Structure

For other uses, see Structure (disambiguation).

Structures (also known as a "generated structure" or "structure feature") are naturally-generated formations that can be located using /locate structure and will not spawn in the world when the "Generate Structures" option is disabled during world creation.‌^{[JE only]} Players can generate structures using /place. Certain features, such as monster rooms or desert wells, still generate when this option is disabled and are listed under § Structure-like features due to their resemblance to other defined structures.

The Overworld contains numerous structures, at a wide variety of scales.

These structures can generate only underground in any default Overworld.

Structure	Biome(s)	Description	Screenshot
Ancient City	Deep Dark	Long corridors made of deepslate and wool, connecting to a central building with a frame-like structure made of reinforced deepslate. The central structure resembles a warden. Small ruins can be found scattered around the ancient city containing loot chests inside. Since this structure generates in the deep dark biome, it contains many sculk sensors, shriekers, and catalysts.
Buried Treasure	Beach Snowy Beach Stony Shore‌[BE only] Mushroom Field Shore‌[BE only]	A hidden chest containing valuable loot that spawns in coastal biomes. They are found using treasure maps located in shipwrecks and occasionally ocean ruins. The most notable item in buried chests is the heart of the sea, which is guaranteed to be found. Other common loot that can be found are diamonds, iron and gold ingots, emeralds, TNT, and potions.
Mineshaft	Any Overworld biome except Deep Dark	A maze of corridors supported by oak fences, with incomplete rail systems on which minecarts with chests can generate. Cave spider spawners may generate here heavily surrounded by cobwebs. In badlands biomes, they use dark oak planks instead of oak planks, and may generate close to the surface.
Stronghold	Any Overworld biome	Strongholds in Minecraft are generated with maze-like underground structures composed of various specialized rooms, including the essential End portal room, libraries, prison cells, and storage areas. The End portal in the stronghold is the only way to access the End dimension, and it requires eyes of ender to activate. Eyes of ender are also used to locate the stronghold.
Trail Ruins	Jungle Old Growth Birch Forest Old Growth Pine Taiga Old Growth Spruce Taiga Snowy Taiga Taiga	A group of ruined buildings meant to resemble small, ancient settlements. The entire structure is buried underground except for the tip of the tower, which is exposed to the surface. The structure can contain suspicious gravel with various archaeology items.
Trial Chambers	Any Overworld biome except Deep Dark	A large underground structure made of copper and tuff-related blocks, featuring trial spawners and vaults in challenging combat rooms. It is the only place where the breeze is found, as well as the heavy core in vault loot.

These structures generate only aboveground.

