Bartering Station Mod Guide: Automated Piglin Trading in Minecraft
Bartering Station adds a single utility block that completely automates Piglin bartering. Place Gold Ingots in, let nearby Piglins do the work, and collect all the returned loot automatically. Combined with Hoppers, it turns the Nether's bartering system into a fully hands-off gold-to-loot pipeline.
Overview
Bartering Station is a focused utility mod that adds exactly one block: the Bartering Station. This block automates the entire Piglin bartering process. Instead of manually dropping Gold Ingots on the ground and scrambling to pick up whatever the Piglins toss back, you place your Gold into the station, and it handles everything for you. Gold goes out to nearby Piglins, and the barter results come back into the station's 15 output slots.
The mod is fully compatible with Hoppers, making it trivial to build large-scale automated bartering farms. Feed Gold Ingots in from the top, extract loot from the bottom, and let it run. You can browse the single crafting recipe using the Recipes tab above. This guide covers everything you need to know to set up, optimize, and configure the Bartering Station.
Getting Started
- 1
Craft the Bartering Station
You'll need 2 Gold Ingots and 4 Planks (any wood type). Place the Gold Ingots across the top row (first two columns) and fill the bottom two rows with Planks. The recipe is cheap enough to craft early in your Nether exploration.
- 2
Place It Near Piglins
Set the Bartering Station down in the Nether within range of adult Piglins. The default search range is 12 blocks horizontally and 4 blocks vertically. Piglins must be adults (baby Piglins don't barter) and must not be currently busy with another task. If your Gold isn't being consumed, the Piglins are too far away.
- 3
Load Gold Ingots Into the Input Slots
Right-click the station to open its interface. You'll see 6 input slots on the left side and 15 output slots on the right. Place Gold Ingots into the input slots. The station takes one Ingot from a single slot per cycle, so spread your Gold across all 6 slots for maximum throughput when multiple Piglins are nearby.
- 4
Wait for Bartering Results
The station operates on a 300-tick cycle (15 seconds). Each cycle, it hands out Gold to up to 6 Piglins (one per occupied input slot). The Piglin inspects the Gold for half the cycle time (7.5 seconds), then returns the bartered items directly into the station's output slots. You'll see animated arrows in the GUI showing the current progress.
- 5
Collect Your Loot
Bartered items appear in the 15 output slots on the right side of the interface. Take them out manually or attach a Hopper to the bottom of the station to extract items automatically. The station will stop working when all output slots are full, so make sure to keep those slots clear for continuous operation.
Bartering Station Recipe
How the Bartering Station Works
The Bartering Station is a container block with 21 total slots: 6 input slots for Gold Ingots and 15 output slots for bartered loot. When placed, it periodically scans for adult Piglins within range and distributes Gold Ingots to them. The Piglins then perform their normal bartering behavior, but instead of throwing items on the ground, they deposit the results directly back into the station.
Bartering Cycle
Every 300 ticks (15 seconds by default), the station attempts a bartering cycle. It checks for Piglins within its search area, then iterates through the 6 input slots. For each slot containing a Gold Ingot, it gives one Ingot to the next available Piglin. This means a fully loaded station can trade with up to 6 Piglins simultaneously in a single cycle. The Piglin then spends 150 ticks (7.5 seconds) admiring the Gold before producing barter results.
Piglin Detection
The station searches a rectangular area centered on itself. By default this is 12 blocks in each horizontal direction and 4 blocks vertically, creating a 24x8x24 block detection zone. Only adult Piglins that are not already busy bartering are eligible. The station UI shows the current count of nearby Piglins, which is helpful for verifying your setup.
Input and Output
The station only accepts Piglin Currency items in its input slots (Gold Ingots by default). Output slots are read-only from the GUI perspective. For Hopper automation, the station exposes different sides: items can be inserted from any direction except the bottom (top and sides feed into the 6 input slots), while items can only be extracted from the bottom (pulling from the 15 output slots). This sided inventory behavior makes Hopper setups straightforward.
The Bartering Station stops handing out Gold entirely when it cannot find an empty output slot. If a Piglin's barter results don't fit in the station (all 15 output slots are occupied), the leftover items will be thrown on the ground instead. Always attach extraction Hoppers to prevent this bottleneck.
Bartering Station Stats
| Total Slots | 21 (6 input + 15 output) |
| Barter Cycle | 300 ticks (15 seconds) |
| Piglin Inspection Time | 150 ticks (7.5 seconds) |
| Max Piglins Per Cycle | 6 |
| Horizontal Detection Range | 12 blocks |
| Vertical Detection Range | 4 blocks |
| Block Hardness | 2.0 |
| Blast Resistance | 3.0 |
| Tool Required | Axe (wood material) |
Building an Automated Bartering Farm
The real power of the Bartering Station comes from full automation with Hoppers and Chests. A basic setup only requires a few components: a Chest on top feeding into the station via a Hopper, and a Hopper underneath the station pulling loot into a collection Chest. Place the station on a Hopper (the Hopper's output goes into a Chest below), then place a Hopper on top of the station connected to a Chest of Gold Ingots above.
