Minecolonies Show Your Job: A Datapack That Adds Visible Professions to Citizens
If you have ever managed a bustling colony in Minecolonies, you know the struggle: dozens of citizens wandering around, all looking nearly identical, and you are left guessing who is the builder, the farmer, or the guard. The default name tags do not display their professions, so you often end up clicking on each one to check their job. It is a small but constant annoyance that breaks the flow of city management. The Minecolonies Show Your Job datapack swoops in to fix exactly that, making colony oversight intuitive and even a little charming.
What Does the Datapack Do?
Minecolonies Show Your Job is a lightweight datapack that attaches a floating item icon and a profession label above every citizen’s head. The moment you load your world, you will see a tiny, bobbing representation of their job—a pickaxe for miners, a loaf of bread for bakers, a sword for guards—paired with a clear text hover that reads the profession name. No more guessing, no more frantic right-clicking. The information is always visible, and it blends seamlessly into the vanilla-style aesthetic of the game.
The creator designed this because they, too, were frustrated by the lack of profession indicators in citizen name tags. The solution is elegant: it uses Minecraft’s display entities to render the icon and text in a way that looks like it belongs in the world. The icons hover just above the NPCs with a subtle floating motion that adds personality without being distracting.
Key Features at a Glance
- Each citizen shows a floating item icon representing their profession.
- A text label clearly names the job, visible from a distance.
- Icons hover smoothly above the NPC, giving a polished, built-in feel.
- Full customization: you can rename professions and change their icons by editing the
config_name.mcfunctionfile inside the datapack. - Works with standard Minecolonies jobs out of the box.
How to Install and Customize the Datapack
Adding this datapack to your world is straightforward. Download the ZIP file from its official CurseForge or Modrinth page, then place it in the datapacks folder of your world save. Once you reload the world or run the /reload command, the floating job indicators will appear automatically. If you want to tweak the display names or swap out the icons, open the datapack folder, navigate to data/hover/functions/config_name.mcfunction, and edit the file with any text editor. You can change “Builder” to “Architect” or replace the pickaxe with a brick block—whatever fits your colony’s theme. The file is well-commented, making the process painless even if you are new to datapack tinkering.
For those who prefer a streamlined experience, the foxygame.net launcher offers a modern and flexible way to manage your Minecraft setup, allowing you to download datapacks and mods directly from its menu. This can be especially handy when adding datapacks like Minecolonies Show Your Job to your world, because you can install and enable it without ever leaving the launcher interface.
Planned Improvements and Current Limitations
The datapack is already incredibly useful, but the developer has a clear roadmap for future updates. Some features currently in the works include toggles to enable or disable the name display and the icon display independently, an option to show or hide the unemployed state for citizens without a job, and a fix for the Crafter (Stonemason) role that currently does not display correctly. There is also a known issue where children show as unemployed, which will be addressed. Beyond fixes, the creator plans to extend the display system to colony huts, making it easier to identify what each building does at a glance—a feature that would be a game-changer for large, complex colonies.
Right now, you might notice that a few specific professions like the Stonemason do not render their icon, but the majority work perfectly. The datapack is actively maintained, and feedback is encouraged, so these quirks are likely to be smoothed out soon.
Why This Datapack Matters for Your Colony
Minecolonies is all about delegation and management. The better you can see what your citizens are doing, the faster you can spot inefficiencies or assign new tasks. This datapack turns that visibility from a chore into a constant, passive benefit. You can glance across your town square and immediately know who is slacking off, who is on their way to the mine, or which guard is patrolling the perimeter. It adds a layer of immersion, too—seeing a chef with a floating carrot above their head just feels right.
Customization is the real secret weapon. If you run a themed server or want to roleplay a specific culture, you can rename “Farmer” to “Agriculturist” and use a hoe icon instead of wheat. The datapack respects your creative control while solving a practical problem.
Final Thoughts
Minecolonies Show Your Job is one of those quality-of-life additions that you do not realize you need until you try it. It is small, unintrusive, and highly configurable. Whether you are a colony veteran tired of playing detective with your NPCs or a newcomer overwhelmed by the sheer number of citizens, this datapack will make your experience smoother and more enjoyable. The floating icons and text labels are a simple yet brilliant fix, and with the promise of hut displays and toggle options on the horizon, it is only going to get better. Give it a try, and your colony will never feel quite as anonymous again.