Overview#
JEI Integration is a specialized utility mod designed as the successor to the legacy NEI Integration. Its primary purpose is to bridge the gap between Just Enough Items (JEI) and other Minecraft mods that lack native recipe support. By providing custom recipe handlers, it ensures that players can view crafting processes for a wider range of modded content.
Beyond recipe support, the mod is highly regarded for its robust tooltip system. It allows players, modpack developers, and translators to see hidden technical data about any item or block in the game. These tooltips are fully configurable, allowing users to toggle specific data points such as NBT tags, burn times, and registry names. As a utility-focused mod, it does not add new blocks, items, or mobs to the game world, but instead enhances the information available through the user interface.
Tooltip Features#
The core functionality of JEI Integration lies in its ability to display detailed metadata on item tooltips. These tooltips are disabled by default to give players and pack makers full control over the UI. The available tooltips vary slightly depending on the Minecraft version being used.
Modern Version Tooltips (1.18.2 - 1.20.1)
| Tooltip Name | Description | Units/Format |
|---|---|---|
| Burn Time | Displays how long an item will burn in a furnace. | Ticks (20 ticks = 1 second) |
| Durability | Shows the current and maximum durability of tools, armor, and weapons. | Remaining / Total |
| Enchantability | Displays the numerical enchantability value, affecting the quality of enchantments received. | Integer |
| Hunger/Saturation | Shows the hunger points and saturation levels restored by food items. | Numerical Values |
| Max Stack Size | Displays the maximum number of items that can occupy a single slot. | Usually 1, 16, or 64 |
| NBT Data | Displays all raw NBT (Named Binary Tag) data stored on the item. | Raw String |
| Registry Name | Displays the internal ID or namespace name of the item. | e.g., minecraft:apple |
| Tags | Lists all tags associated with the item (e.g., forge:ores, minecraft:planks). |
Tag List |
| Translation Key | Displays the internal localization string used for translations. | e.g., block.minecraft.stone |
Legacy Version Tooltips (1.12.2 and Below)
In older versions of Minecraft, the mod includes specific handlers for legacy systems:
- Metadata: Displays the item's metadata value (e.g., Orange Wool has a metadata of 1).
- Ore Dictionary Entries: Lists all OreDict strings associated with the item (e.g.,
ingotIron,logWood). This is essential for understanding item grouping in older modpacks.
Configuration#
JEI Integration provides a highly granular configuration system. Settings can be adjusted via the in-game configuration menu (if a config GUI mod is present) or by editing the jeiintegration.toml (or .cfg in older versions) file located in the /config folder of the Minecraft directory.
Tooltip Display Modes
Each tooltip type can be set to one of five visibility states:
- Disabled: The tooltip is completely hidden.
- Enabled: The tooltip is always visible when hovering over an item.
- On Shift: The tooltip only appears while the player is holding the Shift key.
- On Debug: The tooltip only appears when Advanced Tooltips are enabled (toggled via
F3 + H). - On Shift & Debug: The tooltip only appears if both the Shift key is held and Advanced Tooltips are active.
Configuration Example
Developers can use these settings to clean up the UI for casual players while still providing deep technical data for power users who need to see NBT structures or registry names for automation and scripting.
Mechanics and Integration#
The mod functions as a "plugin" for JEI. It hooks into the JEI API to register categories and handlers that other mods may have neglected to implement.
Recipe Handlers
While JEI handles most vanilla recipes, many complex modded machines require custom handlers to display their inputs and outputs. JEI Integration acts as a catch-all support layer, ensuring that machine recipes, specialized crafting altars, and chemical processors from various mods appear correctly in the JEI recipe overlay.
Technical Utility
For modders and pack developers, the Translation Key and NBT Data tooltips are the most critical mechanics. The Translation Key allows translators to identify exactly which string needs to be localized in .json or .lang files. The NBT Data tooltip allows developers to see the exact tags required for specialized item filters in mods like Applied Energistics 2 or Refined Storage.
Frequently Asked Questions#
Q: Does this mod work with Fabric? No. JEI Integration is designed exclusively for the Forge mod loader.
Q: Why are no tooltips showing up after I installed the mod? By default, all tooltips are set to "Disabled" to prevent cluttering the player's screen. You must enter the configuration file or the in-game config menu to enable the specific tooltips you wish to see.
Q: Is there a performance impact? The performance impact is negligible. The mod only calculates tooltip data when the player hovers over an item in an inventory, and the recipe handlers are indexed during the game's startup phase.
