ModHider 26.2 for Fabric questions and answers
The eight things people ask before they download it, answered without marketing. If your question is whether this beats anti-cheat, read the fifth one first.
What is ModHider 26.2 for Fabric?
ModHider is a client-side privacy mod that stops your installed mod list from being reported to multiplayer servers. ModHider 26.2 for Fabric covers the loader handshake, the minecraft:brand client brand string, translation-key and keybind probes, custom payload channels, and the mod names that leak into your logs and F3 overlay. Your installed software is your business.
Is ModHider free?
Yes. Both builds are free downloads with no account, no key, no subscription and no telemetry. ModHider 26.2 Fabric is a single jar you drop into your mods folder, and nothing in it phones home or asks you to register anything.
Does ModHider work on multiplayer servers like Hypixel?
ModHider is client-side, so it works on any server you connect to, including large public networks. It changes what your client reports about itself, not what the server runs. Some servers require a specific mod to be reported before they let you in, which is why ModHider 26.2 for Fabric has per-mod visibility and per-server profiles instead of one blanket switch.
How do servers detect which mods I have installed?
Four packet-level ways and one behavioural one. The loader handshake carries a mod list; the minecraft:brand plugin channel names your loader; a translation-key probe sends a sign or chat line containing a mod's translation key and watches whether your client renders it or leaves the raw key; and any mod that talks to the server registers a custom payload channel under its own name. Anti-cheat also infers mods from behaviour, which is a different problem entirely.
Does ModHider stop anti-cheat?
No, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. ModHider hides the mod list, not the mod's behaviour. If a mod changes how you aim, move or time your clicks, an anti-cheat can still see that in what you do, no matter how clean your handshake looks. ModHider is a privacy tool, not a way to cheat or to dodge a ban.
How do I install ModHider 26.2 for Fabric?
Install Fabric Loader 0.16 or newer for Minecraft 26.2, launch the game once so the mods folder is created, then drop ModHider-26.2.jar into .minecraft/mods and start Minecraft on the Fabric 26.2 profile. The useful defaults are already on, so you can join a server immediately and tune it later from the config screen.
Which Minecraft versions does ModHider support?
The current build is ModHider 26.2 Fabric, which targets Minecraft Fabric 26.2 and is where new work lands. A classic build for Fabric 1.21.11 stays available and receives fixes. Both are Fabric only and will not load on Forge or NeoForge; the older Forge ModHider projects listed on the credits page cover those loaders on much older Minecraft versions.
Is ModHider safe, and is it open source?
ModHider is client-side only. It does not touch your account, your world saves or any file outside its own config, and it makes no network requests of its own. Everything it changes happens between your client and the server you chose to join, and the handshake preview shows you exactly what is sent before you connect.
The five ways a server works out what you run
Most questions about ModHider 26.2 for Fabric are really questions about these. Four are packets. One is not.
The handshake mod list
The loader hands the server a manifest of what you have loaded, and the server writes it down. On Forge and FML that is a literal mod list attached to the connection handshake, which is the packet the original ModHider was written to rewrite. On Fabric the same information leaks through registry sync and the channels your mods register.
Covered — Mod List Blocking, Per-Mod Visibility
The client brand string
Modern Minecraft reports its loader brand over the minecraft:brand plugin channel: vanilla, fabric or forge. It is one short string, it arrives before anything else, and on its own it already tells a server you are modded even if your mod list came back empty.
Covered — Client Brand Spoofing
The translation-key probe
The clever one. A server puts a mod's translation key, say sodium.option_impact.low, into a sign, a chat message or a boss bar. Your client either renders the translated text, because the mod supplying that key is installed, or leaves the raw key on screen. The server sees which happened and knows. Keybind placeholders work the same way.
Covered — Translation-Key Shield, Keybind Placeholder Shield
Plugin and custom payload channels
Any mod that needs to talk to the server has to register a custom payload channel, and registering it hands over a namespaced name. A server that never asks for your mod list can still read the channel registry and recognise half of what you run.
Covered — Channel Filter, Log & F3 Scrubbing
Behaviour, watched by anti-cheat
The last one is not a packet at all. Anti-cheat infers a mod from what you do: reach, aim snap, timing, movement that a human hand does not produce. Nothing in a handshake matters here, and nothing ModHider does will change it.
Not covered — and no mod can honestly claim otherwise
Something not answered here
Feature list
All 16 modules with what each one closes and the config key behind it.
Downloads
Grab the jar, compare the 26.2 build against the classic 1.21.11 build, read the requirements.
Credits
The Fabric platform, the public research behind each module, and the people who reported probes.
Otherwise the fastest way to answer a question about your own setup is to download ModHider 26.2 for Fabric, open the handshake preview and read what it says a server would receive.