Mods

The table below shows the default path expanded for each operating system, where <name> is your user account name:

.ct-client is a hidden folder on every platform: on macOS and Linux its name begins with a dot, and Windows treats a dot-prefixed folder in your home directory the same way. That is why it does not appear in a normal file listing. Each platform has a quick way to reach it anyway.

macOS

Use Finder's Go > Go to Folder (Cmd+Shift+G) and paste the path, or open the folder straight from Terminal:

open ~/.ct-client/game/mods

You can also reveal the application folder in Finder first with open ~/.ct-client, then navigate into game/mods.

Windows

Paste the path directly into the File Explorer address bar and press Enter:

%USERPROFILE%\.ct-client\game\mods

Or open the folder from Command Prompt or PowerShell:

explorer %USERPROFILE%\.ct-client\game\mods

Linux

Press Ctrl+L in your file manager and type the path, or open the folder from a terminal:

xdg-open ~/.ct-client/game/mods

CT creates the mods/ directory automatically on launch, so you can also start CT once and then open the folder. To create it yourself:

mkdir -p ~/.ct-client/game/mods

Place each mod JAR directly inside the folder. CT scans only the top level of mods/ — JARs in subdirectories are not discovered.

1. 1
   Open the mods folder. Follow the section above — by default ~/.ct-client/game/mods/, or <game directory>/mods/ with a custom game.directory.
2. 2
   Drop the mod JAR in. Place the JAR directly inside mods/, not in a subfolder. CT creates the folder automatically on launch if it does not exist yet.
3. 3
   Verify the JAR contents. The JAR must contain a ct.mod.json file at its root. A JAR without it is not a CT mod and is skipped by the scan.
4. 4
   Launch CT. CT Loader scans mods/, validates every ct.mod.json, checks required dependencies, and initializes entrypoints in dependency order before invoking Minecraft's official main class. Any problem is reported in the CT output.

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "id": "example",
  "name": "Example Mod",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "entrypoints": ["example.ExampleMod"],
  "depends": []
}

A malformed ct.mod.json — missing fields, unreadable JSON, or an invalid entrypoint reference — stops launch with an error in the CT output rather than silently skipping the mod.

package example;

import com.ct.module.ctloader.CTMod;
import com.ct.module.ctloader.CTModContext;

public final class ExampleMod implements CTMod {
    @Override
    public void onInitialize(CTModContext context) {
        context.log("Example Mod initialized");
    }
}

onInitialize(CTModContext) runs once, before Minecraft's main class, for every entrypoint listed in ct.mod.json. The CTModContext handed to your entrypoint exposes:

• Metadata — the parsed ct.mod.json of your mod, including its id, name, and version.
• Game directory — the configured game directory, for reading or writing your own files under it.
• Mods directory — the mods/ folder the loader scanned, so you can see the other installed mod JARs.
• Mod-ID-prefixed logger — context.log(...) writes to CT output with your mod's id as the prefix, so messages are attributable.

An entrypoint that throws stops the launch with the exception reported in the CT output. There is no partial initialization: a failing mod fails the launch.

• Required dependencies must be present. Every ID in depends must be installed as a CT mod in mods/. A missing dependency stops the launch with an error naming what is absent.
• Duplicate IDs are rejected. Two installed mods may not declare the same id.
• Dependency cycles are rejected. Mods that depend on each other, directly or transitively, cannot be ordered and stop the launch.
• Dependencies initialize first. Entrypoints run in dependency order, so a mod's dependencies are always initialized before the mod that requires them.
• A malformed mod stops the launch. Unreadable or invalid ct.mod.json fails the launch instead of being skipped.
• A failed entrypoint stops the launch. An exception thrown from onInitialize is reported in the CT output and the game does not start.

All checks run before Minecraft's main class is invoked, so a broken mod set never reaches the game.

When a JAR containing a root-level fabric.mod.json is present in mods/, CT checks the installed profiles and automatically uses the sole installed Fabric profile matching the selected Minecraft version:

• No matching profile — install Fabric Loader into the same game directory using its official installer, then refresh the profile list. CT reports when Fabric Loader must be installed or a profile selected.
• Several matching profiles — CT cannot choose for you; select one explicitly in the desktop launcher.

CT does not download or repair loader files, and the external loader — not CT's native API — loads its mods. The same handoff covers Forge and NeoForge profiles installed by their own installers. CT installs the profile's required vanilla Minecraft parent version when it is missing, but loader installation and loader-library repair remain the responsibility of that loader's installer. Profile launching is currently desktop-only; the command line interface continues to install and launch vanilla versions.

This applies equally to CT mods with ct.mod.json and to Fabric mods with fabric.mod.json — in both cases the JAR contains code that executes on your machine with your permissions. Review the source or the publisher before dropping an unknown JAR into mods/. See Security for CT's overall trust model.