Structure	Biome(s)	Description	Screenshot
Abandoned Camp​[upcoming: Third Drop 2026]	Meadow Swamp Savanna Most woodland biomes: Cherry Grove Forest Birch Forest Old Growth Birch Forest Flower Forest Windswept Forest Dappled Forest Taiga Snowy Taiga Old Growth Spruce Taiga Old Growth Pine Taiga Sparse Jungle Bamboo Jungle Wooded Badlands Pale Garden	A small tent full of items, from oxidized copper golem statues to utility blocks, such as the crafting table, cauldron, and straw beds. Abandoned camps are built out of wool stairs and fences, and have different appearances for each biome. Barrels, chests, and cushions are scattered in and around the structure with loot, and rarely a hidden copper chest contains more valuable loot.
Desert Pyramid	Desert Desert Hills‌[BE only]	Large sandstone buildings containing four chests with loot in an underground room hidden beneath terracotta. The chests are trapped with TNT that detonates when a stone pressure plate in the center is stepped on, destroying the chests and their contents. There is also a buried side room with suspicious sand.
Igloo	Snowy Plains Snowy Taiga Snowy Slopes	Snow buildings that may have a basement hidden under a white carpet. The igloo itself contains little of value, but the basement has a villager and a zombie villager held captive behind iron bars. Acting as a tutorial, the basement contains all ingredients to cure the zombie villager, including a splash potion of Weakness on a brewing stand and golden apple in a chest.
Jungle Pyramid	Jungle Bamboo Jungle‌[JE only] Jungle Hills‌[BE only]	Overgrown cobblestone structures containing two loot chests, with one trapped with two dispensers firing arrows by redstone and the other hidden behind a lever puzzle. Setting the correct combination for the lever puzzle moves a block on the main floor, revealing a hidden cavity and the chest.
Pillager Outpost	Plains Desert Savanna Taiga Snowy Plains Grove Meadow Cherry Grove Mountain peak biomes Snowy Slopes Snowy Taiga‌[BE only] Sunflower Plains‌[BE only] Taiga Hills‌[BE only] Snowy Taiga Hills‌[BE only]	An assortment of structures spawning pillagers. The main feature of interest is the watchtower: a tall structure built with wood and cobblestone that generates a loot chest in the top floor. Located around the watchtower are up to four small structures, including tents, target scarecrows, and wooden cages sometimes containing an iron golem or a group of up to 3 allays.
Swamp Hut	Swamp Swamp Hills‌[BE only]	Swamp huts are small wooden buildings on top of log stilts containing a cauldron with a random potion‌[BE only] and crafting table. Upon their generation, one black cat and one witch occupy the structure's area and the mobs do not despawn naturally. The huts can be used to create a witch farm, as replacement witches spawn automatically.
Village	Plains Meadow Desert Savanna Taiga Snowy Plains Snowy Taiga‌[BE only] Sunflower Plains‌[BE only] Taiga Hills‌[BE only] Snowy Taiga Hills‌[BE only]	A town full of houses and job sites inhabited by villagers with random professions and up to two iron golems defending the village. They are constructed with a wide variety of materials and different architecture, depending on the biome that they generate in. Villages also contain farms with animals and crops, and cats spawn commonly around the houses. Villages can rarely generate as abandoned villages where zombie villagers spawn instead of villagers. Houses no longer have torches, some blocks are broken and replaced with cobwebs or mossy cobblestone, and no iron golems spawn.
Woodland Mansion	Dark Forest Pale Garden Dripstone Caves‌[BE only] Lush Caves‌[BE only] Sulfur Caves‌[BE only] Dark Forest Hills‌[BE only]	Massive, systematically-generated buildings constructed with dark oak and a cobblestone foundation. They contain many rooms (some hidden) and loot chests scattered across their three floors, and are inhabited by vindicators and evokers that do not naturally despawn or respawn when defeated. Allays can sometimes be found in prison cells.

These structures generate both aboveground and underground.

Structure	Biome(s)	Description	Screenshot
Ruined Portal	Any Overworld biome except Deep Dark	An incomplete Nether portal constructed with various types of stone materials. They can generate in varying sizes and positions, on the surface, underwater, and in caves. A netherrack platform generates underneath, as well as a loot chest and a few gold blocks.

These structures generate below the sea level i.e. y=64 and in the Ocean biomes.

Note that ocean ruins and shipwrecks sometimes generate above water on shores, and icebergs are partially above and below water.

Structure	Biome(s)	Description	Screenshot
Ocean Monument	Deep Ocean Deep Frozen Ocean Deep Cold Ocean Deep Lukewarm Ocean Deep Warm Ocean‌[BE only]	Massive prismarine temples inhabited by guardians and three elder guardians in fixed positions. Wet sponges, along with eight blocks of gold as treasure, also generate naturally here. The interior structure is randomly generated, resembling a maze.
Ocean Ruins	Deep Ocean Deep Frozen Ocean Deep Cold Ocean Deep Lukewarm Ocean Ocean Frozen Ocean Cold Ocean Warm Ocean Lukewarm Ocean Deep Warm Ocean‌[BE only]	A collection of small structures made of stone bricks or sandstone depending on the ocean temperature. Drowned may spawn naturally here. Along with loot chests, they contain suspicious sand or suspicious gravel. Suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins is the only way to get the sniffer egg.
Shipwreck	Deep Ocean Deep Frozen Ocean Deep Cold Ocean Deep Lukewarm Ocean Ocean Frozen Ocean Cold Ocean Warm Ocean Lukewarm Ocean Beach Snowy Beach Mushroom Field Shore‌[BE only]	Wooden structures resembling sunken ships in varying states of deterioration, containing up to three loot chests. Sometimes they can generate on land.

