Generates a complete structure with every piece, exactly like world generation: loot, mobs and all.
Loading structure list...
Without a position, everything generates at the spot where the command runs. Accepts absolute coordinates, ~ relative offsets and ^ local offsets.
Needs cheats on in singleplayer, or operator level 2 on a server. Works in chat and command blocks.
/place generates worldgen content on demand: complete structures like villages and bastions, single features like trees and geodes, jigsaw pool generation, and saved structure templates. Added to Java Edition in 1.19, it is the command that lets you drop an ancient city next to your base instead of searching for one.
The command has four modes. structure generates a full registered structure with every piece, exactly like world generation, loot and spawners included. feature places one configured feature: a tree, an ore blob, a lake, a geode or any other worldgen decoration. jigsaw starts jigsaw generation from a template pool and expands connected pieces up to a chosen depth, which is how villages and bastions assemble themselves. template pastes a single structure template file, the same files structure blocks save, with rotation, mirror, integrity and seed controls.
Like most world-editing commands, /place requires permission level 2: cheats enabled in singleplayer, operator status on a server, or a command block or datapack function. Every mode takes an optional position; without one, everything generates at the spot where the command runs.
The template arguments are positional: to set integrity you must also write pos, rotation and mirror before it, and to set a seed you need integrity too. The generator above back-fills those defaults for you, so toggling one option always produces a command the game accepts.
Copy any of these as a starting point, or rebuild them in the generator above:
/place structure minecraft:ancient_cityGenerates a complete ancient city centered on your position, sculk, loot chests and all./place structure minecraft:end_city 0 80 0Generates an end city at 0 80 0, towers and loot rooms included. /place works in any dimension./place feature minecraft:amethyst_geode ~ ~-12 ~Buries an amethyst geode 12 blocks below your feet./place jigsaw minecraft:bastion/starts minecraft:empty 7Starts bastion jigsaw generation from its start pool and expands it 7 pieces deep./place template minecraft:igloo/top ~ ~ ~ clockwise_90 left_right 0.8Pastes the igloo roof template rotated 90 degrees, mirrored, with about a fifth of its blocks eroded at random.Reach for structure when you want the finished thing: a whole village, a bastion remnant, a trial chamber. The game runs the full generation pipeline, so the result is indistinguishable from a naturally generated one, including loot tables rolled on open and mobs where the structure defines them. Be aware that big structures generate around the target position, not neatly on top of it, and they will cut into any terrain or builds in the way.
feature is for the small stuff worldgen scatters around: single trees, kelp patches, ore blobs, lakes, geodes. Features check their placement conditions before placing, which makes them honest but occasionally frustrating; a spruce tree refuses to grow on glass. The position argument helps here, for example placing an ore feature below ground where it can actually replace stone.
jigsaw is the map-maker's mode. Vanilla uses jigsaw pools to assemble villages, bastions, ancient cities and trail ruins from individual pieces, and /place jigsaw lets you trigger that assembly from any pool, vanilla or datapack, at any depth from 1 to 20. Pair it with template when you need just one piece: every vanilla building exists as a template file you can paste, rotate, mirror and erode on its own.
/place generates worldgen content wherever you want it. It has four modes: structure generates a complete structure such as a village or an ancient city, feature places a single configured feature like a tree, geode or ore blob, jigsaw expands a template pool the same way village generation does, and template pastes one saved structure file. It was added to Java Edition in 1.19 and needs cheats in singleplayer or operator level 2 on a server.
Run /place structure minecraft:ancient_city and the complete structure generates at your position, loot chests and all. Add coordinates to control where it goes, for example /place structure minecraft:ancient_city 0 -40 0. The structure generates exactly as it would during world generation, so it carves into and overwrites the terrain around the target position.
structure generates a full registered structure with every piece, its processors and its loot, exactly like natural world generation. template pastes a single structure template file, the same .nbt files that structure blocks save and load, with optional rotation, mirror, integrity and seed arguments. Use structure for whole buildings like bastions or villages, and template for individual prefab pieces or builds you saved yourself.
Most configured features have placement conditions. A tree needs valid ground under it, an ore blob needs stone to replace, and some features check the biome or the surrounding blocks, so the command can report that it failed to place the feature. Run it somewhere that matches the feature's natural conditions. An unknown id error is different: that means the id is misspelled or the datapack that adds it is not loaded.
Integrity is the fraction of the template's blocks that actually get placed, from 0.0 to 1.0. At 1.0 the template pastes intact; at 0.75 roughly a quarter of the blocks are skipped at random, which is the same mechanic that makes ruined portals look ruined. The seed argument controls which blocks are removed, so the same seed and integrity always produce the same decay pattern.
Java Edition 1.19. Snapshot 22w13a folded the older /placefeature command from 1.18.2 into the new /place command and added the structure, jigsaw and template modes. The strict argument on /place template, which pastes blocks without triggering block updates, arrived later in 1.21.2. Bedrock Edition has no /place command; its closest equivalent is /structure load for saved structures.
Want to find natural structures instead of placing them? Or browse more Minecraft tools: