Handy Indicator

A Fabric mod for Minecraft 1.21.11 that shows a subtle visual indicator on container blocks when they contain items.

At a glance, see which hoppers are loaded, which chests have loot, and which furnaces are fueled — without opening anything.

Features

• Visual overlay indicators — A colored border appears on containers that have items inside.
• Wide block support — Chests, trapped chests, copper chests (all variants), hoppers, dispensers, droppers, barrels, crafters, furnaces, blast furnaces, smokers, and decorated pots.
• Double chest awareness — Double chests show a single unified indicator spanning both halves.
• Furnace detail — Furnaces show separate indicators for input and fuel slots with distinct colors.
• Resource pack compatible — Overlays are injected programmatically, so any resource pack's block models work seamlessly.
• Per-block toggles — Enable or disable indicators for each block type individually.
• Custom colors — Choose your own indicator and fuel colors via the config screen.
• Configurable — All settings accessible via YACL config screen or JSON file.

Requirements

• Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.11
• Fabric Loader 0.18.1+
• Fabric API 0.139.5+

Optional (for config screen)

• ModMenu — adds a Configure button in the mod list
• YACL — powers the in-game config screen

Without these, all features work with sensible defaults. You can also edit config/container-indicator.json manually.

Installation

Single Player

1. Install Fabric Loader for Minecraft 1.21.11
2. Download Fabric API and place it in your mods/ folder
3. Download Handy Indicator and place it in your mods/ folder
4. Launch the game!

Server

The mod is required on both the server and all connecting clients.

Server setup:

1. Install Fabric Loader on your server
2. Place Fabric API and Handy Indicator in the server's mods/ folder
3. Start the server

Client setup:

1. Each player needs Fabric Loader, Fabric API, and Handy Indicator installed
2. Players without the mod will not see container indicators

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/dfox288/HandyIndicator.git
cd HandyIndicator

./gradlew build
# The compiled JAR will be in build/libs/

Development

# Generate Minecraft sources for reference
./gradlew genSources

# Run Minecraft with the mod loaded
./gradlew runClient

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.