What is the Minecraft Seed Map?
The Minecraft Search seed map is a free online viewer that lets you explore any Minecraft world just from its seed. Enter a seed, pick your edition and version, and you can browse biomes, terrain estimation and structures like villages, strongholds, ancient cities, ocean monuments, trial chambers and more – without ever loading the world in game.
It supports both Java Edition (with optional Large Biomes) and Bedrock Edition, across the Overworld, the Nether and the End. You can jump between dimensions at the same coordinates, drop custom markers on the map, mark structures as completed, and share a deep link to any view so friends can see exactly what you see.
The seed map is one tool inside Minecraft Search, a wider Minecraft database covering items, mobs and blocks. Biomes and structures on the map are calculated locally in your browser, so no seed information ever leaves your device.
How to use the Minecraft Seed Map
Setup
Use the toolbar above the map to enter your world seed, then choose the edition (Java, Large Biomes or Bedrock), the exact version, and the dimension (Overworld, Nether or End). You can also load a Java level.dat file to auto-fill the seed and version, or use the random button to generate a new seed. The map updates immediately.
Features and markers
Open the structures strip below the map (or the sidebar in fullscreen) to toggle individual structures like villages, strongholds, ancient cities and ocean monuments. Biome highlighting lets you pick specific biomes and fade out everything else, which is useful when hunting for rare biomes like mushroom fields or cherry groves. Slime chunks and the world spawn can be overlaid on top.
Mouse controls
- Drag: pan the map
- Scroll wheel: zoom in and out
- Click a marker: show the structure details popup
- Right-click: drop a custom marker that you can name and save
- Double-click: zoom in at that point
Keyboard shortcuts
- Arrow keys: pan the map
- + / −: zoom in and out
- F: toggle fullscreen map view
- Esc: exit fullscreen and close popups
Touch gestures
- Drag: pan the map
- Pinch: zoom in and out
- Tap a marker: show its details
- Tap and hold: drop a custom marker
All your markers, completed structures, enabled features and the current view are saved locally in your browser, so the map opens right where you left off. Share the URL with a friend – the seed, dimension, coordinates and zoom are all encoded in the link.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Minecraft seed?
A Minecraft seed is a number or text string used to initialise the world generator. The same seed always produces the same terrain, biomes and structures, so players can share seeds to explore identical worlds.
How do I find the seed of my world?
In single-player, run the command /seed in chat to reveal the seed. On servers you need operator permissions, or access to the savegame files, to read the seed.
Are Java and Bedrock seeds the same?
No. Java Edition and Bedrock Edition use different world-generation algorithms, so the same seed produces completely different worlds in each edition. Always pick the matching edition before generating the map.
How accurate is the Minecraft Seed Map?
Biomes and major structures are computed with the same algorithms the game uses, so the map is highly accurate for supported versions. Some features that depend on in-game checks (dungeons, end cities on Bedrock, dried ghasts, etc.) can occasionally differ from what you find in-game.
Why do coastlines not line up with my world?
The map colours reflect underlying biomes, not the exact terrain. Near coasts, ocean and river biomes often contain small patches of land, and land biomes can dip under water. Enable the terrain option to blend the colours closer to what you see in-game.
Why is the map not loading?
Check that you entered a valid seed with no trailing spaces, and that you picked the edition and version that was used to generate the chunks you are looking at. If the problem persists, try a different browser – the viewer uses modern web features such as WebAssembly and Web Workers.
Can I place and save my own markers?
Yes. Right-click (or tap-and-hold on mobile) on the map to drop a temporary marker, then save it with a name and colour. Markers are stored locally in your browser for the current seed, edition and dimension.
Is using the Minecraft Seed Map considered cheating?
That depends on how you play. For single-player exploration or finding specific biomes for a build it is generally fine. On multiplayer servers, check the server rules first – some servers do not allow seed-based tools.
Troubleshooting
If the map does not match your in-game world, the cause is almost always one of these:
Wrong seed or coordinates
Double-check that the seed is typed exactly as in-game, with no leading or trailing spaces. Seeds are case-sensitive only when entered as text – numeric seeds must match exactly.
Edition or version mismatch
Java Edition and Bedrock Edition generate completely different worlds for the same seed. Within a single edition, different Minecraft versions can also produce noticeably different terrain – especially across the major 1.13, 1.15 and 1.18 world-gen overhauls. Pick the edition and version that was used to generate the chunks you are looking at.
Mods, datapacks or world presets
Mods, behaviour packs, datapacks and custom world presets can all change world generation. If your world uses any of these, the map may no longer be accurate for the modified areas.
Coastlines and terrain vs. biomes
From version 1.18 onwards, coastlines do not match biome boundaries exactly. The seed map shows the underlying biomes, so land can appear under the water colour and vice versa. Enable the terrain option to blend the colours closer to the in-game look.
Missing Y coordinates
Some features such as mineshafts, strongholds and nether fortresses extend vertically, so a Y coordinate is only shown when it is meaningful. For buried structures, search at different heights at the given X/Z.
Slime chunks show no slimes in-game
Slime chunks have a very low natural spawn rate. You may need to wait several minutes in a large, fully lit area, and make sure there are no other hostile mob spawns nearby competing for the mob cap.
Credits
The Minecraft Search seed map is built on top of outstanding open-source work by the wider Minecraft and web-tooling community. Huge thanks to the authors of the following projects:
- cubiomes – Java Edition biome and structure generation, by Cubitect and contributors.
- cubiomes (Bedrock fork) – Bedrock 1.16 and 1.17 biomes and Bedrock Nether generation, by Reed A. Cartwright.
- bedrockified – Bedrock structure algorithms, by Earthcomputer.
- MCBEStructureFinder – Additional Bedrock structure generation logic, by xiaohengying.
- Amidst – Biome colour palette reference.
- OpenLayers – The map rendering engine.
Minecraft Search is not affiliated with Mojang Studios or Microsoft. Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang Studios.