The Nether, though equally vast, contains far fewer structures than the Overworld.

Structure	Biome(s)	Description	Screenshot
Bastion Remnant	Nether Wastes Crimson Forest Warped Forest Soul Sand Valley	Enormous, castle-like blackstone structures housing piglins and piglin brutes. They can generate in various forms (bridges, housing units, hoglin stables, and treasure rooms) and chest loot varies from one form to the next. Large quantities of gold blocks generate within the structure and this is the only place where netherite upgrades can be found.
Nether Fortress	All Nether biomes	Towering castles made of Nether bricks that contain blaze monster spawners and Nether wart farms. They are divided into open-air ramparts and winding interior corridors, some of which contain loot chests. Wither skeletons and blazes exclusively spawn here.
Nether Fossil	Soul Sand Valley	Fossil variants that are more incomplete and purely composed of bone blocks. Dried ghasts may sometimes generate near Nether fossils. In Bedrock Edition, this is technically a feature rather than a structure-like feature.
Ruined Portal	All Nether biomes	Similar to the Overworld ruined portal, this is an incomplete Nether portal constructed with blackstone materials instead of stone. They can generate in varying sizes and positions, with a loot chest and a few gold blocks.

The End is the final and most barren dimension. After defeating the ender dragon, gateways to the outer islands are created.

Structure	Biome(s)	Description	Screenshot
End City	The End‌[BE only] End Midlands‌[JE only] End Highlands‌[JE only]	Sprawling, well-connected towers built from purpur blocks, End stone bricks, and magenta stained glass. They are inhabited by shulkers that guard valuable loot chests, and may generate an End ship holding an elytra.

These world generation features share similarities with structures but are generated in the same manner as trees and ores. They will generate even when the "Generate Structures" option‌^{[JE only]} is disabled. These cannot be located using the /locate command.

Features	Biome(s)	Description	Screenshot
Amethyst Geode	All Overworld biomes	Large, hollow spherical rocks composed of outer layers of smooth basalt and calcite with an inner layer of amethyst blocks. This is the only place where budding amethyst, amethyst buds, amethyst clusters and amethyst blocks can be found. They come in many sizes, including open geodes and entirely encased geodes.
Bonus Chest	Any near the world spawn	A chest with beginner loot, that spawns near the world spawn if the feature was toggled on when creating the world.
Desert Well	Desert Desert Hills‌[BE only] Desert Lakes‌[BE only]	Small sandstone feature holding water in their center cavity with suspicious sand below.
End Gateway	End Midlands‌[JE only] End Highlands‌[JE only] The End	A 1-block portal that activates after the ender dragon is defeated. Using an ender pearl, the player can teleport to the outer regions of the End. They generate infinetely throughout the world as gateways back to the main island.
End Platform	The End	An obsidian platform that repairs itself when any entity enters the End.
End Spike	The End	Tall obsidian pillars that hold the End crystals. Some of them also have iron bars.
Exit portal	The End	A feature that looks like a fountain. It becomes the only portal to the Overworld and a dragon egg spawns on it after the player defeats the ender dragon.
Fossil	Mangrove Swamp Desert Swamp Swamp Hills‌[BE only] Desert Hills‌[BE only] Desert Lakes‌[BE only]	Usually buried feature made of bone blocks and coal or diamond ore depending on the altitude.
Monster Room	All Overworld biomes	A small cobblestone room containing a monster spawner, which spawns zombies, skeletons, or spiders, as well as up to two loot chests. They are typically connected to underground caves but may generate above ground or intersected with true structures such as mineshafts or strongholds.
Void start platform	The Void‌[JE only] Plains‌[BE only]	A platform made of stone with a cobblestone block in the center. They can spawn only in superflat worlds with "The Void" preset selected.

This section is missing information about: Screenshots for each removed structure.

 

Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.

These are structures that have been removed or exist only in older versions of Minecraft.

