🧠 Auto-Sync Minecraft Saves(Worlds) with Git

I often play Minecraft on my desktop at home, but when I’m on the go with my laptop, transferring my save manually used to be a hassle. I had to remote into my desktop, zip the save folder, spin up a Python HTTPS server, and download it from my laptop. That got old quickly.

So, I spent two quick hours writing a pair of simple scripts — one for Windows, one for macOS — to automatically run git pull before launching Minecraft, and git push after exiting the game. Now my Minecraft save syncs seamlessly between devices using GitHub.

• I assume you’d just use your .minecraft as your repo to sync your settings, mods and all other game related files (including saves), but I am not entirely sure if there’d be compatibility issues or not.

⚙️ How It Works

1. Your Minecraft save is stored in a local Git repository.
2. When you launch Minecraft:
   • The script pulls the latest version of the save from GitHub.
3. When you exit Minecraft:
   • The script automatically commits your changes and pushes them to GitHub.

No more zipping, no more remote desktop. Just pure automation.

‼️Replace any path with your own path‼️

The logic is basically “If a process called Java was started and closed while the script is running, check for changes in the world files and push them” - I decided to use the java process (instead of “Minecraft {version}”) to check if the game is open or not since i don’t use java for other purposes. If you use java, replace the process name with process name of your respective version, or you’d try to search for a process with a prefix “Minecraft” but execlude the Launcher, the base for the loop is to determine if the user opened the game (past the launcher) or just opened it and closed it

🪟 Windows Script (minecraft_launcher.bat)

@echo off
cd ""C:\Users\abdul\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves\SAVE_Name""
: Save Repo Path "Drive:\{User}\AppData\Roamin\.minecraft\saves\NAME"

echo Pulling latest changes...
git pull

echo Launching Minecraft...
start "" /WAIT """C:\Program Files (x86)\Minecraft Launcher\MinecraftLauncher.exe"""
: Minecraft Launcher Path

echo.
echo Waiting for game process to fully close...
: checkloop
tasklist | findstr /I java.exe >nul
if %errorlevel%==0 (
    echo 🟢 Still running...
    timeout /t 5 >nul
    goto checkloop
)
echo 🔴 Minecraft has closed.

echo Backing up your save to GitHub...

git add .
: Check if there are any changes staged
git diff --cached --quiet
if %errorlevel%==0 (
    echo 🟡 No changes to commit.
) else (
    git commit -m "Auto backup via Windows"
    git push
    echo ✅ Backup pushed to GitHub!
)

pause

✅ Replace {User} andwith your actual info ✅ Replace the path to MinecraftLauncher.exe if it’s different Note: I added prompts since i didn’t find a one click way to make a .bat run in the background without showing a CMD window. But I assume there’s a way to do so. ⸻

🍎 macOS Script (minecraft_launcher.sh)

#!/bin/bash

# Navigate to the gitrepo (the save folder)
cd "/Users/Abdullah/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves/SAVE_Name"
# Save Repo Path "/Users/{User}/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves/NAME"

# Pull latest version from github
git pull

# Open Minecraft
open "/Applications/Minecraft.app"
# Path to your Minecraft.app

# Wait until Minecraft is actually running (java process appears -not launcher-)
until pgrep -x "java" > /dev/null; do
    sleep 2
done



# Wait until Minecraft fully closes (java process ends)
while pgrep -x "java" > /dev/null; do
    sleep 5
done

# Minecraft has closed

# Perform Git backup only after Minecraft was opened and closed
git add .
if git diff --cached --quiet; then
    echo "No changes."
else
    git commit -m "Auto backup via MacOS"
    git push
fi

✅ Make it executable with chmod +x minecraft_launcher.sh (Via MacOS terminal) ✅ You can launch it from Automator (if you want it to appear in Spotlight Search)

⸻

📝 Tips

• Make sure both devices use the same branch and repo.
• Always exit Minecraft before switching devices.
• Git handles the history — you just focus on playing
• You’d add a custom icon to each and replace your actual game launcher shortcut with the scripts

⸻

Feel free to fork, improve, or reach out if you have suggestions! Check out my Linkedin

⸻