LAN Extender
Few things in Minecraft are as frustrating as trying to play with a friend who lives across town and discovering that the built-in Open to LAN feature simply refuses to cooperate. The game assumes everyone is sitting on the same home network, which is great for couch co-op but useless when your buddy is connected to a completely different router. That is exactly the gap that LAN Extender fills. This clever Fabric mod acts as a world connector, letting you share your singleplayer world with anyone you like, regardless of what network they happen to be on.
What LAN Extender Actually Does
At its core, LAN Extender extends the vanilla Open to LAN functionality beyond your local subnet. Normally, when you open a world to LAN, Minecraft broadcasts an address that only works for devices on the same router. LAN Extender tunnels that connection through ngrok, a popular secure tunneling service, so your friends can join from anywhere using a normal multiplayer server address. From their perspective, it looks and feels like joining any other server. From yours, it is still your own singleplayer world, with your builds, your chests, and your mob farm intact.
Because it is a client-side Fabric mod, you do not need to set up a dedicated server, port forward your router, or mess with firewall rules. That alone makes it a far friendlier option for players who just want to hang out and build together.
Supported Versions and Loader
LAN Extender is built for the Fabric loader, and it supports a solid range of modern Minecraft releases. Whether you are running a recent 1.20.x build or an earlier 1.19.x version, there is very likely a compatible release waiting for you. Before you download LAN Extender, double-check that the mod version matches your exact Minecraft version, since Fabric mods are version-sensitive and a mismatch will usually cause the game to crash on startup.
You will also need three companion mods installed alongside it: Fabric API, Mod Menu, and Cloth Config API. Make sure you grab the Fabric versions of each, because the Forge equivalents will not work here.
How to Install LAN Extender
Getting the mod running is straightforward once you know the steps. Here is the full process:
- Install the Fabric loader for your chosen Minecraft version.
- Download LAN Extender along with Fabric API, Mod Menu, and Cloth Config API.
- Place all four jar files into the mods folder inside your game directory.
- Launch Minecraft using the Fabric profile.
- Confirm the mod appears in your Mod Menu list.
If you prefer a smoother route, the foxygame.net launcher bundles LAN Extender directly in its add-on catalog, so you can install it with a single click and let the launcher handle version matching and automatic updates for you. That removes most of the guesswork that trips up first-time mod users.
Setting Up Your ngrok Authtoken
LAN Extender relies on ngrok to create the tunnel, which means you need a free ngrok account. Sign up on the ngrok website, and you will receive a verification email. Verifying is recommended but not strictly required for the mod to function. Once logged in, click Your Authtoken, copy the token, and paste it into the LAN Extender configuration screen. Do not download or install the ngrok client itself, the authtoken is all you need. If you ever leak your token, you can reset it from the same page.
Using LAN Extender In Game
With setup complete, load into the world you want to share. Open the game menu, click Open to LAN, and tick the checkbox that allows players on different routers to join. If that checkbox is missing, your authtoken was not configured correctly, so revisit the setup steps. Once the world is open, share the address LAN Extender generates with your friends, and they can connect exactly like they would to any multiplayer server.
Final Thoughts
LAN Extender solves a very specific problem in a very clean way. It removes the networking headaches that have kept friends apart in Minecraft for years, and it does so without demanding technical expertise. Install the mod, grab your authtoken, open your world, and start building together, no matter how far apart your routers happen to be.