For maximum efficiency, corral 6 adult Piglins within 12 blocks of the station and fill all 6 input slots with Gold. Each cycle will then distribute to all 6 Piglins simultaneously. If you want to scale beyond 6 Piglins, simply add more Bartering Stations, each one can serve its own group of up to 6 Piglins.
Sorting the Output
Piglin bartering produces a wide variety of items including Ender Pearls, Obsidian, Iron Nuggets, Quartz, Gravel, Crying Obsidian, and more. Since the output is randomized, consider connecting the extraction Hopper chain to an item sorting system. This lets you automatically filter valuable items like Ender Pearls into dedicated storage while routing bulk items like Gravel and Leather to overflow.
Configuration Options
Bartering Station has both server-side and client-side configuration files. Server config controls the mechanics, while client config handles visual presentation. Configuration files are found at .minecraft/config, named barteringstation-server.toml and barteringstation-client.toml. If you have Mod Menu installed (on Fabric), you can edit settings directly from the in-game mod list.
Server Configuration
The horizontalRange setting (default: 12, range: 1-96) controls how far the station searches for Piglins on the horizontal plane. The verticalRange setting (default: 4, range: 1-96) controls the vertical search distance. The barterDelay setting (default: 300, minimum: 20) controls the number of ticks between bartering cycles. Lowering this value speeds up the station significantly, though vanilla bartering itself always takes 120 ticks regardless of this setting.
Client Configuration
The cooldownRenderType setting controls how the station's cooldown is displayed in its GUI. Options are: ARROWS (default, shows animated progress arrows), OVERLAY (shows a darkening overlay on slots), BOTH (combines arrows and overlay), or NONE (disables cooldown visualization entirely).
If you want faster bartering, reduce the barterDelay in the server config. Setting it to 120 (the minimum meaningful value, matching vanilla barter time) will have the station attempt to distribute Gold every 6 seconds instead of every 15. The minimum allowed value is 20 ticks (1 second).
Technical Details
The Bartering Station is classified as a wood-type block with Bass note block instrument properties. It has a hardness of 2.0 and blast resistance of 3.0, making it similar to Planks in durability. It drops itself when broken, and like other container blocks, it will spill its contents when destroyed.
Under the hood, the mod uses a capability system attached to Piglins to track which Bartering Station they're trading with. When a Piglin finishes inspecting its Gold Ingot, the mod intercepts the normal item-throwing behavior and redirects the barter results into the originating station's output slots. If the station's output is full, any items that don't fit are thrown on the ground as normal. This means you never lose items, they just won't be neatly collected.
The station also emits a Redstone comparator signal based on its inventory contents, allowing you to detect when it's running low on Gold or when the output is filling up. This enables advanced Redstone automation, such as triggering alerts or pausing input when the system is backed up.
On Forge, Bartering Station works standalone with no additional library mods. On Fabric and NeoForge, you'll need Puzzles Lib installed. Fabric also requires Fabric API and Forge Config API Port.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why isn't my Bartering Station using any Gold?
The most common cause is that there are no adult Piglins within range. The default detection range is 12 blocks horizontally and 4 blocks vertically. Move your Piglins closer, or increase the range in the server config. Also check that the output slots aren't completely full, as the station won't distribute Gold when it has no room for results.
Can I use the Bartering Station in the Overworld?
Yes, but remember that Piglins zombify in the Overworld unless they have specific protection. You would need to bring Piglins through a Nether Portal and prevent them from converting (some mods add ways to prevent zombification). The station itself works in any dimension, the limitation is keeping Piglins alive and functional.
How many Piglins should I use?
A single Bartering Station supports up to 6 Piglins per cycle (one per input slot). Having exactly 6 Piglins and filling all 6 input slots with Gold gives you maximum throughput from one station. For more than 6 Piglins, add additional Bartering Stations.
Does the Bartering Station work with Hoppers?
Absolutely. Hoppers feeding into the top or sides of the station will fill the 6 input slots. Hoppers underneath the station will extract from the 15 output slots. This is the intended way to build fully automated bartering farms.
Can I change the bartering speed?
Yes. The barterDelay setting in the server config controls the cycle time in ticks. The default is 300 ticks (15 seconds) and can be lowered to a minimum of 20 ticks (1 second). Note that this only affects how often the station distributes Gold; the Piglin's admiration time is always half of the barterDelay value.
What happens to barter results when the output is full?
If barter results can't fit in the station's output slots, the Piglin will throw the items on the ground as it normally would in vanilla. However, the station also stops distributing new Gold when it can't find any free output slot, so in practice this only happens if the last few trades fill it up mid-cycle.