Miner Trails
Miner Trails draws a temporary visual trail of small particles behind the player as they move, so a walked route can be followed back.
What it does
Each step leaves short-lived marker points on the ground. The trail is a purely visual effect that exists only on the client, and it fades on its own after about 10 seconds, so the world does not fill up with leftover markers. Tracking a route through caves, tunnels or open terrain needs no commands or waypoints.
The mod is meant for mining and exploration, where retracing a path matters. It is a client-side only mod, so the server does not need to install it, and it works in single-player and on multiplayer servers alike. The keybind toggles the trail, and the mod is built on Fabric with Fabric API as its dependency. Files are published for Fabric for 1.21.11 only, as version 1.0.0 released on 2026-06-16, under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 license, and the mod is not open source. The source code and issue tracker are public.
Key features
Movement trail
Small particles are placed behind the player as they walk, showing the route taken.
Timed fade
Trail points disappear after about 10 seconds, so the markers do not stay in the world.
Keybind toggle
A key binding switches the trail on and off during play.
Light footprint
The effect is kept lightweight, adding only a few visual particles around the player.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Retracing a tunnel
A miner can follow the path back out of a branching tunnel system without writing down coordinates.
Exploring open terrain
On large maps the trail marks where the player has already walked during a search.
Who it’s for: Players who explore caves and mines, and anyone who wants a short-lived record of where they have walked, in single-player or on a server they join.
How it compares
Elytra Trail is a Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt mod for 1.21.1 that is open source under the MIT License and requires a server install with an optional client. DeathBreadCrumbs is a client-side only Fabric mod for 1.21.11 under the All rights reserved license, and it is not open source. Miner Trails shares that client-side only environment and version, but it is a particle trail rather than a breadcrumb path back to a death point.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miner Trails | Fabric | 1.21.11 | Client-side only | 2026-06-16 |
| Elytra Trail | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21.1 | Server required, client optional | 2024-10-29 |
| DeathBreadCrumbs | Fabric | 1.21.11 | Client-side only | 2026-03-04 |
Questions
Does Miner Trails need Fabric API?
Does the server need Miner Trails installed?
Does the trail stay in the world?
In the catalog
Miner Trails is one of 7,216 Magic mods on ModsFinder, and one of 3,630 Magic mods for Fabric. 19,862 mods support Minecraft 1.21.11.
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What the author says
A simple Fabric client-side mod that adds a visible trail behind your player while you move. This mod places small particles behind you as you walk, allowing you to see where you’ve been for a short amount of time.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/miner-trails
- Owner
- MySocksAreGone
- Published
- 2026-06-16
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-06-16
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15