Better Server List
The multiplayer screen, organized. Keep your servers in several lists, group
them into collapsible categories, pin favorites to the top, and find any
server by typing. Drag and drop to sort, right-click for everything else.
Your existing servers are imported on first start and the vanilla
servers.dat stays in sync, so nothing is lost if you remove the mod.
Client side.
Built on Mycel (my.celium.org), the shared
core for the MyCelium ecosystem: configuration, platform abstraction and
diagnostics are reused.
Behavior
- Replaces the multiplayer screen. Clicking Multiplayer opens Better
Server List instead of the vanilla list. Vanilla in the footer opens the
vanilla screen until you return to the title screen; a Better list
button in its corner brings you back.
- Lists (left sidebar): as many as you like, e.g. Favorites,
Modded, Events. Click to switch, double-click to rename, right-click
to rename, reorder, copy as text, paste servers or delete.
- Categories: collapsible sections inside a list, each with a color.
Create them with + Category or from a server's menu. Rename, recolor,
reorder and delete from the header's right-click menu; deleting a category
keeps its servers (they become uncategorized).
- Pinned: pin a server (star on hover, or the menu) and it moves to a
Pinned section at the top of its list.
- Search: just start typing. Matches the name, address, MOTD, note and
category. Sections open while searching and empty ones hide.
- Sort: Manual (your order), Name, Players, Ping or Last played, inside
each section. Online only hides servers that did not answer.
- Drag and drop (Manual sort): drop a server between two others, on a
section header to move it into that section, or on a list in the sidebar
to move it there (hold Ctrl to copy).
- Notes and history: give any server a note. Hovering a server's name
shows its address, category, note, when you last played and how often.
- Rows look like vanilla's: server icon, MOTD, player count with the
player list on hover, ping bars. Servers that can't be reached show the
red cross (vanilla keeps animating forever).
- LAN worlds appear in their own section at the bottom.
- Copy and paste lists as text: one server per line
(
Name<TAB>address). Pasting also takes Name address or bare addresses,
so a list shared in chat or Discord imports in one click.
Keys
| Key | Action |
|---|
| Typing, Ctrl+F | Search |
| ↑ / ↓ | Select the previous / next server |
| Shift + ↑ / ↓ | Move the selected server within its section |
| Enter | Join (from the search box: the first match) |
| Delete | Delete the selected server |
| F2 | Edit the selected server |
| Ctrl+C | Copy the selected server's address |
| F5 | Ping every server again |
| Esc | Clear the search, close a menu, or go back |
Where your servers live
config/betterserverlist-servers.json: lists, categories, pins, notes,
play history, sort and filter. Written atomically; a file that no longer
parses is kept as .broken and the lists are rebuilt from servers.dat.servers.dat (vanilla): kept in step with every change. It lists each
address once, in list order, and still stores what the game remembers per
server (icon, resource pack choice, accepted code of conduct). Vanilla's
hidden direct-connect history is left alone.- On every open, servers that appear in
servers.dat but in none of your
lists (added with the vanilla screen, or shipped by a modpack) are added
to the first list.
Configuration (config/betterserverlist.json)
| Key | Default | Meaning |
|---|
enabled | true | Master switch (also toggleable live via Mycel.setEnabled). |
replaceScreen | true | Open Better Server List instead of the vanilla multiplayer screen. |
showLan | true | Look for LAN worlds and list them at the bottom. |
confirmDelete | true | Ask before deleting a server, category or list. |
debug | false | Log loading, saving, syncing and screen swaps. |
Reload live with /mycel reload betterserverlist. A config screen is
available from the mod list on Forge and NeoForge.
Building
JDK 25, then:
./gradlew build # all loaders + tests
./gradlew :common:test # unit tests only
./gradlew :fabric:runClient
The list logic (sections, search, sorting, drag and drop, import and
export, the JSON store) lives in common/.../data without Minecraft
classes and is covered by unit tests.
Mycel itself comes from JitPack
as one universal jar for all loaders
(com.github.MyCelium-GG:MyCel-Lib:1.4.0). No local setup needed.
Releasing
Push a version tag (git tag 1.0.0 && git push origin 1.0.0). The
release workflow builds the three loader jars, attaches them to a GitHub
Release and uploads them to CurseForge once curseforge_project_id is set in
gradle.properties (token in the CURSEFORGE_TOKEN secret).
License
MIT, see LICENSE.
