How to Make a Crafter in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Craft a crafter with 5 iron ingots, 1 crafting table, 2 redstone dust and 1 dropper. Feed it ingredients with hoppers, toggle slots to shape the recipe, and give it a redstone pulse - it crafts and ejects the result automatically.

What you need

Iron ingot x5
Redstone dust x2
Crafting table x1
Dropper x1

Step by step

Gather 5 iron ingots, 2 redstone dust, 1 crafting table and 1 dropper (7 cobblestone + 1 redstone).
Craft the crafter: iron ingots in all four corners and top-center, crafting table in the middle, dropper below it, redstone dust in the bottom corners.
Open it and toggle slots: click any empty slot to disable it. Disabled slots stay empty, which is how you shape recipes that don't fill the grid.
Feed it ingredients: hoppers, droppers and other crafters insert items in reading order, skipping disabled slots. Hoppers underneath pull items out.
Trigger it with redstone: each redstone pulse crafts one batch and ejects the result out the front - into the world or straight into a container it faces.
Chain your farms: point a bamboo or sugar cane farm's collection hopper into a crafter to auto-produce paper or sugar with zero clicks.
Stack crafts: crafters can feed other crafters, so multi-step recipes (dye then wool, logs to planks to sticks) run as one machine.
Know the limits: in Java, pistons cannot move crafters, and each pulse crafts exactly once - build a clock for continuous production.

Java vs Bedrock

Recipe and auto-crafting behavior are the same in Java and Bedrock. One difference worth knowing: crafters cannot be moved by pistons in Java Edition.

Versions: Announced at Minecraft Live on October 15, 2023; added in 1.20.3 behind the Update 1.21 experimental data pack (23w42a) and fully released in 1.21 (24w18a).

Frequently asked questions

How do you use a crafter in Minecraft?

Fill its 3x3 grid with ingredients (hoppers work), click empty slots to disable any the recipe doesn't need, then send a redstone pulse. Each pulse crafts one batch and ejects it from the front face.

What is the crafter recipe in Minecraft?

Five iron ingots, one crafting table, two redstone dust and one dropper: iron in the corners and top-center, crafting table in the middle, dropper below it, redstone in the bottom corners.

Can a crafter craft automatically without clicking?

Yes - that's its purpose. Any redstone signal (button, clock, observer, trial spawner output) triggers one craft. Feed it with hoppers from a farm and it produces items with no player input at all.