Logistics: Automation

A modern Minecraft logistics and pipe mod with authentic in-pipe item motion

⚠️ Early Development

Logistics is in active development. Core pipe transport works, but expect rough edges, missing features, and the occasional bug. Report issues on GitHub if something breaks, or join the Discord for help and discussion.

About

Logistics is a Fabric mod inspired by BuildCraft and Logistics Pipes, bringing authentic item pipe systems to modern Minecraft. Items travel smoothly through thin pipes with visible motion, integrating seamlessly with other mods via Fabric's Transfer API.

Design Principles:

• Material-Based Identity - Each pipe uses distinct vanilla materials for visual clarity
• Layered Progression - Three tiers: Mechanical pipes (basic operations), Smart pipes (decisions), Network logistics (abstract services)
• Authentic Visuals - Items travel continuously through pipes with visible speed
• Mod Interoperability - Works with any mod using Fabric Transfer API (ItemStorage)
• Classic Ergonomics - Simple placement, visible connections, easy to understand

How It Works

Logistics is built on a three-tier system that grows with your world progression.

Tier 1: Mechanical Pipes (Implemented)

Basic routing without item awareness

Start here. These pipes perform mechanical operations—moving, merging, extracting, deleting—but they don't look at what's flowing through them. They just do their job, every time, regardless of item type.

• Stone Transport Pipe (Stone) - Very slow backbone connectivity with random routing
• Copper Transport Pipe (Copper) - Backbone connectivity with random routing
• Item Extractor Pipe (Wood) - Pull items from adjacent inventories into your network
• Item Merger Pipe (Iron) - All inputs converge to a single output
• Golden Transport Pipe (Gold) - Speed boost when powered by redstone
• Item Passthrough Pipe (Sandstone) - Connects only to pipes; bypasses inventories
• Item Void Pipe (Obsidian) - Delete unwanted items

Tier 2: Smart Pipes (Implemented)

Item-aware routing decisions

These pipes are intelligent. They inspect items and change behavior based on what they see. This is where your network becomes conditional and responsive.

• Item Filter Pipe (Diamond) - Route specific items to specific destinations (item-aware)
• Item Insertion Pipe (Quartz) - Prefer inventories with space; otherwise route to pipes

Tier 3: Network Logistics (Implemented)

System-aware automation and requests

Your inventories become abstract resources. Provider modules advertise what's available; supplier modules push stock; requester modules pull what's needed; crafting pipes handle on-demand autocrafting.

Pipes:

• Basic Logistics Pipe - Network backbone; accepts and deposits addressed items with optional filtering
• Provider Logistics Pipe - Advertises adjacent inventory contents to the network
• Requester Logistics Pipe - Requests specific items from the network on demand
• Supplier Logistics Pipe - Keeps a target inventory stocked with configured items
• Crafting Logistics Pipe - Automates crafting recipes fulfilled by the network
• Process Logistics Pipe - Routes in-progress crafting jobs to dedicated machines
• Satellite Logistics Pipe - Remote output point for routing items to distant destinations
• Chassis Pipes (MkI–MkV) - Modular pipes with swappable logistics module slots

Modules (for Chassis Pipes):

• Provider Module (I–II) - Advertise inventory contents at different range/speed tiers
• Extractor Module (I–III) - Pull items from adjacent inventories at increasing speeds
• Passive / Active Supplier Module - Push stock to requesters (passive waits; active seeks)
• Crafter Module (I–III) - Fulfill crafting requests at increasing speeds
• Quicksort Module - Route items by type to sorted destinations
• Terminus Module - Mark a pipe as a terminal endpoint; prevents routing past it
• Sink Module - Accept any overflow items
• Polymorphic Sink Module - Accept overflow, treating NBT-equal items as equivalent
• Enchantment Sink Module - Accept overflow, ignoring enchantment differences
• Mod Sink Module - Accept overflow filtered by mod origin

Each tier builds on the previous one—you'll use all three together as your base grows.

Features

Logistics includes a complete system for item transport, power generation, and automation.

