How to use TellRaw Command in Minecraft

Commands are by far the most powerful thing you have access to when it comes to editing and influencing entire Minecraft worlds. Commands can be used to give players any item in the game, teleport to any coordinates, and even change the biome of an entire area. A niche, but interesting, command to use is the Tellraw command, which can send different styles of text messages in chat.

Everything you need to know about making the most of this useful Minecraft command can be found detailed below.

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What Minecraft's Tellraw command does

Some of the different tricks that can be done with the Tellraw command (Image via Mojang)

As mentioned above, the Tellraw command can send stylized messages in chat. This makes it amazing for Minecraft minigames, as chat messages can be displayed to everyone explaining the rules or listing current points. The basic syntax for the command is:

• /tellraw <targets> <message>

It can also be used to make it seem like phantom chat messages are coming in. For example, a great prank to pull on a server would be to use the Tellraw command to make it seem like Herobrine has joined the game.

The Tellraw command can also be built on by adding extra parameters, like color, hover messages, and even new lines. Doing so uses the following syntax:

• /tellraw @a {"text":"Hello world!","color":"red"}
• /tellraw @a {"text":"Hover event","color":"red","hoverEvent":{"action":"show_text","value":Hover test"}}
• /tellraw @a "Line1\nLine2"

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How to use Tellraw

1) Launch the game

Java's title screen (Image via Mojang)

The first thing you will want to do to mess around with the Tellraw command is launch the game. As with many other commands, Tellraw will work on both Java and Bedrock, though the Bedrock version of the command requires more detailed syntax to work properly.

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2) Join a game with friends

The Tellraw command is best used on a server (Image via Mojang)

Since Tellraw displays messages in chat, you'll need to join a world with other players to get the most out of the effect. This means you'll need to hop into a Realm or a Minecraft server with some active players.

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3) Open chat

The "/" key is a great shortcut when using several commands back to back (Image via Mojang)

Once in-game, you'll need to open the chat window and tell the game you're about to type a Minecraft command. There are two ways to do this. You can either open chat normally, using the default keybind of "T" and then type forward slash, or you can open a chat window ready for commands by hitting the "/" instead of "T."

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4) Send a message

Tellraw makes for quite a convincing Herobrine prank (Image via Mojang)

As previously mentioned, a great prank to pull on a Minecraft Realm would be to use the Tellraw command to make it seem like Herobrine is haunting the land.

• /tellraw @a {"text":"Herobrine joined the game","color":"yellow"}

The easiest way to do this is by using the above version of the Tellraw command. This will cause a message to appear in-chat that reads "Herobrine has joined the game" in the same yellow text normally used to show when someone has joined.