The /clone command

What it does

/clone copies every block in a source box to a new location. It's how you duplicate a room, repeat a decorative pattern, or lift a structure to a different spot without rebuilding it.

Syntax

clone <begin: x y z> <end: x y z> <destination: x y z> [maskMode] [cloneMode]

begin / end

The two opposite corners of the region to copy.

destination

The lowest-x, lowest-y, lowest-z corner where the copy is placed.

maskMode

replace (all blocks) · masked (skip air) · filtered (only a specific block).

cloneMode

normal · force (allow overlap) · move (clear the source after copying).

Examples

clone 0 64 0 10 70 10 20 64 20

clone ~-5 ~ ~-5 ~5 ~5 ~5 ~10 ~ ~-5 masked

See it in action

Before and after running /clone — in MiniBench's 3D preview and in Minecraft.

clone ~-3 ~ ~9 ~-1 ~2 ~11 ~1 ~ ~9

Before

After

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Tips & techniques

• · Make a hallway of identical rooms: build one room, then clone it repeatedly along an axis, each destination offset by the room’s length.
• · Use masked to stamp a build onto existing terrain without erasing what’s already there (air blocks in the source are skipped).
• · move mode is cut-and-paste: it copies the region and clears the original — handy for relocating a build a few blocks over.
• · filtered oak_planks copies only that one block type, leaving everything else at the destination untouched.
• · Since /clone works on blocks already in the world, it pairs naturally with a /fill build: fill the template once, then clone it as many times as you need.

Watch out for

• · The source and destination regions can’t overlap unless you use force.
• · destination is the region’s lowest corner, not its center — offset it by the region’s width to line copies up edge-to-edge.
• · Very large clones can hit the block limit — split them up if needed.
• · Cloning reads whatever is currently in the source box, so run it after the source is fully built.