Technique Binding (technique_binding)

A technique binding maps an existing book, jade slip, or other item to one technique from the mxt:technique registry. Like every other binding it only matches already registered items, so the physical item must come from Minecraft, a content mod, or KubeJS. Right-clicking the bound item attempts to learn the technique; every learned technique remains enabled and contributes its passive effects.

File Location

Technique binding JSON files go in data/<namespace>/mxt/technique_binding/ within your data pack.

Purpose: Bindings from existing items to cultivation technique learning.

The filename corresponds to its ID. For example, data/example/mxt/technique_binding/fire_manual.json has the ID example:fire_manual.

Fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
items	ItemMatcher	required	Matches existing books, jade slips and similar items
technique	Holder<technique>	required	The technique that right-clicking attempts to learn
quality_group	Tag<item_quality>	none	The allowed quality group
conditions	EntityCondition[]	[]	The conditions checked before learning; supports inline conditions or described condition objects
learn_time	Integer	0	The ticks the item has to be held down; range 0..72000. 0 learns on the first right-click
hold_animation	String	block	The pose played while holding. It only means anything together with learn_time; see the allowed values below
hold_sound	Holder<sound_event>	minecraft:item.book.page_turn	The sound played while holding. It only means anything together with learn_time, and every nearby player hears it

items

The items matcher accepts one item ID, one item tag (such as "#example:manuals"), or a mixed array of both; one binding can therefore cover many physical items. Any array entry may also be written as a typed object dispatched by the built-in item_matcher_entry_type registry (mxt:item, mxt:tag, mxt:wildcard, mxt:regex, mxt:herb_tag and the mxt:spirit_storage capability matcher); see Shared Data Types for the entry types. When multiple bindings match an item, the matcher selects the definition with the lowest priority first, and all four binding types currently use priority 0.

quality_group

quality_group must be a native item-quality tag reference prefixed with #. Its values order defines the group's quality order. When no explicit mxt:item_quality component or forge result exists, the last member not disabled by the mxt:disabled tag becomes the default quality.

The item cannot be used when its current quality is outside the group, the group has no usable member, a binding condition fails, or the quality's own condition fails. See Item Quality.

conditions

conditions is optional. Each entry may be an inline EntityCondition, or an object with condition and an optional translation-key description. Described entries are shown in the item tooltip with a green ✓ when true or a red ✗ when false. The check runs before learning.

technique

technique is a required holder reference to the mxt:technique registry, so a binding writes a technique ID such as example:fire_manual. Its own learn_condition, already-learned check, exclusive-tag conflict check, and event cancellation remain authoritative. A matching technique binding claims the item interaction even when learning fails, so the item's normal right-click behavior cannot bypass these checks. See Cultivation Technique.

A refusal is not silent: the action bar names the technique and the reason, whether the item gate refused (the binding conditions, the quality's condition, or the quality group) or the learning transaction did. The item gate is answered first, so an item that cannot be used at all reports that instead of the learning outcome.

learn_time

A learn_time greater than 0 turns the item into a hold read: the item only teaches once the use cycle has run for that many ticks, and releasing early cancels the attempt. The progress bar, the arm pose and the release cancellation all come from the vanilla use cycle, so no extra screen is involved, and the item needs no special class — a vanilla item, a modded item and a KubeJS item all work.

The component that drives the cycle is written onto the held stack when the click starts and is taken off again by the server immediately after, so a completed read does not consume the item, not even when the item is also food. The judgement itself runs server-side, so learn_time is the number of server ticks the read has to run.

hold_animation and hold_sound only do something together with a learn_time; declaring either on a binding that asks for no hold is rejected at load. hold_animation reuses the vanilla ItemUseAnimation, but only the side-effect-free values are accepted:

Value	Pose
block (default)	Held up in front
brush	The vanilla brush pose
bundle	The vanilla bundle pose
toot_horn	The vanilla goat horn pose
none	No pose, only the progress bar

The other vanilla poses are refused at load: spyglass because vanilla ties that pose to scoping and hand hiding, eat, drink and spear because they declare a custom arm transform, and bow, trident and crossbow because they scale the pose by how far the item is charged. See Cultivation Technique for the technique definition itself.

Example

// data/example/mxt/technique_binding/fire_manual.json
{
  "items": "kubejs:fire_manual",
  "technique": "example:fire_manual",
  "quality_group": "#example:group/manual",
  "conditions": [{"type": "mxt:realm", "realm": "example:foundation"}]
}

The item cooldown a completed read pays is server config rather than datapack content: Server Config → Cultivation → Learn Cooldown is measured in ticks, defaults to 60, and accepts 0 (off) up to 72000. Every completed read pays it, whether the technique was learned or refused; releasing the item early is not a read and pays nothing.

A manual that has to be held for three seconds, with a brush pose:

{
  "items": "mxt_test:azure_water_manual",
  "technique": "mxt_test:azure_water_manual",
  "learn_time": 60,
  "hold_animation": "brush",
  "conditions": [{"type": "mxt:always_true"}]
}

The condition ids used inside conditions come from the Entity Condition Types list.