Bartering Station Mod: Automate Piglin Trades on Your Minecraft Server

Minecraft rewards patience, and resource gathering eats most of it. Whether you are stacking netherrack for a build or hunting enchanted books to roll a better setup, the grind never really stops. The Bartering Station mod, available for both Forge and Fabric, hands that work to the piglins. It is the spiritual cousin of the Trading Post mod, but instead of villagers handling deals, gold ingots flow into hostile mobs while items flow back out. Whole farms can be built around it, which is exactly the kind of optimization a small SMP community tends to love. The setup is not complicated, but mod loaders, dependencies, and folder layouts trip up newcomers fast. This guide walks through the full install on both client and server, then covers how to use the block once it is live.

Downloading the Mod and Dependencies

Start at the CurseForge page for Bartering Station. Open the Files tab near the top.

The list below shows every available build. Match the Minecraft version you plan to run and the correct mod loader (Forge or Fabric).

• Click the three vertical dots on the right side of the entry.
• Hit Download File.

Save the file somewhere easy to find. You will need it twice, once for the client and once for the server.

The mod has dependencies. Repeat the same steps for Puzzles Lib, which is required for both loaders. If you are running Fabric specifically, also grab Fabric API and Forge Config API Port. Skipping any of these is the most common reason the game refuses to launch after install.

Installing the Mod on Your Client

Before Bartering Station can load, the Forge or Fabric loader needs to be installed in your Minecraft launcher. If you have not done that yet, install the loader profile first.

• Open the Minecraft launcher and select Installations from the top menu.

• Find your Forge or Fabric profile in the list and click the folder icon on the right.

A file explorer window will open at the profile's game directory. Look for the `mods` folder inside it. If it does not exist yet, create one manually.

• Drag the downloaded mod files (Bartering Station plus its dependencies) into the `mods` folder.

Return to the launcher and press Play on the modded profile. The mod should load alongside the loader, and a quick check in the title screen mods list confirms it is recognized.

Installing the Mod on the Server

The server side mirrors the client setup. Forge or Fabric needs to be selected in the version selector of your panel, matching the same version you are running locally. Restart the server once after switching loaders so it can generate the new file structure, including the `mods` directory.

• From your server panel, open the FTP or file manager tool.

• Enter your password and log in.

• Navigate to the `mods` folder, then click the Upload button at the top left.
• Drag the same mod files you placed on your client (Bartering Station and all dependencies) into the upload area.

Wait until each upload reports 100%, then go back to the main panel and restart the server. Once the console finishes booting, the mod is live.

Using the Bartering Station In Game

The mod only matters inside the Nether, since piglins exclusively spawn there. Before placing a single station, you and anyone joining the server need gear good enough to survive a Nether trip, plus a healthy stack of gold ingots. Those ingots fuel every trade. Gold nuggets are common throughout the dimension, but mining a few in the Overworld first is usually quicker.

The bartering station block also has a crafting cost, so plan for that ingot reserve to pull double duty. After placing the block next to piglins, just drop gold into the GUI slots and trades start happening.

If you only want to test features without the survival grind, switch to creative mode using the appropriate operator command. Otherwise, the sections below cover the practical mechanics.

Finding a Bastion Remnant

Bastion remnants are the easiest farming grounds because they are packed with piglins. Locating one can take some wandering, but they typically appear within a 400 to 500 block radius of your Nether portal. Generation varies, and a nearby fortress reduces the odds since bastions and fortresses repel each other.

Every Nether biome except basalt deltas can spawn bastions. If RNG is being unkind, the `/locate structure minecraft:bastion_remnant` command with operator permissions will point you toward the nearest one. Otherwise, classic exploration with fire resistance potions does the job.

Crafting the Block

The recipe is intentionally cheap: 2 Gold Ingots and 4 Wood Planks of any type. That low cost is by design, because the block's effective range is small. Each station only attracts up to 6 piglins within a 12 block radius, so anyone running a serious farm will end up crafting multiple stations to scale throughput.

Trading With Piglins

Position matters. The block needs to sit near piglins to register them, and only the six closest within range will engage. Trapping piglins in pens around the station is the cleanest way to guarantee a steady setup, but dropping the block inside a bastion remnant usually works without extra prep.

Once piglins are in range, fill the station's GUI slots with gold ingots. Distribute them evenly across the slots, since each slot maps to one piglin. Six filled slots means six simultaneous trades. Small directional arrows in the menu show progress, similar to a furnace bar showing when an item is mid-cook.

Building an Auto Farm

For full automation, combine the station with a vanilla hopper and chest setup. The common pattern looks like this: a chest above the station feeds gold ingots in, while hoppers under the block funnel traded items into a chain of storage chests below. As long as piglins stay trapped within the 12 block range and the input chest has gold, the system runs on its own.

Expect a healthy mix of returns. Trades include enchanted books, crying obsidian, potions, gear, and various building blocks. Heavy farms can fill a chest in minutes, so plan storage accordingly. If a chest fills up, trades stall, which is why spreading capacity across multiple chests prevents downtime.

Troubleshooting

Most issues come down to install mistakes. If Minecraft fails to launch, the dependency mods are almost always the culprit. Double check that Puzzles Lib is in the `mods` folder, and on Fabric that Fabric API plus Forge Config API Port are also present. The launcher profile must use the matching loader. The same applies to the server side: Forge or Fabric has to be selected as the loader version in your panel, and every mod file has to be uploaded through your FTP client or file manager. When those line up, the mod loads cleanly. Anything weirder than that is worth opening a ticket with your hosting provider's support team.

If the block is placed but nothing happens, check what kind of piglin is nearby. Brutes do not trade, and neither do zombified piglins. Only regular piglins exchange gold for items. The 12 block range is also strict, so anything further out is ignored.

Automatic farms occasionally break when hoppers face the wrong direction. The flow should always be: chest on top feeds gold into the station, hopper beneath the station pulls traded items into a storage chain. If items get stuck or never restock, walk the chain and confirm each hopper is locked into the next container. Standard mob farm logic applies here.

Related Reading

• Bartering Station on CurseForge
• Setting Up Fabric on Minecraft
• Installing Forge on Minecraft
• Adding Mods to a Minecraft Server