MobInteract

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Gives humanoid mobs the ability to mine blocks, build their own path (stairs / pillar up / bridge) toward targets they could never reach, and pick up blocks and pickaxes off the ground.

Once installed, the zombie, skeleton or vindicator that used to stand behind a fence, stare across a ravine, or pace under a player on a pillar will take matters into its own hands: break the blocking block, pull cobblestone out of its carried stock, stack a step up, bridge across, and grab pickaxes and blocks lying around.

Ability	What it does	Requirement
Mining	Breaks the block in its way, the block above its head, or the block under its feet / under its target	A pickaxe in the main hand, a mineable block, within reach
Building	Takes blocks from its virtual stock to build stairs / pillar up / bridge / step down	Was given a stock at spawn, charges left, has a target
Pickup	Walks to dropped items: blocks go into the stock, pickaxes into the main hand	On by default

This is not a general-purpose mob AI and it does not replace vanilla pathfinding: it only adds two higher-priority behaviours on top, so vanilla targeting, jumping and detouring still work as usual. Villagers, wandering traders and other friendly mobs are not taken over by default.

Compatibility

Item	Details
Server	Paper / Purpur / Canvas / Folia, 1.21.8 – 26.x
One jar for all	Built against the oldest supported version; newer servers accept the older api-version, the reverse is not true — hence a single jar for 1.21.8 and 26.x alike
Minimum version	1.21.8 (older servers lack the pathfinding / scheduling capabilities this plugin relies on)
Soft dependency	BlockLocker (if present, protected chests, doors and trapdoors are skipped automatically; not required)
Not required	Client mods, resource packs, extra dependencies

Download and install

1. Grab the latest MobInteract-x.y.z.jar from Releases.
2. Drop it into your server's plugins/ folder and restart.
3. On first start it creates six configuration files in plugins/MobInteract/: mining.yml, placement.yml, equip.yml, targeting.yml, message.yml, update.yml — all with comments.
4. In game, run /mobinteract status for a configuration summary, then aim at a zombie and run /mobinteract inspect to see what it is currently thinking.

To upgrade, just replace the jar and restart — your configuration files are never overwritten, and values you edited in an older version win. See Installation, Upgrade and Removal for the details.

Commands

The command is /mobinteract, alias /mi, permission node mobinteract.admin (OP only by default).

Command	Purpose
/mobinteract status	Configuration summary: mob / world filters, mining parameters, build limits, equipment chance, known mobs, temporary blocks, protection-plugin status
/mobinteract inspect	Live state of the mob you are looking at: cooldown, placements used in this chase, pickaxe in hand, stock contents, last action (the first thing to check when a mob "just won't move")
/mobinteract reload	Hot-reloads every configuration file without interrupting an ongoing mining or building action
/mobinteract update	Checks GitHub Releases for a newer version right away (the plugin also does this on its own in the background)

Configuration at a glance

Six files, one job each; run /mobinteract reload and the change takes effect immediately:

File	What it controls
mining.yml	Mining: which blocks are mineable, how slow, how far, which are excluded
placement.yml	Building and pickup: what gets placed, how often, how long blocks last, what the stock contains, what gets picked up
equip.yml	The spawn-equipment gate: what fraction of mobs are born with a pickaxe / with a stock
targeting.yml	Player targeting: switch to the nearest player when one is around
message.yml	Every message sent to players: colours, wording, multiple lines
update.yml	Update checks: on or off, which repository to ask, how often, who gets told

Every key, default value and tuning advice lives in the wiki, one page per topic:

Wiki page	Contents
Installation, Upgrade and Removal	Where to put the jar, how to verify it works, upgrading, what the plugin cleans up on removal
Mining	The five trigger rules, reach, break-time formula and conversion table, tools and pickaxes, every mining.yml key
Building Paths	When it builds, how it chooses stairs / pillar / bridge, the anti-spam rules, placement.* and entry format
Block Backpack and Item Pickup	How the stock is rolled, how counts are split, what is picked up and what is not
Birth Equipment, Messages and Player Targeting	Nested equip.yml probabilities, message.yml placeholders, targeting.yml
Commands, Permissions and Behaviour Overview	Command details, mob / world filters, Folia notes, BlockLocker coexistence
FAQ and Known Limitations	How to debug "it won't move / mine / build / pick up", plus the "looks broken but isn't" cases
Changelog	What changed in each version and which setting to touch when upgrading

Common misunderstandings

• "Why isn't it mining?" — No pickaxe in hand (one is required by default), the block is on the safety blacklist (bedrock, barriers, block entities…), or it is simply out of reach.
• "Why is it just standing there?" — No stock, placements used up, still cooling down, or filtered out by the world / mob allow- and deny-lists; /mobinteract inspect tells you which.
• "Why is the bridge still there / gone already?" — Placed blocks vanish after 15 seconds by default; a mob standing on top re-arms the timer. Set it to 0 to keep them forever.
• "Why doesn't it chase me?" — Vanilla pathfinding will not dig through a wall it cannot see you behind, unless you enable "mine the block in front" or it is actively chasing (targeting.yml can make it fixate on a nearby player).
• "Why do villagers do nothing?" — Friendly mobs are not taken over by default; that is a feature, not a bug.

More troubleshooting in FAQ and Known Limitations.

License

Apache License 2.0 © 2026 LiuyeStudio · Author @nukebean

Free to use, modify and redistribute, including commercially, as long as the copyright and license notice are kept.