Architectury Loom

Architectury Loom is a Gradle plugin for building deobfuscated development environments for Minecraft mods across Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt. It suits developers targeting multiple mod loaders who want one workflow for mappings and decompilation; its experimental status and narrower IDE support make it a less certain fit for teams that need a fully supported setup.

Overview

Built on FabricMC Loom and positioned as a ForgeGradle replacement, Architectury Loom brings several Minecraft modding toolchains into a single Gradle plugin. It supports Minecraft 1.14.4 and newer, with dependency management and artifact packaging, making it relevant beyond initial environment setup. The breadth is useful for cross-loader development, but experimental status means users should expect the possibility of issues and be prepared to report them through the issue tracker.

Key features

• Multiple loaders: Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt support can reduce the need to maintain separate development setups when a project targets more than one loader.
• Mapping choices: Yarn, Official Mojang Mappings and MCP let developers work with different naming conventions. That flexibility helps accommodate project preferences, though it does not remove the need to choose mappings deliberately.
• Decompiled sources: Fernflower and CFR generate source code with comments, which can help developers inspect Minecraft code while working on a mod.
• Forge and NeoForge utility: Release 1.17 adds an API to convert access wideners to access transformers for Forge and NeoForge, a targeted convenience for projects that need that conversion.

Architectury Loom requires Gradle 8.1 or newer. IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code are supported; other IDEs are not tested or supported, so developers using a different editor should account for that limitation before adopting it.

Pricing

Architectury Loom is open-source software under the MIT license and costs nothing. The free plan includes the plugin’s experimental project, Gradle 8.1-or-newer requirement, and IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code support. There are no paid tiers to weigh against a reduced free plan; the main trade-off is accepting experimental status rather than paying for a more established support commitment.

Platforms

Architectury Loom is available for Linux, macOS and Windows. Its Gradle-based workflow makes the supported IDEs and the Gradle version requirement more consequential than platform choice for most development setups.

Who it's for

Choose it if you develop Minecraft mods across multiple loaders and want mapping options, generated decompiled sources, dependency management and artifact packaging in one plugin. It is also a plausible ForgeGradle replacement for developers comfortable with an experimental project. Look elsewhere if you rely on an IDE other than IntelliJ IDEA or Visual Studio Code, cannot use Gradle 8.1 or newer, or need a less experimental development foundation.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Four loader toolchains in one plugin: Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt support suits multi-loader development.
• Choice of three mapping families: Yarn, Official Mojang Mappings and MCP give projects room to use different naming conventions.
• Free and MIT-licensed: There is no subscription cost, and the license permits use and modification.

Cons

• Experimental project: Issues may arise, which is a meaningful risk for developers who need a dependable, settled workflow.
• IDE support is limited: IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code are supported, while other IDEs are not tested or supported.
• Recent Gradle baseline: The Gradle 8.1 minimum may rule it out for projects tied to older Gradle versions.

Alternatives

For a wider selection of tools, browse the Minecraft Mod Development Tools category.

• ForgeGradle is another free option for developers who want the plugin Architectury Loom describes itself as replacing.
• ModDevGradle is a free Gradle plugin for developing Minecraft mods using NeoForge, making it a more focused choice for NeoForge development.
• MCreator is free software with voluntary donations for readers considering a different mod-making option.
• Fabric is free; its Loader download is the bare minimum, and most mods also require Fabric API.
• Minecraft Forge is free to use and modify for readers seeking the Forge option itself.
• IntelliJ IDEA offers free Java and Kotlin core functionality, with an Ultimate subscription at $100 a year for readers comparing IDE options.
• Gradle is a free open-source build system for readers looking for the underlying build tool rather than a Minecraft-specific plugin.
• Blockbench is free for any type of project for readers considering a different kind of Minecraft-related tool.

Verdict

Architectury Loom is a strong fit for Minecraft mod developers who need a shared Gradle workflow across multiple loaders, especially those who value its mapping choices and source decompilation. Its free, MIT-licensed model removes cost as a barrier. Choose it if you can work within its Gradle and IDE requirements and tolerate an experimental project; look elsewhere if you need broader IDE support or a more established setup.