determines the Color of Potion Bottle (1.11+)	Numerical color	{CustomPotionColor:#}

Armor Stand

These tags are used when summoning armor stands.

NBT Tag	Description	Value type	Syntax
NoGravity	Toggles gravity	0b or 1b (0b for false, 1b for true)	{NoGravity:#}
ShowArms	Determines whether you can see the armor stand's arms or not.	Byte, 0b or 1b (0b for false, 1b for true)	{ShowArms:#}
NoBasePlate	Determines whether the armor stand has a base plate or not.	Byte, 0b or 1b	{NoBasePlate:#}
Small	Determines whether the armor stand is small or not.	Byte, 0b or 1b	{Small:#}
Rotation	Changes the rotation of the armor stand	Byte, 0b or 1b	{Rotation:[#f,#f]}
Marker	Small Hit box	Byte, 0b or 1b	{Marker:#}
Pose	Changes the pose of the armor stand's body parts. NOTE: You can ONLY use one of the Pose sub-tags (shown on Syntax in bold) for this to work.	Byte, 0b or 1b	{Pose:{Head,Body,LeftArm,RightArm,LeftLeg,RightLeg:[#f,#f,#f]}}
Invisible	Determines whether the armor stand is invisible or not.	Byte, 0b or 1b	{Invisible:#}

Note: The Equipment tag also works for armor stands.

Turtle

These tags are used when summoning turtles.

Tagname	Description	Value type	Syntax
HomePosX	Determines the X coordinate of a turtle's home beach.	Numerical	{HomePosX:#}
HomePosY	Determines the Y coordinate of a turtle's home beach.	Numerical	{HomePosY:#}
HomePosZ	Determines the Z coordinate of a turtle's home beach.	Numerical	{HomePosZ:#}
TravelPosX	Determines the distance a turtle can lay eggs from its home coordinates, on the X axis.	Numerical	{TravelPosX:#}
TravelPosY	Determines the distance a turtle can lay eggs from its home coordinates, on the Y axis.	Numerical	{TravelPosY:#}
TravelPosZ	Determines the distance a turtle can lay eggs from its home coordinates, on the Z axis.	Numerical	{TravelPosZ:#}
HasEgg	Determines if the turtle has an egg to lay	0 – 0b – false 1 – 1b – true	{HasEgg:#}

Blocks

Tags used in /setblock and /fill:

Tagname	Description	Value Type	Syntax
Command	Used with command blocks. Places command block with command.	A string	{Command:"desired command"}

Note: This is also used for Command Block Minecarts

Generic

These tags can be used on most tile entitied blocks

Tagname	Description	Value Type	Syntax
CustomName	Displayed in the top left corner of the inventory, instead of the regular name. Only works where such a regular name exists.	A JSON text component	{CustomName:"\"Custom Name\""}
Lock	Says a name needed on a held item to open the inventory.	A string	{Lock:"Key's Name"}

Beacon

Tagname	Description	Value Type	Syntax
Primary	This determines the first status effect that the beacon will create. It defaults to level 1 of the effect.	An ID of a status effect.	{Primary:#}
Secondary	This determines the second status effect. If its the same as Primary, then it will increase the status effect to level 2. Otherwise it will be level 1.	Also an ID of a status effect.	{Secondary:#}

Spawner

These tags are used when using /setblock or /summon (spawner minecarts) to create spawners. Only add the data tags you want to avoid a potential error.

Tagname	Description	Value Type	Syntax
EntityId	Specifies what entity the spawner spawns.	A ID of a Mob	{SpawnData:{id:}}
SpawnData	Used for spawners that spawn entities with data tags.	An entity NBT tag	{SpawnData:{NBT tag}}
SpawnCount	How many entities the spawner will spawn at one time.	Integer	{SpawnCount:#}
SpawnRange	The range of which the entities can spawn.	Integer	{SpawnRange:#}
RequiredPlayerRange	The range of which a player must be in for the spawner to start spawning entities.	Integer	{RequiredPlayerRange:#}
Delay	The number of ticks before entities spawn when a player is first detected.	Integer	{Delay:#}
MinSpawnDelay	After the first spawn, this is the minimum amount of ticks before more entities can spawn.	Integer	{MinSpawnDelay:#}
MaxSpawnDelay	Similar to MinSpawnDelay. After the first spawn, this is the maximum amount of ticks before more entities can spawn.	Integer	{MaxSpawnDelay:#}
MaxNearbyEntities	Checks the number of entities within the spawn range ('SpawnRange' tag). If the number of entities it detects is over the set MaxNearbyEntities number, it will not spawn more entities unless the amount of entities within the spawn range is decreased.	Integer	{MaxNearbyEntities:#}
SpawnPotentials	Used when creating spawners that spawn multiple types of entities. A weighted list of entities to be spawned, including NBT tags.	A List	{SpawnPotentials:[{Type:"EntityName",Weight:#,Properties:{NBT tag}}]}
Weight	Used if spawning multiple entities using SpawnPotentials. If the same as another SpawnPotentials entity, both will have an even chance of spawning.	A number	{Weight:#}

Sub-tags used in the SpawnPotentials data tag.

Tagname	Description	Value Type	Syntax
Type	Determines the other entity that spawns with the entity specified in the EntityId data tag. MUST be used with SpawnPotentials.	A string	{SpawnPotentials:[{Type:"EntityName"}]}
Weight	Determines the chance of spawning the entity specified in the 'Type' sub-tag. If set to the same as another other entity's weight, they will have the same chance of spawning.	A number	{SpawnPotentials:[{Weight:#}]}
Properties	Determines the entity data tag(s) that the entity (specified in the 'Type' sub-tag) will be spawned with.	An entity NBT tag	{SpawnPotentials:[{Properties:{NBT tag}}]}

See also

• Tutorials/Command blocks and functions