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Gaia profile image Tobiloba Adedeji
Tobiloba Adedeji for Gaia

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Building an AI-Powered Minecraft Agent with Gaia

#ai #langchain #web3 #javascript

Minecraft has always been a sandbox for creativity. But what if you could have an AI teammate inside your world—able to chat, mine, build, and follow your instructions in natural language?

That’s exactly what I built using Gaia’s decentralized AI, LangChain, and mineflayer.

The In-Game Assistant Challenge

Minecraft bots aren’t new, but they’re often:

  • Scripted → Hardcoded to do specific tasks, not flexible.
  • Centralized → Dependent on APIs like OpenAI, costly and limiting.
  • Rigid → Only respond to strict commands, no conversational flow.

I wanted something better:

  • A bot that understands natural language.
  • Powered by decentralized AI (Gaia).
  • Flexible enough to mine, build, follow, and adapt to tasks.

Solution: Gaia + LangChain + Mineflayer

The solution combines three technologies:

  • mineflayer → the library that lets you control Minecraft bots programmatically.
  • LangChain → an agent framework that allows tool-calling.
  • Gaia → decentralized LLMs running on open infrastructure.
  • Gaia toolkit → https://www.npmjs.com/package/gaia-toolkit

Together, they enable a smart Minecraft companion.

Architecture: From Chat to Action

Here’s the high-level design:

Architecture

  • Player messages → sent in chat.
  • Bot → listens and processes input.
  • LangChain agent → decides which action/tool to execute.
  • Gaia node → provides LLM reasoning.
  • Mineflayer → carries out the command in Minecraft.

Bot Setup

First, spin up the Minecraft bot and connect to your server:

import { createBot } from "mineflayer";
import { pathfinder } from "mineflayer-pathfinder";

const bot = createBot({
  host: "localhost",
  port: 25565,
  username: "Gaiabot",
});

bot.loadPlugin(pathfinder);

bot.once("spawn", () => {
  console.log("Gaiabot ready.");
  bot.chat("Hello! I'm online and ready to help with Minecraft tasks!");
});
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✅ This ensures the bot logs into your server and greets you when it’s ready.

LLM Integration with Gaia

Next, connect the bot to a Gaia domain node. This provides decentralized inference using Meta Llama-3.1.

import { ChatOpenAI } from "@langchain/openai";

const model = new ChatOpenAI({
  model: "Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct-Q5_K_M",
  configuration: {
    apiKey: process.env.GAIA_API_KEY,
    baseURL: "https://node_id.gaia.domains/v1",
  },
  temperature: 0.3,
});
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With this setup, you’re running on Gaia’s decentralized network, not a centralized API.

It is recommended that you also run a node locally and use it with your agent directly - Gaia toolkit works perfectly here.

Dynamic Tools: Giving the Bot Superpowers

The core innovation is the tool system. Tools are structured actions the AI can call. For example, here’s the mining tool:

new DynamicTool({
  name: "mine_block",
  description: "Mine a specific type of block near the bot",
  func: async (blockType: string) => {
    const block = bot.findBlock({
      matching: (blk: any) => blk.name.includes(blockType.toLowerCase()),
      maxDistance: 32,
    });

    if (!block) return `No ${blockType} found nearby.`;

    await (bot as any).collectBlock.collect(block);
    return `Mined ${block.name} at ${block.position}`;
  },
});
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Other tools include:

  • place_block → place blocks from inventory.
  • follow_player → follow a player around.
  • go_to_player → walk to a player’s position.
  • check_inventory → list what’s in the bot’s inventory.
  • stop_movement → halt all actions.

✅ Tools map natural language → structured actions → in-game results.

Handling Player Chat Commands

Some commands bypass the AI for instant execution:

bot.on("chat", async (username, message) => {
  if (message === "!inventory") {
    const items = bot.inventory
      .items()
      .map((i: any) => `${i.name} x${i.count}`)
      .join(", ");
    return bot.chat(items || "I have nothing right now.");
  }

  if (message === "!stop") {
    bot.pathfinder.setGoal(null);
    return bot.chat("Stopped all movement.");
  }
});
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✅ This makes the bot responsive for common tasks while still allowing AI reasoning for more complex ones.

AI in Action

When a player sends a free-form request, the bot routes it through Gaia + LangChain:

const response = await chain.invoke({
  input: `Player ${username} says: ${message}`,
});

bot.chat(response.output.slice(0, 100)); // keep short for chat
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Example interaction:

Player: Can you mine some coal?
Bot: Looking for coal to mine...
Bot: Successfully mined coal at (23, 65, -110).
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✅ The bot thinks, acts, and reports back naturally.

User Experience Design

Several small design details improve the experience:

  • Thinking feedback → Bot says “Let me help you with that…” before acting.
  • Error handling → Fallback responses if a tool fails.
  • Short replies → Truncated answers to fit Minecraft chat.
  • Graceful shutdown → Safe disconnect on SIGINT.

These touches make the bot feel less like a script and more like a companion.

Real-World Use Cases

  • Survival helper → Automate mining, building, and farming.
  • Learning companion → Teach new players basic tasks.
  • Server assistant → Handle repetitive chores.
  • AI experiments → Extend tools for crafting, farming, or multiplayer collaboration.

Deployment & Configuration

  1. Clone the repo: 
   git clone https://github.com/GaiaNet-AI/gaia-cookbook
   cd javascript-typescript/minecraft-gaia-agent
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  1. Install dependencies: 
   npm install
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  1. Add your Gaia API key in .env: 
   GAIA_API_KEY=your_key_here
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  1. Start a Minecraft server (local or hosted).

  2. Run the bot:

   npm start
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  1. Jump in-game and start chatting with your AI teammate 🎮

Why Gaia’s Decentralized Approach Matters

Traditional AI bots rely on closed APIs. Gaia’s decentralized LLMs give:

  • Freedom → no reliance on OpenAI or other providers.
  • Customization → swap in different Gaia domains and models.
  • Community scaling → open-source, extensible, and composable.

For Minecraft, this means developers can create smarter bots without lock-in.

Future Enhancements

  • Crafting recipes → AI learns how to craft items.
  • Multi-agent collaboration → multiple bots cooperating.
  • On-chain connections → link Minecraft events to blockchain actions.
  • Educational use → AI tutors inside Minecraft servers.

Conclusion: More Than a Minecraft Mod

The Minecraft Gaia Agent is more than just a fun experiment. It’s a blueprint for AI companions in games, simulations, and beyond.

By combining Gaia’s decentralized AI, LangChain’s tool-calling, and mineflayer’s Minecraft API, we created a bot that can understand, act, and evolve.

👉 Explore the repo: Minecraft Gaia Agent
👉 Learn more about Gaia: GaiaNet.ai

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