Fabric API: How to Install and Configure API Mods for Minecraft
Introduction
An API mod is a modification of a software application that uses an application programming interface (API) to interact with other applications or services. API mods can enhance the functionality, performance, or user experience of an application by adding new features, integrating with external data sources, or customizing the interface.
In this article, I will guide you through the steps of creating an API mod for a web application using the Fabric API, which is a core library for the most common hooks and inter-compatibility measures utilized by mods using the Fabric toolchain[^1]. Fabrics APIs are lightweight and modular, making porting faster and game instances leaner[^1]. Fabric development targets snapshots as well as release versions, allowing earlier mod updates and more informed community planning[^1]. The Fabric toolchain is available for everyone to use - even if you only want to use some of it[^1].
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The web application we will be modifying is a simple weather app that displays the current temperature and weather condition for a given location. We will use the Fabric API to add a new feature that allows users to generate QR codes for the weather information, which they can scan with their mobile devices or share with others.
Prerequisites
To create an API mod using the Fabric API, you will need the following tools and libraries:
Go: This is the programming language we will use to write our mod. You can download and install Go from .
Fabric API: This is the core library that provides the hooks and inter-compatibility measures for mods using the Fabric toolchain. You can download and install Fabric API from .
Gin: This is a web framework that makes it easy to create HTTP handlers and routes for our mod. You can download and install Gin using the command go get -u github.com/gin-gonic/gin.
APXS: This is a tool that allows us to compile and install our mod as a dynamic shared object (DSO) on the web server. You can download and install APXS from .
QR Code API: This is an external service that we will use to generate QR codes from the weather data. You can use any QR code API service that you prefer, but for this example, we will use , which is free and easy to use.
Web server: This is where we will host our web application and our mod. You can use any web server that supports DSO modules, but for this example, we will use Apache HTTP Server, which you can download and install from .
Web browser: This is where we will test our mod and see the results. You can use any web browser that supports QR code scanning, but for this example, we will use Google Chrome, which you can download and install from .
Create a folder for your code
The first step is to create a folder for your code. This is where you will store your source files and dependencies for your mod. You can name the folder anything you like, but for this example, we will name it weather-mod. To create the folder, open a terminal window and navigate to the directory where you want to create the folder. Then, run the command mkdir weather-mod. This will create a new folder named weather-mod in your current directory. To enter the folder, run the command cd weather-mod. This will change your current directory to weather-mod.
Create a module for your mod
The next step is to create a module for your mod. A module is a collection of Go packages that have a common prefix in their import paths. A module file is a file named go.mod that defines the module path, version, and dependencies. To create a module file, run the command go mod init weather-mod. This will create a new file named go.mod in your current directory with the following content:
module weather-mod go 1.16
The first line specifies the module path, which is the import path prefix for all packages in the module. The second line specifies the Go version used by the module. You can edit these lines as needed, but for this example, we will keep them as they are.
To add dependencies to your module, you need to specify them in the require section of the module file. For this example, we will need to add two dependencies: Fabric API and Gin. To add Fabric API, run the command go get github.com/FabricMC/fabric@v0.40.8+build.418-1.16. This will download and install Fabric API with the version tag v0.40.8+build.418-1.16, which is compatible with Minecraft 1.16. To add Gin, run the command go get github.com/gin-gonic/gin@v1.7.4. This will download and install Gin with the version tag v1.7.4, which is the latest stable release as of writing this article. After running these commands, your module file should look something like this:
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module weather-mod go 1.16 require ( github.com/FabricMC/fabric v0.40.8+build.418-1.16 github.com/gin-gonic/gin v1.7.4 )
The require section lists the dependencies of your module and their versions. You can also use the command go mod tidy to automatically add or remove dependencies based on your code imports.
Create the data for your mod
The next step is to create the data for your mod. This is where you will store any data or resources that your mod needs, such as images, sounds, or configuration files. To create a data folder, run the command mkdir data. This will create a new folder named data in your current directory. To enter the folder, run the command cd data. This will change your current directory to data.
For this example, we will need to store two files in our data folder: an HTML template and a CSS stylesheet. The HTML template is a file that defines the structure and content of the web page that displays the QR code. The CSS stylesheet is a file that defines the style and appearance of the web page elements. To create these files, run the commands touch index.html and touch style.css. This will create two empty files named index.html and style.css in your current directory.
To edit these files, you can use any text editor that you prefer, but for this example, we will use Nano, which is a simple and easy-to-use text editor that comes pre-installed on most Linux systems. To open Nano, run the command nano filename, where filename is the name of the file you want to edit. For example, to edit index.html, run the command nano index.html. This will open Nano with an empty screen.
To write the HTML template, you need to use HTML tags and elements to define the structure and content of the web page. HTML tags are keywords enclosed in angle brackets () that indicate the start and end of an element. HTML elements are pieces of content that have a start tag, an end tag, and some text or attributes in between. For example, <h1>Hello World</h1> is an HTML element that defines a heading with the text "Hello World". You can learn more about HTML tags and elements from .
To write the CSS stylesheet, you need to use CSS rules and properties to define the style and appearance of the web page elements. CSS rules are statements that consist of a selector and a declaration block. A selector is a pattern that matches one or more elements on the web page. A declaration block is a set of declarations enclosed in curly braces (). A declaration is a pair of a property and a value, separated by a colon (:). For example, h1 color: blue; is a CSS rule that applies the color property with the value blue to all h1 elements on the web page. You can learn more about CSS rules and properties from .
To write the HTML template and CSS stylesheet for our mod, you can use the following code examples as references:
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <title>Weat