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I can't believe this is optimal: why Lithium makes hopperlocking unnecessary

RDtomes-and-diagramsRD001Updated Dec 18, 2025Archived Dec 18, 2025

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Authors:Andrews54757

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You’ve probably noticed that many storage devices use a feature called hopper locking. Hopper locking powers inactive hoppers with redstone to prevent them from doing anything, reducing lag. Because a locked hopper can’t move items, it can skip several expensive checks each tickDefinition: Minecraft iteratively runs its processing code in a loop. One cycle of this loop is called a Tick or Gametick (gt). Gameticks are also used as the default measurement of time while working with re... and generate far less lag. As a result, many older storage-tech builds include wiring to lock hoppers as an optimization.

Lithium makes hopper locking optional

Lithium is a mod used on most technical Minecraft servers. Its internals are complex, but the goal is simple: improve performance while preserving vanilla behavior.

When much of today’s storage tech was developed, Lithium didn’t include many storage-specific optimizations, so locking hoppers was still a key micro-optimization.

Currently in 2025, that's changed. Lithium now includes an optimization that automatically manages inactive hoppers so they produce essentially no lag, effectively "locking" them without any extra wiring. If you have Lithium, manual hopper locking won't improve performance.

So for bulk storageDefinition: At it's simplest, a bulk storage is just a system that stores a lot of items, usually a single type per module and in box form. The challenge usually comes in trying to make the system compact, ext... (for example, farm outputs), you can often just stack chests and hoppers and call it done (like in the thumbnail). It'll be as efficient as older, more complex locked bulk systems.

Nuances

People still hopper-lock because it's a fun challenge and a lingering habit from older designs. If you enjoy it, go for it, but you don't need to lock hoppers for your design to be "good."

There are also some implementation details in Lithium's auto-locking. For example, a hopper under a hopper cart won't auto-lock. These edge cases are usually niche and won't matter for most storage builds. And because Lithium improves over time, an issue today may be fixed tomorrow.

Tl;dr

If you have Lithium, you don’t have to lock your hoppers.