JEI Interface Guide: Opening the Overlay and Browsing Recipes
This guide explains how to open the Just Enough Items (JEI) overlay, use its basic controls, and navigate recipes through the interface and hotkeys.
Opening and Closing the Overlay
JEI displays ingredient lists on the right side of your screen and bookmarked items on the left. Use the toggleOverlay action to show or hide both overlays at once. The toggleBookmarkOverlay action controls only the bookmark list. Both actions require the corresponding hotkey (set it in the controls menu).
If the screen space is too narrow, JEI will not draw the ingredient list or bookmark list because there is not enough room. Widen your game window to make them appear.
Understanding the Ingredient List
The right-side list shows all available ingredients. You can scroll through it using your mouse wheel. The navigationVisibility setting controls when page buttons and scroll bars appear. Choose AUTO_HIDE to show them only when the list overflows the available space.
For the scroll style, pick one of three options:
- PAGED — shows page buttons for moving between pages
- SCROLLING — uses a row-stepped scroll bar
- SMOOTH_SCROLLING — uses a smooth scroll bar
The Smooth Scroll Rate option sets how many pixels the list moves per wheel tick in smooth-scrolling boxes. The Drag Delay option sets how many milliseconds you must hold a mouse button before a long click counts as dragging.
You can change the number of rows and columns shown, the horizontal and vertical alignment of the list, and whether JEI draws a background texture behind it. The Draw GUI Background option toggles that texture.
Viewing Recipes and Uses
Hover over any ingredient and use the usage action to see all recipes that use that item. Use the hotkey action to show all recipes that produce that item. Both require the corresponding hotkey (set it in the controls menu).
When a recipe screen opens, you can move between recipe categories with the previousCategory and nextCategory actions. Flip through pages of results with the previousRecipePage action. If recipe slots cycle through ingredients automatically, the pauseRecipeCycling action stops that motion temporarily.
Bookmarking Items and Recipes
Hover over an ingredient and press the bookmark key (set it in the controls menu) to add it to your bookmark list. Press the same key again on a bookmarked item to remove it. The Add/Remove Bookmark action also performs this toggle.
If you bookmark a recipe's output, the bookmarkOutputAsRecipe setting decides what happens. When enabled, JEI bookmarks the entire recipe instead of just the output ingredient.
You can drag bookmarks to rearrange their order in the list. The addBookmarksToFrontEnabled setting controls whether new bookmarks appear at the beginning or end of the list.
From a bookmarked recipe, use the transferRecipeBookmark action to craft one copy, or maxTransferRecipeBookmark to craft as many as possible. The quickMove action moves a ghost item quickly.
Search and Filtering
The clearSearchBar action empties the current search filter. JEI supports several search prefixes:
- @ — search by mod name
- # — search by tag
- $ — search by tooltip text
- ^ — search by color
- & — search by identifier
Each prefix has its own search mode setting. You can also enable searching in advanced tooltips, mod aliases, short mod names, and ingredient aliases.
Hiding Ingredients
Use the toggleEditMode action to enter hide mode. In this mode, click an ingredient to hide it from the list. The toggleWildcardHideIngredient action hides an ingredient and everything matching the same wildcard pattern. Use the showHiddenIngredients action to bring hidden items back.
Tooltips and Additional Features
Hold the configured key (set it in the controls menu) to pin a tooltip. While pinned, click an ingredient to view its recipes. The bookmarkTooltipFeatures setting adds extra actions to bookmark tooltips, and holdShiftToShowBookmarkTooltipFeatures assigns a key to reveal those actions.
The enableRecipesGuiIngredientsSummary setting shows a summary of all ingredients needed for a recipe on that recipe's output tooltip. The showCreativeTabNamesEnabled setting displays creative tab names in tooltips.
Cheat Mode
Cheat mode lets you take items directly from JEI. The server controls who can use it. If you lack permission, JEI shows a message saying you cannot use cheat mode. When enabled, cheatToHotbarUsingHotkeysEnabled lets you send items to your hotbar using Shift plus number keys. The cheatToHotbarUsingHotkeysEnabled description explains this behavior.