The /summon Command in Minecraft: Spawn Mobs With a Name, Gear and Health

Who can use it

/summon is a level 2 command: operators, the console and command blocks can use it. In a single-player world you need cheats turned on; on a server, being op (how to give op).

In the chat it takes a slash. In the server console it goes without one, and mind the position: the console isn't anywhere, so ~ ~ ~ is the world spawn. To make it appear next to someone, execute at Ana run summon zombie ~ ~ ~.

The shape: mob, position and data

/summon <entity> [x y z] [data]. Only the entity is required: /summon cow puts a cow where you are. The ID is the English one (zombie, iron_golem, wither_skeleton); the minecraft: in front is optional. If you don't know the ID, Tab in the chat completes it.

The position is three values. With ~ it's relative to you (~ ~ ~5 is five blocks south, ~ ~10 ~ ten blocks up); with ^, relative to where you're looking (^ ^ ^3 is three blocks ahead); and with numbers, a fixed spot (100 64 -20). If you want to add data, the position always has to be written, even if it's ~ ~ ~.

The data goes in curly braces at the end and is the mob's NBT tag: /summon zombie ~ ~ ~ {NoAI:1b}. Each version has changed some fields; what this guide uses is the shape from 1.21.5 onwards (the 26.x versions too), which is what an up-to-date server has. To put the same data on a mob that's already in the world, without spawning another, there's /data merge: the /data guide (in Spanish) explains it.

What people use most

1. Standing still and doing nothing

   /summon villager ~ ~ ~ {NoAI:1b}: it doesn't move, attack or turn. For a decorative villager or a monster on display.

2. So it can't be killed and doesn't despawn

   /summon villager ~ ~ ~ {NoAI:1b,Invulnerable:1b,PersistenceRequired:1b}. Invulnerable takes hits from anyone not in creative and PersistenceRequired stops the game from removing it when everyone goes far away.

3. With a name

   /summon zombie ~ ~ ~ {CustomName:{text:"Boss",color:"red"},CustomNameVisible:1b}. Since 1.21.5 the name goes like this, without single quotes around it; CustomNameVisible makes it visible from afar.

4. Silent, glowing or floating

   Silent:1b removes its sounds, Glowing:1b outlines it through walls and NoGravity:1b leaves it in the air.

5. A baby

   Zombies with /summon zombie ~ ~ ~ {IsBaby:1b}. Animals and villagers with a negative age: /summon cow ~ ~ ~ {Age:-24000} is a calf that grows up in 20 minutes. Since 26.1, AgeLocked:1b makes it never grow up.

6. A charged creeper

   /summon creeper ~ ~ ~ {powered:1b}. With ExplosionRadius:6b it explodes harder and with Fuse:60 it takes three seconds instead of one and a half (it's in ticks, 20 per second).

7. A lightning bolt

   /summon lightning_bolt ~ ~ ~5: it strikes five blocks south. It turns pigs into zombified piglins, villagers into witches and charges creepers, like a real one.

Gear, health and size

Since 1.21.5 gear goes in equipment, with one slot per name: /summon zombie ~ ~ ~ {equipment:{mainhand:{id:"diamond_sword",count:1},head:{id:"diamond_helmet",count:1}}}. The usual ones are mainhand, offhand, head, chest, legs and feet. So it doesn't drop it on death, drop_chances:{mainhand:0.0f,head:0.0f}.

Health is an attribute and the current health can't go above the maximum, so you set both: /summon zombie ~ ~ ~ {attributes:[{id:"minecraft:max_health",base:200d}],Health:200f} is a zombie with 100 hearts (2 points are one heart). Size works the same way: {attributes:[{id:"minecraft:scale",base:3d}]} makes it three times bigger (from 0.0625 to 16).

If a page shows HandItems:[…], ArmorItems:[…] or generic.max_health, it's from before: on a current server it doesn't throw an error, but the mob comes out with no gear or with its normal health. So you don't have to write all this by hand, the /summon generator does it in your version's syntax.

A mob on top of another: riders

Whatever goes in Passengers comes out riding on top: /summon spider ~ ~ ~ {Passengers:[{id:"minecraft:skeleton"}]} is the spider jockey. Each passenger has its ID and can have its own data, and its own passengers too: that's how mob towers are made.

For a boss with a mount, for example: /summon ravager ~ ~ ~ {Passengers:[{id:"minecraft:pillager",CustomName:{text:"Captain"}}]}.

Finding them later: tags and teams

With Tags:["event"] the mob carries a mark of yours, and later you find it with a selector: /kill @e[tag=event] removes only those, without touching anyone's animals. It's what you should do before filling the spawn with mobs for an event.

Since 26.3 you can also put it on a team as it spawns with Team:"red" (the team has to exist first: see the /team guide (in Spanish)): with Glowing:1b, the outline comes out in the team's colour, and selectors like @e[team=red] find it.

The errors and what they mean

«Monsters cannot be summoned in Peaceful difficulty»: the world is on peaceful. Change it with /difficulty easy or in server.properties (difficulty and game mode).

«Invalid position for summon»: the position is outside the world's limits, for example above the build height or past the border.

«Can't find element… of type minecraft:entity_type»: the ID is misspelled or translated. Some things aren't entities: a sword isn't summoned, it's given with /give (or summoned as a dropped item: /summon item ~ ~ ~ {Item:{id:"diamond",count:1}}).

«Unexpected trailing data» or «Expected compound tag»: a brace or bracket left open, or a missing comma between fields.

The mob appears but with no name, no gear or normal health: it's a command from another version. The game doesn't complain about fields it doesn't know; it ignores them.

The command doesn't fit in the chat (256 characters): paste it into the server console or into a command block (in Spanish).

Ideas for your server

A villager or an NPC standing still at spawn: NoAI, Invulnerable, PersistenceRequired and a name. If you want it to talk or open menus, better Citizens; to make it sell things, Shopkeepers (in Spanish).

An event boss: lots of health, armour, a visible name and Glowing so everyone can find it. If you want bosses with their own abilities that spawn on their own, there's MythicMobs (in Spanish).

Careful with summoning lots at once: hundreds of mobs in one place are what drags TPS down the most. Tag them and remove them when you're done (entity lag).

At NapNodes

Minecraft servers run Paper on the latest version, so the syntax in this guide is the one that works. Type it in the panel's «Console», without the slash; remember that from there ~ ~ ~ is the world spawn, so use execute at YourName run summon … or coordinates. That's also where you make yourself op with op YourName.

Before filling the world with mobs for an event, make a backup in «Backups». And if you don't have a server yet, the free one works for trying commands with your friends, no card needed.

Frequently asked questions