How to Trade with Villagers in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Give an unemployed villager a job site block (lectern, composter, blast furnace...) and right-click to trade. Every trade costs or gives emeralds, levels the villager from novice to master, and locks in once you trade - so reroll trades BEFORE the first deal by breaking and replacing the job block.

What you need

Villagers (a village, or breed two with beds + food)
Job site blocks: lectern, composter, fletching table, blast furnace, smoker, grindstone, smithing table, cauldron, brewing stand, stonecutter, loom, cartography table, barrel
Emeralds (the universal currency) and sellable goods like wheat, paper, coal or rotten flesh

Step by step

Find or breed villagers, then place a job site block next to an unemployed one: lectern = librarian, composter = farmer, blast furnace = armorer, smithing table = toolsmith, grindstone = weaponsmith, cauldron = leatherworker, and so on.
Check the offered trades (right-click). Don't like them? Break the job block and place it again - the trades reroll, but ONLY if you have never traded with that villager.
Trade with emeralds and goods. Each trade gives you 3-6 XP and fills the villager's experience bar; a full bar levels it up: novice (stone badge), apprentice (iron), journeyman (gold), expert (emerald), master (diamond).
Leveling unlocks new trades - master librarians sell candles, armorers sell diamond gear, and the best enchanted books sit at the top levels.
Villagers restock up to twice per day while they can reach their job site block (in Bedrock they also need to be linked to a bed).
For permanent discounts, cure a zombie villager next to your trading hall; since 1.20.2 the big discount applies only to the first cure. The Hero of the Village effect from a raid also drops prices.

Java vs Bedrock

Java and Bedrock differ in the details: Java villagers cap at 10 trades with 2 new ones per level, Bedrock unlocks up to 3 slots per level (7-10 total). Restocking in Bedrock requires a linked bed; in Java only access to the job site. Overusing one trade raises its price through demand in both editions.

Versions: Trading as we know it dates to 1.8 (14w02a) and was completely rebalanced in 1.14 (Village & Pillage), which added job site blocks, levels and restocking. Since 1.20.2 the zombie-cure discount no longer stacks - only the first cure gives the big one.

Frequently asked questions

Why won't my villager restock its trades?

It needs to physically reach its job site block during work hours, and it restocks at most twice per day. In Bedrock it must also be linked to a bed. Trap it in a 1x1 cell and it may never work again.

How do I lock in a villager's trades?

Trade with it once. From that moment its profession and its full trade list are permanent - even if you break the job block. Before that first trade, breaking and replacing the block rerolls the offers.

What is the best way to get emeralds from villagers?

Sell farmable goods: farmers buy wheat, potatoes, carrots and pumpkins; fletchers buy sticks; librarians buy paper; clerics buy rotten flesh. A crop farm plus a fletcher is the classic emerald engine.