Brigadier

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

	“	I'm so proud of that name! Brigadier is the name of the command engine that Minecraft uses.	„
		— Dinnerbone on Brigadier^[1]

Brigadier is a command parser and dispatcher, designed and developed for Java Edition,^[2] mainly maintained by Dinnerbone.^[3] It is the first library used by Java Edition that Mojang has released under an open-source license.^[4]

Usage[]

Brigadier is used for parsing and executing string commands.

Features[]

Define command nodes with argument or literal branches
- All the commands available in Java Edition are actually the literal branches available for the root command nodes instead of the actual executed commands.^[5]
Modify/fork command source in command contexts
- /execute as <target selector> may modify the command source to be multiple when multiple entities are selected
Active inspection on command parsing^[6]
Listing all possible commands from current command node^[7]
Handle command result real-time on execution success/failure
- /execute store can store the command result to block/entity NBT data or scoreboard
Recursive command node redirection
- /execute run redirects to the root node of the vanilla command dispatcher

Limitations and issues[]

Brigadier has various numbers of limitations while executing the command, such as the numeric limitations on integer data types such as /effect, /weather, and floating-point data types such as /time, making many integer values parsed in the commands inaccessible.

Since 1.15, whenever the chat cursor is positioned at the start of a node after a whitespace character, command suggestion will say "Incorrect argument for command at position <position number>" instead of displaying the command suggestions, especially the command arguments that requires numbers or strings before parsing and the trailing spaces beyond the command argument list.^[8]

History[]

Java Edition
October 25, 2014		Dinnerbone mentions Brigadier in the comments on MC-10880.
July 27, 2017		Dinnerbone discloses a non-obfuscated command parser library called "brigadier".
1.13	17w45a	Commands are now handled with Brigadier.
1.13	17w45a	Minecraft introduces Brigadier as a dependency.
September 26, 2018		Brigadier is open sourced under the MIT License.^[9]
1.14	19w08a	Now allows single quotes for strings in commands.^[10]

Version history[]

Version	Date	Changes
1.0.15	September 26, 2018^[11]	Initial release
1.0.17	February 19, 2019^[12]	Allow single quotes in strings Added `long` argument Implement calculation of suggestions for any text position No longer depend on Guava
1.0.18	July 16, 2021^[13]	Peformance optimizations

Gallery[]

The /execute command tree, which utilizes an overwhelming amount of the brigadier features.
The /tag command tree, showing the difference between actual executed commands (red nodes) versus the first literal after the root (the "tag" box)
The /msg command tree, showing that aliases have been implemented by brigadier's command node redirection functionality (dashed lines)

References[]

↑ "Programmers: Play with Minecraft's Inner Workings!" – Minecraft.net
↑ "Mojang/brigadier: Brigadier is a command parser & dispatcher, designed and developed for Minecraft: Java Edition." – GitHub.
↑ "Contributors to Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.
↑ "We just pulled in our very first community contributed code into a Minecraft Java Edition official library. Woo! 🎉 Want to help out? The first library we've opened is our command engine - it's MIT licensed so you can freely use it in your own projects!" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 26, 2018
↑ "Added copyright header, LICENSE, and README.md by Dinnerbone · Pull Request #8 · Mojang/brigadier" by boq – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub. "I'd argue that most people identify command by first literal after root, so that would make "command" a sub-tree and not just path leading to leaf node. /bikeshedding"
↑ "Inspecting a command" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.
↑ "Displaying usage info" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.
↑ MC-165562
↑ "Preparation for OSS :)" - Preparing for the open source software – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub
↑ "Allow single quote in strings by boq · Pull Request #52" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.
↑ "Release 1.0.15 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.
↑ "Release 1.0.17 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.
↑ "Release 1.0.18 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[1] "Programmers: Play with Minecraft's Inner Workings!" – Minecraft.net

[2] "Mojang/brigadier: Brigadier is a command parser & dispatcher, designed and developed for Minecraft: Java Edition." – GitHub.

[3] "Contributors to Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[4] "We just pulled in our very first community contributed code into a Minecraft Java Edition official library. Woo! 🎉 Want to help out? The first library we've opened is our command engine - it's MIT licensed so you can freely use it in your own projects!" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 26, 2018

[5] "Added copyright header, LICENSE, and README.md by Dinnerbone · Pull Request #8 · Mojang/brigadier" by boq – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub. "I'd argue that most people identify command by first literal after root, so that would make "command" a sub-tree and not just path leading to leaf node. /bikeshedding"

[6] "Inspecting a command" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.

[7] "Displaying usage info" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.

[8] MC-165562

[9] "Preparation for OSS :)" - Preparing for the open source software – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub

[10] "Allow single quote in strings by boq · Pull Request #52" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.

[11] "Release 1.0.15 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[12] "Release 1.0.17 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[13] "Release 1.0.18 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

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