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Minecraft Guide Overview

MineRewind is the official FolderRewind Minecraft extension. It provides backup and restore while Minecraft is running, save discovery, hotkeys, and current-world coordination.

This section also covers several direct integration components. Each one targets a different runtime: MineBackup-Mod for mod-loader servers, MineBackupPlugin for Spigot/Paper, Death Rewind for singleplayer death-screen rewind, and Just Enough Accidents for incident detection.

Relationship between FolderRewind, MineRewind, and Minecraft integration components

MineRewind plugin card in FolderRewind Settings showing the plugin enabled

The Time Machine question mark is a future/placeholder extension outside this documentation scope. This guide covers only MineBackup-Mod, MineBackupPlugin, Death Rewind, and Just Enough Accidents.

Minecraft integration ecosystem

Choose a component by runtime scenario, then read its installation steps, compatibility matrix, and safety boundaries.

MineBackup-Mod

The in-game integration mod coordinates saves, exits, hot backup, hot restore, and automatic rejoin.

Fabric / Forge / NeoForge modded serversRead component guide →

MineBackupPlugin

A Spigot/Paper server plugin that safely hands world restore over to a Sidecar process.

Spigot / Paper dedicated serversRead component guide →

Death Rewind

Creates periodic checkpoints and restores the latest archive from the singleplayer death screen.

Fabric singleplayer worlds / LAN hostsRead component guide →

Just Enough Accidents

Detects high-risk states and creates a world snapshot that can be used to recover from an accident.

Fabric / NeoForge / Forge singleplayer or LAN worldsRead component guide →

Typical combinations​

GoalRecommended combinationKey boundary
Windows singleplayerFolderRewind + MineRewind + MineBackup-ModRequires KnotLink; hot restore exits and rejoins the world
Modded dedicated serverFolderRewind or MineBackup + MineBackup-ModUses the built-in Sidecar; MineBackupPlugin is not required
Spigot/Paper dedicated serverFolderRewind or MineBackup + MineBackupPluginPlayers reconnect manually after restore
Death-screen rewindMineBackup-Mod + Death RewindFabric 26.1–26.1.2 singleplayer/LAN hosts only
Incident snapshotsMineBackup-Mod + JEAJEA 0.2.0 does not support dedicated servers

The host, Minecraft integration, and add-on must use compatible versions. Use the project release pages as the final download source:

MineRewind capabilities​

1. Save discovery and batch configuration​

MineRewind can detect and create configurations for:

  • .minecraft/saves/*
  • .minecraft/versions/<version>/saves/*
  • versions/<version>/saves/*
  • <version>/saves/*
  • saves/*
  • mods folders under the corresponding version can also be included.

The plugin labels the configuration type Minecraft Saves and adds required filters such as session.lock.

MineRewind plugin settings showing the save discovery and automatic config switches

2. Hot backup coordination​

Hot coordination is selected when:

  • a world file is occupied, such as a locked level.dat; or
  • a command explicitly requests forced hot backup.

When conditions are met and KnotLink is available, MineRewind handshakes with the Minecraft-side component, waits for the world to flush, and then enters the backup pipeline. Handshake failures and timeouts are logged and fall back to normal backup behavior according to the plugin strategy.

3. Current-world hot restore​

MineRewind supports this current-world restore chain:

  1. Handshake with the integration component.
  2. Ask it to save and exit the current world.
  3. Wait for world files to be released.
  4. Restore the latest or specified backup.
  5. Send a rejoin signal and wait for the result.

This is the central differentiator of the Minecraft workflow, but it cannot bypass file locks, permissions, or timeouts.

4. Global hotkeys​

  • Alt+Ctrl+S: back up the current active world.
  • Alt+Ctrl+Z: hot-restore the current active world.

You can remap these in the host settings.

MineRewind extends host commands through parameterized protocol v2:

  • cmd=BACKUP;current_save=true;...
  • cmd=RESTORE;current_save=true;...
  • cmd=LIST_BACKUPS;current_save=true
  • preserve_player_data=true as a restore override.

6. Optional player-data preservation​

With PreservePlayerData enabled, the plugin can extract player data before restore and write it back to level.dat afterward. This is useful when rolling back world construction while trying to preserve player state, but it must be tested in a disposable world first.

Prerequisites​

  • A FolderRewind version that satisfies MineRewind's MinHostVersion.
  • A compatible Minecraft integration component and KnotLink for hot restore.
  • Choose MineBackup-Mod or MineBackupPlugin for the server type; do not mix the two server-integration paths.

Risks and boundaries​

  • Hot restore depends on integration state; handshake, save, exit, file-release, or rejoin timeouts cancel the flow.
  • Specified-backup restore requires the file to exist.
  • Selected-region backups are partial, so normal and hot restore force Overwrite.
  • Death Rewind restores the global latest archive, which may have been created by another component.
  • JEA records an incident scene and does not guarantee a pre-accident safe point.
  • Always run a manual drill in a test world before relying on automation.

Next steps​