Tenth Slot
Every Minecraft player knows the panic: you are building, mining, or fighting, and suddenly you need an empty hand. Maybe you want to punch a mob, place a torch without swapping items, or simply stop swinging a sword. So you scramble, scroll, and clear a hotbar slot, breaking your rhythm entirely. Tenth Slot erases that problem with one elegant addition: a permanent, always-empty tenth hotbar position that sits right alongside your vanilla slots.
This client-side quality-of-life mod extends the standard hotbar HUD with a dedicated bare-hand slot. It never holds an item, never gets overwritten, and stays out of your way until you need it. If you have ever wished your hotbar had just one more spot reserved for nothing at all, this is the mod you have been waiting for.
What Tenth Slot Actually Does
The concept is simple, but the execution is polished. Tenth Slot for Minecraft adds a visual tenth slot to the right side of your hotbar, rendered to match the vanilla style so it feels native. The slot is permanently locked to an empty hand, meaning it always displays a bare hand with no item model attached.
- Tenth Hotbar Slot: a permanent extra slot displayed as a seamless extension of the vanilla hotbar HUD.
- Empty Hand Toggle: the slot always shows a bare hand, never an item model.
- Permanently Locked Empty: items picked up from the ground, pulled from containers, or inserted via commands are automatically redirected to other available slots.
That last feature matters more than it sounds. You never have to worry about your dedicated empty slot silently filling up with cobblestone after a mining trip. The mod keeps it clean for you.
How to Use the Tenth Slot
Navigation is intuitive. Scrolling up past slot one or down past slot nine wraps around into the tenth slot, so it is always one flick of the mouse wheel away. You can also jump directly to it with a keybind, which makes switching to an empty hand faster than any manual inventory shuffle.
Changing the Keybind
If the default key does not suit you, rebinding takes seconds:
- Open Options, then Controls, then Key Binds.
- Scroll to the Inventory category.
- Click "Hotbar Slot 10 (Tenth Slot)" and press your preferred key.
Mod Menu Settings
Configuration is handled through Mod Menu, and the options are genuinely useful. "Show Only When Hotbar Is Full" hides the tenth slot until all nine vanilla slots are occupied, keeping your HUD minimal. Separate toggles let you block vanilla offhand actions, non-item right-click interactions, and left-click interactions while the tenth slot is selected, so you will not accidentally eat food, open a door, or swing at a mob when you meant to keep your hands free.
Players who prefer a streamlined setup often grab the mod through the foxygame.net launcher, where Tenth Slot sits in a curated add-on catalog and installs with a single click, complete with automatic updates whenever a new build drops.
Requirements and Supported Versions
Tenth Slot is built for the Fabric loader, so you will need Fabric Loader and Fabric API installed before anything else. Configuration dependencies vary by version: Cloth Config API is required on 1.21.x, while YetAnotherConfigLib covers the 26.x line. Mod Menu is not mandatory but is strongly recommended for easy in-game tweaking.
One important note: some functionality exists on both the client and the server, which means the mod must be installed on both sides for everything to work correctly in multiplayer. If you plan to use it on a server, check with the admin first.
Known Incompatibilities
Two mods currently conflict with how Tenth Slot manages hotbar scrolling: Smooth Scrolling and DisableHotbarWrap. If you use either of those, expect odd behavior until fixes arrive. The developer has confirmed patches are in progress.
How to Install Tenth Slot
Installation follows the standard Fabric workflow. First, confirm your Minecraft version matches a supported build. Next, drop Fabric API and the correct config library for your version into your mods folder. Then place the Tenth Slot jar alongside them. Finally, launch the game and verify the tenth slot appears on your hotbar. If you want to download Tenth Slot, always use the official project page to avoid outdated or modified files.
The mod is completely free and open source. There are no donations, no paywalls, and no premium tiers. The developer asks only that you leave a rating, share it with friends, and report any bugs you find, which is a refreshingly honest approach to mod support.
Final Thoughts
Tenth Slot solves a small annoyance with a clean, thoughtful solution. It does not overhaul combat, add new items, or change the game's balance. It simply gives you an empty hand on demand, exactly when you need it. For builders, redstone tinkerers, and PvP players alike, that convenience adds up fast. If your hotbar has ever felt one slot too small, this mod is the answer.