Structure	Biome(s)	Description
Brick Pyramid	Anywhere, since biomes did not exist at the time.	A giant pyramid that had no interior and was made solely out of bricks. It was made to test structure generation. The official name for this structure is unknown. It was removed in Java Edition Infdev 20100327.
Glass Pillar	Any Overworld biome.	A tall, 1×1 glass pillar that stretched from the End portal room in the stronghold all the way to the build limit. According to Jeb, it was a debug feature that he forgot to remove. It was removed in the version Java Edition Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4.
Starting House	Anywhere on the Java Edition Indev world.	Used to serve as the spawn location for the player during the Indev phase. The first edition of this house was made of mossy cobblestone, but later it was changed to wooden planks. It also originally included chests with various items, which were later removed.
Monolith	Anywhere during Infdev.	Chunk-sized patches of terrain that would generate up to the height limit. They were never intended to be in the game as they were just a "glitch". Monoliths were patched in the version Alpha v1.2.0 Preview.
Nether Reactor‌[BE only]	Anywhere, as it's built by the player.	A player-built structure that would turn into the "Nether Spire", and would give the player access to unobtainable items. The reason for its addition is because the Nether did not exist in Pocket Edition back then. It was then removed after the addition of the Nether in Pocket Edition.
Nether Spire‌[BE only]	Anywhere where the Nether reactor was built.	A tall and round structure that spawned over the Nether reactor. It was made out of obsidian, which was later changed to netherrack. It would spawn various zombie pigmen and items from the Nether. Its purpose was to enable the players on Pocket Edition to obtain certain items, since the Nether was not implemented yet.
Obsidian Wall	Anywhere, since it stretched toward every cardinal direction.	A 2 block tall obsidian wall that was present during some versions of the Infdev phase. It started in the middle of the world, and stretched toward north, south, west and east. This structure doesn't have an official name.

Structures are generated for a given chunk after the terrain has been formed. The chunk format includes a tag called TerrainPopulated that indicates whether structures whose "point of origin" is in that chunk have been generated. If it is false or missing, it generates again. Structure generation is based on what is already in the chunk, so (for example) flagging a chunk that has already been populated for repopulation approximately doubles the amount of ore in it. When structures are generated, they can spill over into neighboring chunks that have been previously generated.

The following table lists configured structure features' IDs in Java Edition and structure features' IDs in Bedrock Edition. These IDs can be used in /locate command.

Structure name	Java Edition	Bedrock Edition	Dimension
Ancient City	ancient_city	ancientcity ancient_city	Overworld
Bastion Remnant	bastion_remnant	bastionremnant bastion_remnant	The Nether
Buried Treasure	buried_treasure	buriedtreasure buried_treasure	Overworld
End City	end_city	endcity end_city	The End
Nether Fortress	fortress	fortress	The Nether
Woodland Mansion	mansion	mansion	Overworld
Mineshaft	mineshaft mineshaft_mesa	mineshaft	Overworld
Ocean Monument	monument	monument	Overworld
Nether Fossil	nether_fossil	Not a Structure	The Nether
Ocean Ruins	ocean_ruin_cold ocean_ruin_warm	ruins	Overworld
Pillager Outpost	pillager_outpost	pillageroutpost pillager_outpost	Overworld
Ruined Portal	ruined_portal ruined_portal_desert ruined_portal_jungle ruined_portal_mountain ruined_portal_nether ruined_portal_ocean ruined_portal_swamp	ruinedportal ruined_portal	Overworld, The Nether
Shipwreck	shipwreck shipwreck_beached	shipwreck	Overworld
Stronghold	stronghold	stronghold	Overworld
Desert Pyramid	desert_pyramid	temple	Overworld
Igloo	igloo
Jungle Pyramid	jungle_pyramid
Swamp Hut	swamp_hut
Trail Ruins	trail_ruins	trail_ruins	Overworld
Trial Chambers	trial_chambers	trial_chambers	Overworld
Village	village_desert village_plains village_savanna village_snowy village_taiga	village	Overworld

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

 

In Java Edition, there are some structure tags in vanilla game.

