How to install Fabric for Minecraft mods?

Fabric is quickly becoming supported by many popular Minecraft mods (Image via Minecraft)
Fabric is quickly becoming supported by many popular Minecraft mods (Image via Minecraft)

Fabric is a popular Minecraft modding toolchain and is one of the most lightweight solutions for installing Minecraft mods.

Initially, Fabric was created due to alleged slow development with the highly popular Forge Modloader project. Before Fabric, there were few alternatives for modders to use outside of Forge. As a result, almost all popular mods were written for and built against the ForgeAPI.

However, with the advent of Fabric comes promises of quicker updates, more community interaction, and overall better mods.


Installing Fabric and Fabric API for Minecraft mods?

This is a relatively simple process and can be completed in under 5 minutes or so.

Installing Fabric for Minecraft

Step 1: Downloading the installer

The first step to installing the Fabric Minecraft mod loader is downloading the installer JAR file from the official fabric website.

Readers will want to download the JAR installer file (Image via Fabric)
Readers will want to download the JAR installer file (Image via Fabric)

Step 2: Selecting installation settings

Now that the installer has been downloaded, the file needs to be executed. Once this has been done, players should be greeted with the menu seen below.

Once greeted with this screen, hit the "Install" button (Image via Fabric)
Once greeted with this screen, hit the "Install" button (Image via Fabric)

Although the default installation settings should suit the majority of players, it's easy to select the preferred Minecraft version to install Fabric onto via the dropdown menu labeled "Minecraft Version."

Step 3: Finishing up

Once happy with the installation settings, users can hit the "Install" button, hopefully completing the process.

Readers should also be sure to double-check that the "Fabric Modloader" profile is selected when launching the game for the first time.

Players should be sure to select the Fabric loader option in the Minecraft launcher menu (Image via The Breakdown, YouTube)
Players should be sure to select the Fabric loader option in the Minecraft launcher menu (Image via The Breakdown, YouTube)

Installing Fabric API for Minecraft

Although Fabric is now installed, many Fabric mods will still not work. To fix this, gamers will need to install the Fabric API, as explained below:

Fabric API is what many mods use to hook into Fabric and use its extensive modding toolkit. This is what allows mods to function and provides for non-vanilla Minecraft features to be implemented.

Step 1

Once players have installed the Fabric modloader, the Fabric API mod can be downloaded from the CurseForge website.

Step 2

The Fabric API mod can be installed like any other mod for Minecraft simply by dragging and dropping the file into the mods folder.

Players can commonly locate the mods folder through the following path:

users -> your windows name -> App Data -> Roaming -> .minecraft -> mods

The FabricAPI mod must be dragged and dropped into the mods folder (Image via The Breakdown/YouTube)
The FabricAPI mod must be dragged and dropped into the mods folder (Image via The Breakdown/YouTube)

Once Fabric and its API mod have been successfully installed, players can install any external mods they would like simply via dragging and dropping the mod file into the same mods folder.

Readers interested in checking out a few good Minecraft Fabric mods to get started can check out this helpful guide.