Take Control of Your Minecraft Chat with Strableg’s ChatFilter
If you spend any time on crowded servers like Hypixel Bedwars, you know the chat window can turn into a chaotic flood of join messages, coin notifications, and booster spam. It buries the messages you actually want to see. While many players simply ignore it, a much cleaner solution exists — and it runs entirely on your side, so no server rules are broken. The [1.8.9] ChatFilter mod by Strableg gives you surgical control over every line that appears in chat, using the power of regular expressions (regex) and an intuitive command system.
What Makes ChatFilter Different?
This isn’t a simple keyword blocker. ChatFilter is a fully clientside mod built for flexibility. It never touches server data or modifies packets, meaning it’s allowed on any server. The mod works by applying user-defined rules to incoming chat messages before they reach your screen. You can hide, replace, or even summarize repetitive lines — all through the /cf command.
Key features include:
- Three filter types: Hide (remove messages completely), Replace (rewrite messages using regex capture groups), and Summarize (condense many similar messages into one).
- Preset management to group filters together and toggle entire sets at once.
- Full regex support, giving you pattern-matching superpowers.
- Color and formatting codes in replacement messages to keep things visually distinct.
- Autocomplete, listing, enabling/disabling, and renaming of filters — all from the chat bar.
- Automatic saving and reloading of your configuration.
Installing and Getting Started
Setting up the mod is straightforward. If you prefer a hassle-free approach, you can grab it directly through the foxygame.net launcher, which provides a modern, flexible launcher with a built-in mod download menu — no digging through folders required. Once installed, simply type /cf in chat and you’ll see the command syntax. The mod expects you to know a little regex, but don’t worry if you’re new to it; the learning curve is surprisingly gentle.
A Quick Primer on Regex
Regex, short for regular expression, is a way to describe text patterns. You might never have written one before, but within 30 minutes you can master enough to filter chat like a pro. Tools like regex101.com let you test patterns in real time, and you can even ask ChatGPT to generate a regex for a specific phrase. For example, to match any message containing “slid into the lobby!”, you’d use .*slid into the lobby!.*. The .* means “any characters before or after.”
Adding Filters That Work for You
Filters are created with /cf add <name> <regex> [type] [arguments]. Let’s walk through some real Hypixel scenarios.
Hiding Annoying Lobby Join Messages
Those “[MVP+] PlayerXYZ slid into the lobby!” lines can vanish with a simple hide filter:
/cf add hypixel_lobbyJoin ".*slid into the lobby!.*"
Every message containing that phrase is now hidden from your view. No more clutter.
Replacing and Coloring Messages
What if you want to keep the join notification but make it cleaner? Use a replace filter with capture groups. The pattern .*(\[.*\].*) slid into the lobby!.* captures the rank and name inside parentheses. Then you can rewrite it:
/cf add hypixel_lobbyJoin ".*(\[.*\].*) slid into the lobby!.*" replace "$1 joined!"
Now you’ll see “[MVP+] PlayerXYZ joined!” instead. To add color, use standard Minecraft formatting codes like &3&l for aqua bold:
/cf add hypixel_lobbyJoin ".*(\[.*\].*) slid into the lobby!.*" replace "&3&l$1 &ejoined!"
Summarizing Coin Spam
When network boosters and triple coins flood your chat with “+XXX coins!”, a summarize filter collects them over a set time and outputs a single line. The command structure is:
/cf add hypixel_coins "\+(\d+) coins?!.*" summarize "&6+$1 coins in the past 30 seconds!" 1200
The number 1200 is the delay in client ticks (roughly 60 seconds). All coin messages matching the regex are bundled and replaced with a single summary.
Managing Filters Like a Pro
Once you have a handful of rules, organization becomes important. Use /cf list to see all filters. You can enable or disable any filter with /cf enable <filter> or /cf disable <filter>, and regex works here too — /cf disable .* turns off everything, while /cf enable hypixel_.* activates only filters whose names start with “hypixel_”.
Presets let you group related filters. Create a preset called “hypixel” and add all Hypixel-specific filters to it:
/cf preset hypixel add hypixel_.*
Now you can toggle the entire set with /cf enable preset:hypixel or /cf disable preset:hypixel. When listing filters, each name appears in green (active), yellow (inactive but part of an active preset), or red (fully disabled).
Listing supports powerful filtering: /cf list preset=hypixel name=bedwars_.* enabled hide verbose shows only enabled hide filters inside the “hypixel” preset whose names start with “bedwars_”, with detailed output.
Renaming is easy: /cf rename oldName newName. The mod automatically saves your configuration on exit and reloads it on launch, so you never lose your carefully crafted rules.
Why This Mod Deserves a Spot in Your Mods Folder
ChatFilter turns a noisy, distracting chat box into a clean, personalized communication channel. Because everything runs clientside, you never risk a ban, and you can switch between presets for different servers in seconds. The regex engine gives you limitless control, and the command interface is refreshingly straightforward once you learn the basics. Whether you’re a Hypixel veteran or just tired of server spam, this mod brings peace to your Minecraft experience without altering a single game mechanic.