Tag	Structure(s)
#cats_spawn_as_black #cats_spawn_in	Swamp hut
#dolphin_located	Shipwreck Ocean ruins
#eye_of_ender_located	Stronghold
#mineshaft	Mineshaft
#ocean_ruin	Ocean ruins
#on_ocean_explorer_maps	Ocean monument
#on_treasure_maps	Buried treasure
#on_trial_explorer_maps	Trial chambers
#on_woodland_explorer_maps	Woodland mansion
#ruined_portal	Ruined portal
#shipwreck	Shipwreck
#village	Village

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Atlantis?	Find an underwater ruin	—	20	Silver
		Ahoy!	Find a shipwreck	—	20	Silver
		Echolocation	Feed a dolphin fish to have it lead you to treasure	Feed a dolphin cod or salmon and have it lure you to treasure.	20	Silver
		Me Gold!	Dig up a buried treasure	Open a buried treasure chest.	30	Silver

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Eye Spy	Follow an Eye of Ender	Enter a stronghold.
	Those Were the Days	Enter a Bastion Remnant	—
	A Terrible Fortress	Break your way into a Nether Fortress	Enter a nether fortress.
	The City at the End of the Game	Go on in, what could happen?	Enter an End city.
	Minecraft: Trial(s) Edition	Step foot in a Trial Chamber	—

Issues relating to "Structure" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

• Biome
• Feature
• Generated structures data file format
• Jigsaw Block
• Structure Block
• Air

• Rare Structures in Minecraft – Minecraft Help Center

v t e World features
Terrain features Overworld Terrain Canyon Carver cave Cliff Floating island Hill Mountains Noise cave Surface Surface layers Erosion Slopes Strip Terracotta Marshland Hoodoo Iceberg Water bodies Aquifer Sea level Ocean River Others Ore vein The Nether Carver cave Erosion Lava sea The End Central island Erosion Outer islands Removed Beach Gravel Far Lands Underwater cave Underwater ravine Java Edition only Monolith
Structures Overworld Ruined Portal Surface Desert Pyramid Igloo Jungle Pyramid Pillager Outpost Swamp Hut Village Farm Woodland Mansion Abandoned Camp​[upcoming: Third Drop 2026] Underwater Ocean Monument Ocean Ruins Cold Warm Shipwreck Underground Ancient City Buried Treasure Mineshaft Stronghold Trail Ruins Trial Chambers The Nether Bastion Remnant Nether Fortress Nether Fossil Ruined Portal The End End City Utility Jigsaw Joke 9x9.nbt Bonus barrel Bridge Colosseum command.com.nbt content.nbt desire.nbt house_of_bob.nbt library.nbt llama.nbt Lunar Base Potato Mineshaft Potato Village Ruined Portatol Shapes Removed Village (old) Java Edition only Brick Pyramid Glass Pillars Obsidian Wall Starting House
Features Overworld Lava Lake Spring Surface Bonus Chest Desert Well Disk Iceberg Blue Ice Ice Patch Ice Spike Freeze Top Layer Forest Rock Pile Sulfur Spring Underground Amethyst Geode Pointed Dripstone Dripstone cluster Large dripstone Monster Room Fossil Ore Underwater Magma Sulfur Pool Sulfur Spike Vegetation Patched vegetations Bamboo Coral Reef Kelp​[until: JE 26.3] Sea Pickle​[until: JE 26.3] Seagrass​[until: JE 26.3] Glow Lichen Sculk Vein Sculk Patch Huge Mushroom Root System Tree Oak Spruce Birch Jungle Bush Acacia Dark Oak Azalea Mangrove Cherry Pale Oak Poplar​[upcoming: Third Drop 2026] Fallen Tree Vines Cave Vegetation Patch Pale Moss Patch Bedrock Edition only Tree with Vines Superflat only Void Start Platform Java Edition only Fill Layer The Nether Basalt Columns Basalt Pillar Blob Glowstone Delta Lava spring Fire patch Vegetation Nether Forest Vegetation​[until: JE 26.3] Twisting Vines​[until: JE 26.3] Weeping Vines​[until: JE 26.3] Huge Crimson Fungus Huge Warped Fungus The End Chorus Plant End Gateway End Platform End Podium End Spike End Island Removed Clay Blob Water Lake Utility Java Edition only no_op Overlay​[upcoming: JE 26.3] Projected Random Patchy Square​[upcoming: JE 26.3] Random Boolean Selector Random Selector Replace Single Block Simple Block Simple Random Selector Joke Hash Well Potato Geode Potato Tree