Pipes

Transport items through networks with different behaviors:

• Basic Transport - Stone and Copper pipes for backbone connectivity
• Extraction & Routing - Wood (extractor), Iron (merger), Diamond (filter), Quartz (insertion) pipes
• Special Pipes - Gold (speed boost), Sandstone (passthrough), Obsidian (void)

View all pipes →

Power

RF energy generation and distribution:

• Redstone Engine - Simple, safe, steady power; never overheats
• Stirling Engine - Fuel-powered with heat management; shuts down safely on overheat
• Creative Engine - Infinite power for testing and creative mode
• Power Cables (Copper/Gold/Ender) - Distribute energy from engines to connected machines at increasing transfer rates

Learn about power systems →

Automation

• Macerator - Grind ores, gems, and materials into fine dusts for smelting and crafting
• Kiln - Electric furnace; smelts any vanilla smelting recipe using RF energy
• Laser Quarry - Automated 16×16 mining with energy-scaled speed

Tools

• Wrench - Configuration tool for pipes and machines
• Marking Fluid - Color-code your pipe networks

Installation

Requirements: Minecraft 26.1+ • Fabric Loader 0.18.6+ • Fabric API • Java 25+

Download from:

• GitHub Releases (includes dev builds)
• Modrinth (stable releases)
• CurseForge (stable releases)

Full installation guide →

Quick Start

1. Craft pipes - Start with stone or copper transport pipes
2. Connect to inventories - Pipes automatically connect to chests and other storage
3. Extract items - Use wood extractor pipes (wrench to configure)
4. Route and filter - Combine different pipe types to build your network

Build your first pipe network →

Status

✅ Implemented

• Thin pipe blocks with 6-way connections
• Server-side traveling item simulation with continuous progress
• Client-side smooth visual rendering
• Extraction from and insertion into adjacent inventories
• Mechanical and Smart pipe behaviors
• Network logistics: provider, requester, supplier, crafting, satellite, and chassis pipes
• Autocrafting via vanilla Crafter integration
• Redstone, Stirling, and Creative engines with heat management
• Power cables (copper, gold, ender) for RF energy distribution between machines
• Macerator for grinding ores, gems, and materials into dusts
• Kiln as an RF-powered electric furnace for any vanilla smelting recipe
• Laser Quarry with automatic frame construction and energy-scaled mining speed

🚧 In Progress

• NeoForge mod loader support (architecture groundwork complete; SPI implementations in progress)

🔮 Future

• Fluid pipes with Transfer API integration
• Power/cost system for logistics operations
• Additional pipe upgrades and advanced logistics features

See the documentation for detailed information on pipes, power, automation, and more.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Report issues on GitHub Issues. For code contributions, see CLAUDE.md for development guidance.

Pull request titles and changelogs

This project uses Conventional Commit-style pull request titles. Release notes are generated from PR titles, so titles should describe the player-visible impact whenever possible.

Format:

type(scope): short description

Examples:

feat(pipes): add priority routing mode
fix(neoforge): fix startup crash on NeoForge
perf(automation): reduce idle machine tick cost
refactor(common): simplify platform service lookup
test(pipes): add routing tests
build(fabric): update publishing task
ci(build): update Gradle cache settings
chore(release): update release metadata
chore(update): update dependencies

Changelog-visible types

These appear in player-facing release notes:

Type	Changelog section	Use for
feat	Added	New player-visible behavior
fix	Fixed	Player-visible bug fixes
perf	Improved	Player-visible performance improvements

Internal types

These are allowed for PR organization, but do not appear in release notes:

Type	Use for
refactor	Code cleanup without player-visible behavior changes
test	Test coverage
build	Gradle, publishing, or build system changes
ci	GitHub Actions or automation changes
chore	Maintenance work
docs	Documentation-only changes
revert	Revert a previous change

Allowed scopes

Use the scope that best describes the part of the mod affected:

Scope	Use for
core	Shared mod behavior, base blocks/items, recipes, world behavior
automation	Machines, upgrades, automation logic
pipes	Pipes, routing, extraction, insertion, pipe networks
energy	Energy transfer and storage behavior
storage	Inventories, storage blocks, adapters
ui	Screens, tooltips, overlays, visible rendering/UX
compat	Integration with other mods
fabric	Fabric-specific user-visible behavior
neoforge	NeoForge-specific user-visible behavior
docs	README, wiki, or user documentation
release	Release metadata
update	Dependency and automated update PRs
common	Shared/internal code changes with no better user-facing scope
build	Build tooling or CI support scope

Prefer player-facing scopes for feat, fix, and perf.

Good:

fix(pipes): fix items getting stuck when a route becomes invalid

Avoid for player-facing changes:

fix(common): invalidate pipe graph cache on neighbor update

The second title may be technically accurate, but the first produces better release notes.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Some textures are licensed under CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - see CREDITS.md for attribution details.

Acknowledgments

Inspired by:

• BuildCraft — Classic pipe mechanics and visual style
• Logistics Pipes — Request/provider logistics system design
• Forestry — machines and progressive automation
• The Fabric community for excellent modding tools and APIs

Textures:

• Some textures used, adapted, or inspired from Unused Textures by Malcolm Riley, licensed under CC BY 4.0
• Some textures used, adapted, or inspired from TextureRepository by Futureazoo, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Report an Issue • Documentation • Discord