Krate

Fast terminal UI downloader and updater for Minecraft server plugins.

Search, pick, download, and update Minecraft server plugins from a clean TUI.

Overview

Krate is a small Rust CLI for managing Minecraft server plugin jars directly from your terminal. It searches plugin providers, lets you choose versions and loaders in a TUI, downloads selected plugin jars into the current directory, and records installed plugins in a local .krate.json manifest for later updates.

Features

• Terminal UI built with Ratatui and Crossterm.
• Search and install one or more plugins at once.
• Update installed plugins from the local .krate.json manifest.
• Provider selection between Modrinth and CurseForge.
• Download progress with bordered progress bars.
• Version and loader selection for Minecraft targets.
• Safe filename handling for downloaded jars.

Providers

Provider	Default	Notes
Modrinth	Yes	Works without extra setup.
CurseForge	No	Requires CURSEFORGE_API_KEY in your environment.

Supported loader choices shown by Krate include:

paper, purpur, spigot, bukkit, folia, fabric, forge, neoforge

Requirements

• Rust toolchain with edition 2024 support.
• Network access to the selected provider API.
• For CurseForge only: a CURSEFORGE_API_KEY environment variable.

Build

Clone the project, then build with Cargo:

cargo build --release

The optimized binary is created at:

target/release/krate

Run tests:

cargo test

Run from source during development:

cargo run -- --help

Usage

Show help:

krate --help

Search and install plugins:

krate get luckperms

Krate opens a TUI where you can:

• Move with Up and Down.
• Press Space or Enter to configure a plugin.
• Press / to search again.
• Press i to install selected plugins.
• Press Esc or q to leave.

Choose provider server:

krate server

Update installed plugins:

krate update

Update to a specific Minecraft version and loader:

krate update --version 1.21.11 --loader paper

Short flags also work:

krate update -v 1.21.11 -l paper

Workflow

1. Choose a provider with krate server if you do not want the default Modrinth provider.
2. Run krate get <query> inside your Minecraft server plugin directory.
3. Select plugin versions and loaders in the TUI.
4. Krate downloads jars into the current directory.
5. Krate writes .krate.json so future krate update runs know what was installed.

Local Files

Krate uses two main local files:

File	Purpose
.krate.json	Per-directory install manifest for downloaded plugins.
config.json	User config stored under your OS config directory at krate/config.json.

The config currently stores the selected provider.

Example config:

{
  "provider": "modrinth"
}

CurseForge Setup

CurseForge API access requires an API key:

export CURSEFORGE_API_KEY="your-api-key"
krate server
krate get essentials

Select CurseForge in the provider TUI after setting the variable.

Commands

Command	Description
krate get <query>	Search and download one or more plugins.
krate server	Choose the plugin provider server.
krate update	Update installed plugins in the current directory.
krate update -v <version> -l <loader>	Update directly to a target Minecraft version and loader.

Development

Format code:

cargo fmt

Run checks:

cargo test

Useful source layout:

src/cli.rs                 CLI arguments and commands
src/commands/get.rs        Search, selection, and install flow
src/commands/update.rs     Manifest-based update flow
src/commands/server.rs     Provider selection
src/downloader.rs          Download and manifest recording
src/providers/             Modrinth and CurseForge API clients
src/tui/mod.rs             Terminal UI primitives

Status

Krate is early-stage software. Expect the command surface and manifest format to evolve.