How to Manually Upload Mods to Your Minecraft Server

Add individual mods to your Forge or Fabric Minecraft server when you need mods that aren’t part of your installed modpack.

Both Forge and Fabric — along with Fabric forks like Quilt — store mods in the mods folder and configuration files in the config folder, making this process consistent across most modern mod loaders.

Uploading Mods via the File Manager

Use the File Manager for uploading a single mod or a small number of mods:

1. Download the mod JAR file from a source like Modrinth or CurseForge
2. Open the Game Control Panel and go to the File Manager
3. Open the mods folder
4. Upload your mod JAR file
5. Restart your server

Uploading Mods via SFTP

Use SFTP when adding several mods at once — SFTP is faster and more reliable for bulk transfers:

1. Connect to your server using an SFTP client like FileZilla
2. Navigate to the mods folder
3. Drag and drop your mod JAR files into the folder
4. Restart your server

Troubleshooting

If your server fails to start after adding a mod, check the server logs for error messages. Common causes include:

• Wrong Minecraft version — The mod was built for a different version of Minecraft
• Wrong mod loader version — The mod requires a specific version of Forge or Fabric
• Missing dependency — The mod requires another library mod to be installed alongside it (look for a required dependency message in the logs)
• Client-side only mod — Some mods are designed to run on the player’s client only and will crash a server if installed there; check the mod’s page to confirm it supports server-side installation