How to build a .litematic in survival with Litematica

Litematica shows a SchemSmith build as a see-through hologram in your world, so you can place it block by block in survival. This guide takes the .litematic file from your downloads folder to a hologram you can build from, with Easy Place and a material list for gathering. It works in single-player and on servers, because Litematica runs only on your side.

1. Get the .litematic file

Every SchemSmith build comes as a .litematic, Litematica's own format, with Minecraft Java 1.21.11 blocks (the file's data version is 4671).

• From a build page on Builds: the .litematic button next to Download .schem. The file is named after the build, for example pagoda-garden.litematic. Paid builds show the buttons once you own them.
• From the app: Export ▾ in the toolbar of the 3D view, then .litematic. The file is saved as build.litematic, so rename it to something you will recognise (my-tower.litematic).

The .schem download loads in Litematica too: the 1.21.11 version reads Sponge schematics from the same folder. The .litematic is still the better pick, since it is the format Litematica writes itself. If you'd rather paste the build in one go on a server, see the WorldEdit guide.

2. Install Fabric, Litematica and MaLiLib

Litematica is a client-side mod for the Fabric mod loader. You need three things, all for Minecraft 1.21.11:

1. Fabric Loader: run the installer from fabricmc.net, choose 1.21.11, and it adds a Fabric profile to the Minecraft launcher.
2. Litematica and MaLiLib (the library Litematica is built on), from Modrinth or CurseForge. Pick the files made for 1.21.11 exactly; a Litematica or MaLiLib for another game version won't load. If you download them by hand, take a Litematica and a MaLiLib released for the same game version, ideally the newest of each.
3. Put both .jar files into the mods folder of your Minecraft folder and start the game with the Fabric profile.

Where the Minecraft folder is:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\.minecraft
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
• Linux: ~/.minecraft

Launchers like Prism or the CurseForge app keep a separate folder per instance; the mods and schematics folders then go inside that instance's folder.

3. Put the file in the schematics folder

Litematica looks in schematics inside the Minecraft folder: .minecraft/schematics/. Create the folder if it isn't there yet. Subfolders are fine; Litematica's file browser opens them.

4. Load it and place it

1. Walk to where the build should stand. The spot you stand on becomes the build's corner.
2. Press M to open the Litematica menu and click Load Schematics.
3. Pick your file. Leave Create a placement ticked and click Load Schematic.

The build appears as a hologram. A placement is Litematica's name for one copy of a schematic in your world, at a position and a rotation. SchemSmith files carry no offset, so the build's bottom corner with the lowest X and Z (its north-west corner) sits on the block your feet were in, and the build extends east (+X), south (+Z) and up from there. Press F3 to see which way you face. A build page lists the size as width × height × depth, which is X × Y × Z, so you can check that the space is free before you start.

5. Move and turn the placement

Open M → Schematic Placements and click Configure on your placement (in recent versions the numpad minus key opens the same screen for the selected placement). There you can:

• Move to player: puts the corner where you stand now.
• Change the placement origin coordinates, or nudge them with the buttons next to them.
• Rotation and Mirror: turn the build by 90, 180 or 270 degrees, or mirror it. It turns around its corner, so a rotated build extends in a different direction from where you stood.

Once it sits right, lock it with the Locked button on the same screen, so you can't nudge it by accident while you build. Button labels and default keys can differ a little between Litematica versions; the menus are the same idea.

6. Gather the materials

Press M + L (hold M, press L) to open the Material List for the selected placement; the placement's Configure screen has a Material List button too. It lists every item the build needs with Total, Missing and Available (what you carry). The Info HUD button keeps the missing items on screen while you play.

You can also check what a build takes before you download it:

• Every build page on Builds shows Main materials: the 12 most-used blocks with their counts, visible before you buy.
• The app's Materials tab lists every block of the build in the viewer, with its count, stacks of 64 and shulker boxes of 1,728. Open in the app on a build page you can download puts that build there.

SchemSmith counts placed blocks, so a door or a tall flower counts twice (one per half). Litematica counts the items you need, so its numbers for those can be lower.

7. Build it

Build into the hologram. Litematica colours what differs from the schematic:

• Light blue: a block is missing.
• Red: the wrong block.
• Orange: the right block in the wrong state, for example stairs facing the wrong way.
• Magenta: a block that isn't in the schematic.

For anything taller than a hut, build one layer at a time: in the Configuration menu the Render Layers tab switches the hologram to a single layer, and Page Up / Page Down step through the layers. When you think you're done, the Schematic Verifier (on the placement's Configure screen) lists every block that is still missing or wrong.

8. Easy Place (optional)

With Easy Place on, right-clicking a hologram block while you hold the matching item places exactly that block, at that spot and facing the way the schematic says, wherever on it you click. You can hold the button and sweep across several blocks.

1. M → Configuration menu → the Generic tab.
2. Set easyPlaceMode to true. To switch it on and off in game, give easyPlaceToggle a key in the Hotkeys tab; it has none by default.

Middle-click on a hologram block to pick that block from your inventory into your hand (Litematica's pick block, on by default; it uses hotbar slots 1 to 5 unless you change pickBlockableSlots).

On servers, check the rules first. Easy Place is fine in single-player, but some servers forbid it, or schematic helpers in general, and anti-cheat plugins can flag the fast placing. Also, only single-player and servers with Carpet's accurate block placement or Servux let Litematica set every block's direction; on other servers, such as Paper, it can only fix top slabs, and stairs, logs and other blocks that face a direction are placed the way you are facing. Watch for orange blocks and fix them by hand.

If something goes wrong

M does nothing

Litematica isn't loaded: check that you started the Fabric profile and that both Litematica and MaLiLib are in mods, made for 1.21.11. Another mod can also have taken the key; Litematica's hotkeys are in its Configuration menu.

The file isn't in the list

Check that it is in the schematics folder of the Minecraft folder you actually play from (your launcher instance's folder, if you use one) and that the name ends in .litematic.

The hologram is somewhere else

Open the placement's Configure screen and use Move to player, or set the origin by hand.

Blocks are missing from the hologram

Your game is older than 1.21.11 and doesn't know some of the blocks.