The /clone Command in Minecraft: Copy, Move and Duplicate Builds

Who can use it

/clone is an operator command (level 2), like /fill. In a single-player world you need cheats turned on; on a server, being op: in the server console type op YourName (how to give op).

This guide is for Minecraft Java, the one servers with Paper run. In Bedrock /clone looks similar, but not everything here matches.

How it's written

The basic shape is /clone x1 y1 z1 x2 y2 z2 x y z: the two opposite corners of what you want to copy and the destination point. Both corners are part of the copy and it doesn't matter which one goes first.

The destination is the corner of the copy with the smallest X, Y and Z (the bottom one, towards the northwest), not the center. If you're not sure which one it is, take the three smallest numbers from your two corners: that corner of the original is the one that ends up at the destination.

You see the coordinates with F3 (the “Block” line, or “Targeted Block” if you're looking at a block). Relative ones work too: /clone 100 64 200 110 70 210 ~ ~ ~5 copies that area starting five blocks ahead of you on the Z axis.

1. Write down the first corner

   Stand on a block at one corner (for example, bottom left) and write down the “Block” line from F3.

2. Write down the opposite corner

   The top one on the opposite diagonal, roof included. If you miss a row, the copy comes out without it.

3. Choose the destination

   Go where you want the copy and write down your coordinates: the bottom corner goes there. Leave plenty of room: /clone overwrites whatever is there.

4. Run it

   /clone x1 y1 z1 x2 y2 z2 x y z. If all goes well, it answers “Successfully cloned” with the number of blocks copied.

What it copies and what it doesn't

It copies the blocks as they are, with their state (which way a staircase faces, whether a door is open) and their contents: chests with what's inside, signs with their text, furnaces, banners. Careful on a server: copying a full chest is duplicating items.

It doesn't copy entities: mobs, villagers, armor stands, item frames, paintings, minecarts or dropped items. A shop with item frames or a farm with animals comes out empty; anything that isn't a block has to be placed by hand (or with /summon).

The copy comes out the same as the original, without rotating or mirroring. To rotate it, see further down.

How it copies: replace, masked and filtered

After the destination you choose which blocks get copied. If you leave it out, it's replace:

1. replace: everything

   Copies the whole box, air included: if there was something at the destination where the original has air, it gets wiped.

2. masked: without the air

   /clone x1 y1 z1 x2 y2 z2 x y z masked copies only the blocks that aren't air. Whatever was already around the destination stays: useful for pasting a tree next to a house without punching a hole in it.

3. filtered: only one block

   /clone x1 y1 z1 x2 y2 z2 x y z filtered redstone_wire copies only that block. It takes tags: filtered #minecraft:logs copies any log.

Copy or move: normal, move and force

Next comes what happens to the original. It goes at the end, after replace, masked or filtered (the filter goes first): /clone … x y z replace move.

1. normal: copy

   The usual one: the original stays where it was.

2. move: move

   Copies and leaves air in the original: for taking a house somewhere else. With masked or filtered, only what was copied is removed from the original.

3. force: when they overlap

   If the original and the copy overlap (moving a house three blocks to one side), the game refuses with “The source and destination areas cannot overlap”. With force it does it anyway: /clone … x y z replace force. The game reads the whole original before writing, so the copy comes out complete, but whatever was at the destination is lost.

strict: so the torches don't fall off

Since 1.21.5 you can put strict right after the destination: /clone … x y z strict or /clone … x y z strict masked. It places the blocks without the game updating the ones next to them.

It's for when the copy comes out different from the original: torches or rails that fall off, redstone that turns on by itself, water that starts flowing. If your copy comes out fine without it, you don't need it.

Copying between dimensions

In today's Java you can copy from the overworld to the Nether or the End, or the other way round: /clone from minecraft:overworld x1 y1 z1 x2 y2 z2 to minecraft:the_nether x y z.

Each part can be left out: without from, the original is in the dimension you're in; without to, the copy goes to the same dimension as the original. Both areas have to be loaded, so with no players in the other dimension, it will usually fail (see the errors). Remember that in the Nether and the End you can only build from 0 to 255 in height.

How to rotate or mirror a copy

/clone doesn't rotate. With nothing to install, you do it with a structure block: /give @s structure_block, put it next to the build in “Save” mode, mark the area (48 × 48 × 48 at most) and save it with a name, for example house.

Then /place template minecraft:house ~ ~ ~ clockwise_90 places it rotated a quarter turn (also 180 and counterclockwise_90), and after the rotation goes the mirror (front_back or left_right). All about /place, in its guide (in Spanish).

On a server with Paper, the easiest is WorldEdit: //copy, //rotate 90 and //paste, with no 48 block limit and with //undo if you get it wrong.

The errors and what they mean

“Too many blocks in the specified area (maximum 32768, but specified …)”: the source area is too big. It counts the whole box, air included: 40 × 40 × 21 is 33 600 and doesn't fit. Split it into chunks (the /fill and /clone generator does it for you) or raise the limit with gamerule max_block_modifications 100000 (before 1.21.11, commandModificationBlockLimit).

“The source and destination areas cannot overlap”: the original and the copy overlap. Add force at the end or put the copy further away.

“That position is not loaded”: some corner, of the original or of the destination, falls in chunks that aren't loaded. /clone only works near players or in areas kept loaded with forceload.

“No blocks were cloned”: the command was fine but there was nothing to copy, like a filtered that doesn't find that block or a masked of an area that's only air.

From the server console

In the console it goes without the slash and with fixed coordinates: clone 100 64 200 110 70 210 300 64 200. The console isn't anywhere, so ~ doesn't know where to start from; to copy next to a player, execute at Ana run clone 100 64 200 110 70 210 ~ ~ ~5.

To do it in another dimension without writing from and to, execute in minecraft:the_end run clone … does it in the End.

Ideas for using it on a server

Repeating each new player's house in a town, making several identical plots for a build contest (in Spanish), keeping a minigame arena out of sight and putting it back after every round with a clone … replace, or copying a farm that works.

Before a big /clone in everyone's world, back up the world: with force or move in the wrong place you lose what was there and /clone has no undo.

On NapNodes

Minecraft servers run Paper on the latest version, so everything in this guide works, strict and dimensions included. From the panel's “Console” you make yourself op (op YourName) and run your /clone commands with execute.

The block limit can be changed without commands in “Settings” → “Game rules” → “Command modification block limit”, with the server running. And before a big job, “Backups” → “Create Backup” on paid plans (on the free server, download the world from “Files”).

Frequently asked questions