A farm that stops the moment you walk away is half a farm. Chunk loaders are how technical players keep machines running while they are somewhere else, and since Java 1.21.2 the cheapest one in the game is an ender pearl that never lands.
This guide explains what an ender pearl actually keeps loaded, the one rule that makes it different from every other loader, and, most importantly, which parts of a farm keep running in a loaded chunk and which do not. That last part is where most "my chunk loader doesn't work" reports come from.
Rate1 full chunk + 8 lazy
XP levelEnder pearl, soul sand, water
Build timeNeeds owner online
DifficultyAdvanced
Checked for: Minecraft 26.3, Java Edition. Chunk loading by ender pearls was added in 1.21.2 and has not changed in the 26.x versions. Bedrock handles chunk loading differently and none of this applies there.
What changed in 1.21.2
Since 1.21.2, an ender pearl in flight or sitting in the world keeps its own chunk loaded, including after it crosses into another dimension. Mojang made the change so a thrown pearl can always land, which makes long-distance and cross-dimension pearl travel reliable.
Technical players noticed the side effect immediately: a pearl that never lands keeps a chunk loaded forever. And there is already a well-known way to stop a pearl from landing.
The stasis chamber
A stasis chamber holds an ender pearl in place indefinitely. The usual build is a column of water over soul sand, whose upward bubble column keeps a thrown pearl floating without ever touching a block. The pearl is "in flight" as far as the game is concerned, so it never teleports you, and it never stops loading its chunk.
Stasis chambers were invented for instant teleportation: break the bubble column (usually with a trapdoor or a piston) and the pearl falls, lands, and pulls its owner to it. For chunk loading you do the opposite: leave the pearl floating permanently.
What an ender pearl actually loads
Diagram: SyntaxMine.
An ender pearl fully loads the chunk it is in, and lazy-loads the 8 chunks around it. That is a 3 x 3 area, but only the center is fully active:
- The center chunk is fully loaded. Entities move, redstone runs, hoppers transfer, furnaces smelt.
- The 8 surrounding chunks are only lazy-loaded. They are in memory, so the world is not unloaded at the edge, but nothing in them is simulated. A hopper chain, a piston or a mob that crosses into a lazy chunk simply stops.
Design rule: everything that has to move or tick must sit inside the one fully loaded chunk. A machine that spans a chunk border will break at that border. Press F3 + G to see chunk borders while you build, and see redstone and chunk borders for the wider problem.
26.4 snapshot players: Snapshot 3 split the chunk loading visualization into its own debug entry, chunk_load_status, which you can switch on with F3 + F6. It is the easiest way yet to confirm which chunks your loader actually keeps loaded. Details in our Snapshot 3 breakdown.
The rule that makes it different: the owner
Every ender pearl belongs to the player who threw it. When that player logs out, all their pearls vanish from the world and stop loading chunks. When the player logs back in, the pearls reappear and start loading again.
That one rule decides what an ender pearl loader is good for:
- It keeps machines running while you are elsewhere in the world, in another area or another dimension.
- It does not keep anything running while you are offline.
On a server, that makes it a personal loader. A farm loaded by your pearl runs while you play and stops when you leave.
What keeps running, and what does not
This is the part most chunk loader guides skip. A loaded chunk is not the same as a chunk with a player nearby, and several mechanics in Java are tied to players, not to loading.
| Mechanic |
Runs in a loaded chunk with no player nearby? |
| Redstone, pistons, observers, clocks |
Yes |
| Hoppers, droppers, item transport |
Yes |
| Furnaces, smokers, blast furnaces |
Yes |
| Entities already in the chunk (villagers, golems, items) |
Yes, in the fully loaded chunk |
| Natural mob spawning |
No, needs a player within 128 blocks |
| Mob spawners |
No, need a player within 16 blocks |
| Crop and sapling growth (random ticks) |
Treat as no: in current Java, random ticks are tied to player proximity too. Test before relying on it |
So a chunk loader keeps a machine running, not a mob farm spawning. Good uses:
- an automatic smelter array working through a chest of ore (automatic smelter guide),
- an item sorter clearing a backlog (item sorter),
- crafter setups and other redstone processing (crafter guide),
- the collection and storage half of a farm, finishing off items that were already produced.
Poor uses: any farm that needs mobs to spawn, or a spawner to run. Those still need you, AFK, within range.
Portal loaders: the alternative
Before 1.21.2, the standard chunk loader used Nether portals. Every time any entity goes through a portal, it fully loads the chunk on the other side for 15 seconds, along with the 8 chunks around it. Send an entity through often enough and the area stays loaded.
The modern build is a minecart loop through a portal pair. Minecarts have a 0.5 second portal cooldown, so the track needs at least 3 rails on each side of the portal to stop a cart re-entering too early.
|
Ender pearl stasis |
Portal minecart loop |
| Loaded area |
1 full chunk + 8 lazy |
Full chunk + 8 around it, refreshed every trip |
| Works with owner offline |
No, pearls vanish on logout |
Yes, while the loop keeps running |
| Cost |
One ender pearl, soul sand, water |
Two portals, rails, minecart |
| Fails when |
You log out |
The loop ever stops |
| Best for |
Your own machines while you play |
Shared server infrastructure |
Server admins also have /forceload, which keeps chunks loaded by command. It is the right tool for an admin-run server, but it needs operator permission, so it is not a survival solution.
Building a pearl loader, step by step
- Pick the chunk. Press F3 + G and find the chunk that holds the machine's moving parts. Everything that must run goes inside it.
- Build the stasis chamber in that chunk. A soul sand block with a water column above it, enclosed so nothing can knock the pearl out.
- Throw the pearl into the bubble column from where you stand. It is now your pearl, tied to your account.
- Do not trigger it. No trapdoor, no piston: this pearl is never meant to land.
- Check it works. Walk well out of render distance and come back, or watch a hopper counter, a furnace's progress or a redstone clock, to confirm the machine kept running while you were away.
One pearl, one owner. If the pearl lands for any reason, it teleports you to it, wherever you are. Build the chamber so it cannot be triggered by accident, and do not put it somewhere that teleporting into would be dangerous.
Frequently asked questions
Do ender pearls load chunks in Minecraft?
Yes, in Java Edition since 1.21.2. A pearl fully loads the chunk it is in and lazy-loads the 8 chunks around it, including after crossing dimensions.
Why does my ender pearl chunk loader stop when I log out?
Because ender pearls belong to the player who threw them. They vanish when that player logs out and reappear, loading again, when they log back in.
What is a lazy chunk?
A chunk that is loaded into memory but not simulated: entities, redstone and machines in it do not run. An ender pearl lazy-loads the 8 chunks around its own fully loaded chunk.
Will a chunk loader keep my mob farm running?
Not the spawning part. Natural spawning needs a player within 128 blocks, and spawners need one within 16. A chunk loader keeps redstone, hoppers and furnaces running, not spawns.
Is a portal loader better than an ender pearl?
For machines that must run while nobody is online, yes, as long as the minecart loop never stops. For your own builds while you play, the pearl is cheaper and simpler.
Does this work on Bedrock?
No. Bedrock uses ticking areas and different chunk loading rules. This guide is Java only.
