Where apps hide your files

CurseForge on Mac: the modding folder and Instances

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

CurseForge keeps your Minecraft modpacks in a folder called Instances inside a modding folder you can relocate. Here is the default path, how to confirm yours, and how to move it.

The location

~/Documents/curseforge/minecraft/

That is the default modding folder of the CurseForge app on a Mac, according to CurseForge's Getting Started article, which gives /Users/[user]/Documents/curseforge/minecraft/ for the "Standard (Recommended)" setup. Your modpacks live in a folder called Instances inside it:

~/Documents/curseforge/minecraft/Instances/

Each modpack or profile gets its own folder in Instances, usually named after the profile. CurseForge's own move guide only names the Instances folder, so the layout below it is based on the app's behaviour and may differ slightly between versions.

The folder is in Documents, so it is not hidden. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the path and press Return, or run this in Terminal:

open ~/Documents/curseforge/minecraft

Check where yours actually is

The default is only a default. During setup the app offers Standard (Recommended), which uses the path above, or Advanced, where you pick the folder yourself, and you can change it later. So yours may be somewhere else (an external drive, for example). Do not trust the path above until you have confirmed it in the app.

CurseForge's article says to open the app's settings and select Minecraft in the left menu. Under Minecraft Modding Folder there is an Open button, which reveals the folder in Finder. That is the one reliable way to find the real location.

What is inside

Item	What it is
Instances	One folder per modpack or profile. This is the part worth keeping.
inside an instance: mods	The mod files for that profile
inside an instance	Normally also the usual Minecraft folders for that profile, such as saves and config, which the game creates when you play

A third-party guide gives the mods path as [modding folder]/Instances/[profile name]/mods, but CurseForge does not document it on the pages used for this guide, so treat it as likely rather than certain. List one instance with ls to see what yours holds:

ls ~/Documents/curseforge/minecraft/Instances

A world you played inside a CurseForge profile is, in the app's design, kept with that profile rather than in the standard Minecraft folder, though CurseForge does not spell this out on the pages used here. If you cannot find a save, look in the instance folder first. The standard Minecraft location is covered separately in the post about Minecraft saves.

Change the folder

CurseForge's own steps for moving the modding folder on the same Mac:

1. Open the app's settings and go to Minecraft.
2. Click Change and pick the new location.
3. Click Yes when the prompt appears.
4. Play your modpacks as usual.

Quit Minecraft first. The article does not say what happens if the game is running while you move the folder, so do not test it. Pick a folder your account owns; CurseForge's error guide warns against choosing the Desktop, a OneDrive folder, the root of a drive, or a path with special characters. CurseForge's troubleshooting article mentions /Users/Shared/[folder]/ as a fallback when the app cannot create a folder, and says that on macOS the app may need access to the Documents folder when installs fail with permission errors.

Move your modpacks to a new Mac

CurseForge documents this as a copy of the Instances folder:

1. On the old Mac, open Settings > Minecraft, and under Minecraft Modding Folder click Open.
2. Copy the folder named Instances to a USB drive or shared folder.
3. On the new Mac, install the app and set up a new modding folder.
4. Open the same settings screen and click Open.
5. Copy Instances into the new modding folder, overwriting the new, empty Instances folder there. Anything already in it is replaced.
6. The modpacks should now show in the app.

Copy, do not move, so the old Mac keeps a working set until you have checked the new one. Coming from Windows, the same steps apply, but look for the old modding folder in a different place: CurseForge's Windows default is C:\Users\[user]\curseforge\minecraft\, not inside Documents.

Logs and the app's own files

Separate from your modpacks, the app keeps its own support files. CurseForge's logs article names two folders on a Mac:

~/Library/Application Support/CurseForge/Agent/Logs/CurseClient
~/Library/Logs/CurseForge

If you are sending logs to support, the app can do the work: click the ? icon in its side menu and choose Create logs zip. Logs are for troubleshooting only and are not part of your modpacks. The ~/Library folder is hidden by default. CurseForge's steps to show it: open your home folder in Finder, press ⌘J, tick Show Library Folder, and click Use as Defaults. Or use Go > Go to Folder instead.

CurseForge does not publish a list of the app's cache folders on a Mac, so nothing in Application Support/CurseForge is documented as safe to delete. Leave it alone unless CurseForge support tells you otherwise.

Space

Modpacks are large. A single pack can include its own copy of every mod, plus the game's assets. To see which profiles take the room, run:

du -sh ~/Documents/curseforge/minecraft/Instances/*

To free space, uninstall a profile from inside the app, or move its folder in Finder to the Trash only when you no longer want its world and settings. Check for saves inside the instance before you delete it.

Why a normal search misses it

The default folder is in Documents, so Finder can see it, but the mod files inside have the mod author's names, not the pack's. The app's logs are in ~/Library, which Spotlight and Finder searches leave out.

Finding it again

If you cannot remember where you put the modding folder, type Instances or a modpack's name into Everywhere and look at the folder shown with each match to see which drive holds it; a mod's .jar name works too. Documents and external drives are protected folders, so Everywhere lists them once it has Full Disk Access. It matches names only, so search for a mod by its file name, which is often not the name shown in the app.

Common questions

Where does CurseForge install Minecraft mods on Mac?

By default in ~/Documents/curseforge/minecraft/, with each profile under Instances. You may have chosen another place during setup, so check in the app under Settings, Minecraft.

How do I change the CurseForge folder on Mac?

Open the app's settings, go to Minecraft, click Change, pick the new location and click Yes. CurseForge's own guide describes these steps.

How do I move CurseForge modpacks to a new Mac?

Copy the Instances folder from the old modding folder, open the new Mac's modding folder from the app's Minecraft settings, and copy Instances into it. It overwrites the existing Instances folder.

Where are CurseForge logs on Mac?

In ~/Library/Application Support/CurseForge/Agent/Logs/CurseClient and ~/Library/Logs/CurseForge. The app can also make a zip with the ? icon, then Create logs zip.