enabled.json is the list of mods that tModLoader turns on. It is a plain list of mod names. You do not need to edit it: the panel writes it when you apply the mod list on the Mods page. This guide is for the moment you open it in Files and wonder what you are looking at.
This file only exists for a server that runs tModLoader. See the Terraria server page for the three server programs.
What the file looks like
On a Loafhosts server it sits at tModLoader/Mods/enabled.json, inside the tModLoader save folder. On a server you run yourself, look for Mods/enabled.json in the same save folder. It holds a list of the names the game knows each mod by, not the Workshop names you see on the Steam page. For example:
[
"CalamityMod",
"MagicStorage"
]One more name belongs to the panel’s own tools (ArthOSBridge). It lets the panel read who is on and act on players. Leave it where it is.
Who writes it
The panel does. When you apply changes on the Mods page, it reads each mod’s own .tmod file for the name, the version and what the mod needs. It then writes enabled.json with the mods that can load. A mod that cannot load stays off the file. It stays on your list on the Mods page, marked as waiting, with the reason.
A mod can fail to load when:
- it needs another mod that is not on the list at the version it asks for,
- it was built for a newer tModLoader than the one the server runs.
What the game does to it at every start
At every start the game checks the file against the mods it can find. It then:
- takes off any name it finds no mod for,
- turns off, and takes off, any mod that cannot load, including a mod whose needed mod is missing,
- starts with the rest.
So a name that was in the file can be gone after a restart. The Mods page says so: “At its last start the game found no mod for (names), so it took them off its list.” The game’s own log says which mod and why.
Should you edit it by hand?
Usually not. Add and remove mods on the Mods page, then choose Apply or Apply and restart. The panel can replace a hand edit the next time you apply, so a hand edit is easy to lose.
If you put a .tmod file in tModLoader/Mods yourself, the panel shows it as a folder it never changes. See adding .tmod files by hand. Not checked on tModLoader v2026.09.3.1 as of 13 November 2026: whether a hand-placed mod is turned on for you, or whether you must add its name to enabled.json yourself.
If you do edit the file:
- Stop the server, or expect the change only at the next start.
- Keep it a valid JSON list of names in double quotes, with commas between them and none after the last.
- Save, then start the server.
If it does not work
- A mod name keeps disappearing. The game found no mod file for it, or the mod could not load. Open the Mods page and read the line under that mod. See a mod did not load.
- The server will not start after a hand edit. The file may not be valid JSON. Put it back as a list of names in double quotes, or apply the mod list again on the Mods page.
- The file is missing. The panel writes it at the first apply. A server with no mods applied yet may not have one.