Impulse vs chain vs repeating command block in Minecraft: What's the difference?

Minecraft has loads of blocks that players can find and craft in a survival world. However, since the game is a sandbox, a few blocks can only be obtained when cheats are activated and commands can be used. Command block is one of them that can only be obtained by commands. It is used to execute certain commands whenever a redstone signal is passed through it.

There are three types of command blocks that players can use, based on the frequency and triggering condition of a command. The three are called: impulse, chain, and repeating.

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Difference between impulse, chain, and repeating command blocks in Minecraft

Impulse command block

Impulse command block can execute a command once when they are activated (Image via Mojang Studios)

As mentioned previously, a command block is used to execute certain commands in a world automatically without players manually typing them in the chat box. A command block can be obtained through the "/give" command.

In simple terms, an impulse command block type is the most basic one which will execute a command once whenever it is activated. It will not repeat the command execution until and unless they are activated again by a redstone signal either manually or automatically through a contraption.

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Chain command block

Chain command block executes a command every time it is triggered when active (Image via Mojang Studios)

A chain is a special command block that executes a command inside it once, whenever it is triggered by another command block or a redstone signal. The only condition is that it needs to be activated once before it detects a trigger from another block.

Any command block that has completed its execution, whether it was successful or not, and is facing a chain command block, will then attempt to execute as well. The block first checks whether it is in a conditional mode before executing (if the player has not changed the block set to unconditional).

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Repeating command block

Repeating command block repeats an execution of every game tick (Image via Mojang Studios)

A repeat command block, as the name suggests, repeats a command in every game tick as long as it is activated in Minecraft Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, it can repeat a command more than a game tick as long as it is activated.

It is worth noting that this command block is not affected by random tick speed which players can change with the command "/gamerule randomTickSpeed". This is because it is based on the game's innate tick speed, which is 20 times per second. Hence, a repeating command block can execute a command 20 times per second if it is active.

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