Architectury Loom

Architectury Loom is a free Gradle plugin for preparing a deobfuscated development environment for Minecraft mods. It supports Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt, and is described as a ForgeGradle replacement based on FabricMC Loom. Developers can choose Yarn, Official Mojang Mappings or MCP mappings. Loom uses Fernflower and CFR to generate source code with comments. The documentation supports IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code, while other IDEs are not tested or supported. It requires Gradle 8.1 or newer and runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. The project is labeled experimental, and its documentation says issues may arise and directs users to the issue tracker. The repository uses the MIT license, and the project links to Discord for community discussion. The latest listed release is 1.17, which adds an API for converting access wideners to access transformers for Forge and NeoForge.

Architectury Loom provides a free development setup for Minecraft modding across several loaders. Its experimental status and supported IDE list are important considerations before adopting it.

Architectury Loom suits Minecraft mod developers working across Fabric, Forge, NeoForge or Quilt. It is aimed at developers using Gradle 8.1 or newer with IntelliJ IDEA or Visual Studio Code.

Architectury Loom is a free Gradle plugin for building Minecraft mod development environments across four major loaders. It is best suited to developers maintaining cross-loader projects, while its experimental designation and limited supported IDEs make it a cautious choice for teams demanding a tightly supported toolchain. The main appeal is one workflow for setup, mappings, dependency handling, and packaging across Minecraft 1.14.4 and later.

Overview

Architectury Loom builds deobfuscated development environments for Minecraft mods and is based on FabricMC Loom. Its documentation positions it as a replacement for ForgeGradle, while the Architectury project focuses on enabling development across multiple mod loaders. Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, and Quilt are supported, so a project aimed at more than one ecosystem can avoid maintaining entirely separate setup plugins.

This breadth comes with a clear qualification: the project is explicitly experimental. Issues may arise, and users are directed to the issue tracker when they do. That status is acceptable for developers comfortable following an evolving tool, but it is a meaningful risk for a team that needs a predictable foundation and formal support expectations.

Key features

• Multi-loader setup: Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, and Quilt support makes Loom a sensible starting point for cross-loader development. A project committed to only one loader may gain less from the extra scope.
• Mapping choices: Yarn, Official Mojang Mappings, and MCP are available. The choice accommodates different modding conventions, although developers still need to select and maintain the mapping scheme that fits their codebase.
• Decompiled sources: Fernflower and CFR generate source code with comments. That gives developers readable material for inspecting Minecraft code during mod work rather than leaving them with only compiled classes.
• Project plumbing: Dependency management and artifact packaging are included alongside environment setup. Loom therefore covers recurring build tasks, not just the initial deobfuscation step.
• Forge and NeoForge conversion: Release 1.17 adds an API for converting access wideners to access transformers for Forge and NeoForge, a targeted capability for projects bridging those toolchains.
• Community route: The project points users to a Discord community as well as its issue tracker. That provides a place to discuss the tool, but it does not change the experimental support model.

Pricing

There is no paid tier, trial period, seat allowance, or renewal charge to weigh. The MIT license and open-source model make Loom suitable for individual modders and teams that need a no-cost build component. The practical cost is compatibility work: Gradle 8.1 or newer is required, and the documented IDE support is limited to IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code.

Platforms

Architectury Loom runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its supported Minecraft range starts at version 1.14.4. The Gradle requirement narrows older build environments, and IDE users outside IntelliJ IDEA or Visual Studio Code are outside the documented support boundary.

Who it's for

Choose Loom when your mod project targets multiple loaders and you want a common Gradle-centered development setup with selectable mappings, generated source, dependency management, and artifact packaging. It also fits developers replacing a ForgeGradle-based workflow with one that reaches Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, and Quilt.

Look elsewhere if experimental software is unacceptable, if your build must stay below Gradle 8.1, or if your team relies on an IDE other than IntelliJ IDEA or Visual Studio Code. A single-loader project may also find Loom's broader scope unnecessary.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Four-loader coverage: One plugin can support projects spanning Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, and Quilt.
• Flexible code naming: Yarn, Official Mojang Mappings, and MCP cover several established mapping preferences.
• Complete build workflow: Environment setup is joined by dependency management and artifact packaging.
• No purchase barrier: The open-source MIT-licensed project costs nothing.

Cons

• Experimental status: Possible issues and issue-tracker-based reporting make it a weaker fit for risk-averse production teams.
• IDE limits: Only IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code are documented as supported; other IDEs are not tested or supported.
• Modern Gradle baseline: Gradle 8.1 or newer is required.

Alternatives

Quilt Loom is the more focused alternative when your work centers on Quilt; it is free MIT-licensed software for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Pick Fabric when you need the Fabric loader itself and its surrounding ecosystem rather than a multi-loader setup plugin. Gradle is the underlying open-source build system when you need general build orchestration beyond Minecraft-specific Loom features.

Blockbench is a free cross-platform Minecraft modeling tool, so it suits asset creation rather than Gradle-based mod environment setup. CurseForgeGradle is the narrower choice for publishing build artifacts to CurseForge. ForgeFlower is a free Apache-2.0 decompiler project for Linux when decompilation, not a complete modding environment, is the priority. Visual Studio Code is a free editor for supported platforms, but it is an IDE choice rather than a replacement for Loom's build plugin. Minecraft Development MCP Server is another open-source Minecraft development option requiring Node.js 18+ and Java 17+.

For a broader starting point, browse Minecraft Mod Development Tools.

Verdict

Architectury Loom is a strong fit for Minecraft developers who need one free Gradle workflow across Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, and Quilt, especially when mapping choice and packaged artifacts matter. Its experimental status is the central reason to look elsewhere: teams requiring a fully supported, predictable toolchain should favor a more narrowly scoped or established setup.