How to export and install a Minecraft Bedrock add-on (.mcaddon)

Turn your pack folders into .mcpack and .mcaddon files, import them on Windows, Android and iOS, and turn them on in your world.

Your pack is ready and you want to play with it. This guide covers two ways to get it into Minecraft: development folders for testing while you build, and packaged files (.mcpack and .mcaddon) for sharing.

Option 1: development folders (best while building)

Development folders let you change a file and see the result without packaging anything.

Copy your BP folder into com.mojang/development_behavior_packs/.
Copy your RP folder into com.mojang/development_resource_packs/.
Open Minecraft and activate the packs in a world (see below).

After that, the loop is simple: edit a file, save it, then leave the world and open it again. Minecraft reloads packs from the development folders each time a world loads, so you do not need to import again or change the version number.

Not sure where com.mojang is? See Tools you need.

Tip

Some changes, like a new texture, are picked up by simply leaving and rejoining the world. If a change does not show up, fully close Minecraft and start it again.

Option 2: package it as a file

To share your add-on, or to install it on a phone easily, you turn the folders into a single file. These files are just ZIP archives with a different ending.

Make a .mcpack (one pack)

Open your BP folder so you can see manifest.json.
Select everything inside it (the manifest, the icon, and all subfolders).
Compress the selection to a ZIP file.
Rename the file from My Pack.zip to My Pack BP.mcpack.
Do the same for the RP folder to get My Pack RP.mcpack.

Zip the contents, not the folder

manifest.json must be at the top level of the ZIP. If you zip the BP folder itself, the manifest ends up inside BP/ in the archive and Minecraft reports that the import failed.

On Windows, if you cannot see .zip at the end of file names, open File Explorer, choose View, then turn on File name extensions. Otherwise you may end up with pack.mcpack.zip, which will not open in Minecraft.

Make a .mcaddon (both packs together)

A .mcaddon holds several packs in one file, so players install everything with one tap.

Put the BP and RP folders side by side in one folder.
Select both folders.
Compress them into a ZIP.
Rename it to My Pack.mcaddon.

This time the packs stay in their own folders inside the archive:

My Pack.mcaddon (inside)

BP/
  manifest.json
  pack_icon.png
  items/
RP/
  manifest.json
  pack_icon.png
  textures/

Import on each platform

Windows

Double-click the .mcpack or .mcaddon file. Minecraft opens and shows "Import started" and then "Successfully imported".

Android

Open the file from your file manager, a download notification, or a chat app.
If asked which app to use, choose Minecraft.
Wait for the "Successfully imported" message.

iPhone and iPad

Find the file in the Files app, Safari downloads, or a chat app.
Tap it, then use the share button and choose Minecraft, or tap Open in Minecraft if it appears.
Minecraft starts and imports the pack.

Consoles

Xbox, PlayStation and Switch cannot import files directly. To play there, upload the world with your packs to a Realm from another device, or join a server that has them.

Turn the packs on in a world

Importing a pack only adds it to your library. You still have to activate it in each world.

Create a new world, or tap the pencil icon next to an existing one.
Scroll down the left side to Behavior Packs.
Under Available, tap your pack, then tap Activate.
If your BP has a dependency on your RP, Minecraft offers to add the resource pack too. Accept it. Otherwise, open Resource Packs and activate the RP yourself.
Start the world.

Make a copy of your world

Once a world has a behavior pack, it remembers it. Test new add-ons in a new or copied world, never in your main survival world, so a broken pack cannot ruin it.

The experiments toggle

Some features are still in testing. Mojang puts them behind Experiments, which you find in the world settings on the Game tab.

Most custom items, blocks and mobs work with no experiments turned on.
Newer or beta features, like the beta Script API modules, need a toggle such as Beta APIs.
You can turn an experiment on for an existing world, but Minecraft warns you first and marks the world as experimental for good. Do it on a copy.

Unless a feature clearly needs one, leave experiments off.

Updating your add-on

When you share a new version of a packaged add-on:

Raise the version in both manifest headers, for example from [1, 0, 0] to [1, 0, 1].
Update the version in the BP's dependencies entry so it matches the RP's new version.
Package and import again.

If you skip the version bump, Minecraft may say the pack is already installed and keep the old one. You do not need to do this for packs in the development folders.

The one-tap way

Zipping, renaming and checking that every manifest is right is the most fiddly part of add-on making, especially on a phone. GodCraft skips all of it. When you finish your add-on in the Workshop, you tap Export and get a ready .mcaddon with both packs, their manifests and fresh UUIDs inside. Open it in Minecraft and it imports like any other add-on.

Checklist

The manifest sits at the top level of each .mcpack.
The file ends in .mcpack or .mcaddon, not .zip.
Both packs are activated in the world.
The versions were raised if you are updating.

Something not working? Head to When it breaks.

Export and play