VeinMiner Hotkey | Hold-to-Mine Vein Control

If you have ever tapped a vein mining button once and watched your pickaxe chew through an entire ore vein you were saving for later, VeinMiner Hotkey is the addon built for you. It is a client-side companion to the Veinminer mod, and it puts the trigger back in your hands: nothing veinmines unless you are physically holding the hotkey. While you hold it, a live preview outlines every block about to break, so the shape of the vein is never a surprise. With roughly 75 million downloads and a fresh update in October 2026, plenty of players have already made it part of their mining kit.

Hold-to-Mine Hotkey and Live Block Preview

Once the addon is installed, vein mining only happens while the hotkey is held down. Block rules and settings from Veinminer still apply, so server configs behave exactly as they would without it. The default hold key is Y or Z, depending on your keyboard layout, and you can rebind it in the client controls menu at any time. There is also a toggle hotkey for switching vein mining on or off, which ships unbound, so assign a key to it yourself if you prefer that style.

The preview is the part you will notice first. Before you break anything, the addon outlines all the blocks that are about to be mined, so you can see exactly which blocks you are committing to before you swing. And if the server you join does not run Veinminer, the client mod disables itself automatically, so it never gets in the way on servers without it.

Pattern Scrolling, Depth Control, and the Config Menu

Pattern control is where this addon earns its keep. Hold the hotkey and scroll your mouse wheel up or down to switch between mining patterns on the fly. Hold shift at the same time and you can adjust the mining depth or width instead, which is handy when you want a shallow strip rather than a full-depth pull.

For anything more specific, press the pattern config hotkey, O by default. That menu lets you configure, add, and remove patterns to your liking, and you can also reach it through the mod menu in-game. If you want a tour of that side of things, our Mod Menu walkthrough covers the in-game mod browser and its settings screens.

Server Settings With /veinminer settings client

Server owners get the final say on how the addon behaves for their players. All of it runs through the /veinminer settings client command, with three options on the table.

• allow: sets whether use of the client mod is allowed on the server. Defaults to true.
• translucentBlockHighlight: decides if block highlighting is visible through other blocks. Defaults to true.
• allowAllBlocks: lets hotkey users veinmine every block, while still respecting the other settings. Defaults to false.

Because the addon is client-side only, the main Veinminer mod has to be installed on the server for any of this to work. Playing single-player? Install Veinminer on your client as well. The addon also works together with the Veinminer enchantment addon if you run both, which limits vein mining to enchanted tools only.

How to Install VeinMiner Hotkey

This is a client-side mod, so the addon goes on your game while the heavy lifting stays with Veinminer on the server.

1. Install the main Veinminer mod on your server first. If you play single-player, install Veinminer on your client too.
2. Grab the VeinMiner Hotkey file from the download table on this page, picking the build that matches your loader. Builds exist for Fabric, NeoForge, and Quilt.
3. Never installed a client mod before? Our guide on how to install Minecraft mods walks you through finding your mods folder and dropping files in the right spot.
4. Need loader-specific help? Follow our Fabric modding guide or our NeoForge installation guide for the full setup on either platform.
5. Launch the game and open the controls menu to rebind the hold key, the toggle key, and the pattern config key to whatever fits your hands.
6. Join a world or server with Veinminer running and hold the hotkey to start vein mining. If the server lacks Veinminer, the addon switches itself off until you connect somewhere that has it.

VeinMiner Hotkey FAQ

Does VeinMiner Hotkey work on servers? The addon itself is client-side only and is not supported on the server side. What the server needs is the main Veinminer mod. If that is missing, the client addon disables itself automatically until you connect to a server that runs it.

Can a server owner disable the hotkey addon for players? Yes. Through the /veinminer settings client command, an owner can set allow to false to block use of the client mod entirely. The default is true, and owners can also control the translucent block highlight and whether hotkey users may veinmine every block.

Does VeinMiner Hotkey work with the veinmine enchantment addon? Yes. The two are built to work together if both are installed. The enchantment addon adds a veinmine enchantment that limits vein mining to enchanted tools only.

Is VeinMiner Hotkey still updated? Yes. The project is actively maintained, with its latest update landing in October 2026.

If you want to compare options before settling on a setup, our One Key Miner post covers a mod that handles chain vein mining from a single key press. Between the two, you should find a mining workflow that matches how you actually play.