# How to Use the Calculator

_Published September 20, 2026_

A walkthrough of picking an item, choosing enchantments, choosing Min XP or Min prior work, and reading the combine order it returns.

The calculator on the home page turns "I want these enchantments on this item" into an exact, ordered list of anvil steps — no guessing, no spreadsheet. Here's how to actually use it.

## 1. Check your active inventory (top of the page)

The calculator always reads from whichever inventory is currently active — its name, icon, and color show at the top, with a tap-to-switch selector if you keep more than one. Switching here also switches which **edition** (Java or Bedrock) and **version** the calculator uses, since those are properties of the inventory, not the page. See [How to Use Your Inventory](/guides/using-your-inventory) for the full picture.

## 2. Pick an item

Tap a tool/armor category in the grid, then tap the resulting banner to change its material if that item has more than one tier (a shield or elytra, for instance, only comes in one). There's also a shortcut — "Or upgrade an item already in your inventory" — that jumps to `/inventory` and brings a specific owned item's exact enchantments, prior-work count, and name straight back here when you tap its ↑ button.

## 3. Set current enchantments, if any

If the item already has enchantments (because you upgraded it from your inventory, or you're just describing an item you're holding), the **Current enchantments** section lets you tap them in the same way as the target picker below it. This is what tells the solver the item's real starting point — skip it entirely for a fresh, unenchanted item.

## 4. Pick target enchantments

Tap any enchantment pill to add it at level I; tap again to cycle up a level, and once more past its max to remove it. Pills that would conflict with something already selected are visually disabled with a short explanation. Whatever you've picked shows underneath as a removable "Selected" list.

## 5. Optional: rename, and inventory usage

A **Rename** field adds a flat +1 XP level, bundled into whichever step has room for it. The **Inventory usage** control changes what the solver is allowed to assume, with three options: **Don't use** ignores your active inventory entirely — every needed book/item is assumed obtainable, exactly as if it were empty (handy for a shareable plan that shouldn't depend on what you personally own); **May use** picks items from your inventory when they make the plan cheaper and assumes anything else is obtainable; **Only use** considers just the items actually in your active inventory — it may start by combining lower levels into higher ones (for example two Sharpness IV books into a Sharpness V) but never assumes a book from outside, and if that isn't enough, still shows the cheapest plan with the steps that need a book you don't have marked as blocked (see step 7).

You don't have to touch it: with no inventory provided (nothing in your active inventory fits the item you picked) the control starts on **Don't use**, and as soon as your active inventory has a book or item relevant to the selected item it switches itself to **May use**. It follows the item and the inventory you pick until you tap an option yourself; that choice is then remembered and wins over the automatic one. **Only use** is always your explicit choice and is never selected automatically.

## 6. Choose an optimization mode

Right above the plan, a **Min XP / Min prior work** control (styled like the Inventory usage control) decides what "best" means. Switching it re-solves the plan instantly, and your choice is remembered the next time you visit.

- **Min XP** (the default) finds the plan with the fewest total XP levels — the cheapest way to finish the item right now.
- **Min prior work** finds the plan whose *finished item* has the fewest anvil operations on it (its prior-work count), and among plans with that count, the one that costs the fewest XP levels. Every extra operation doubles the prior-work penalty of any later combine, so this is the better pick for gear you will keep upgrading (netherite armor, a long-term pickaxe), even though the plan can cost a few more XP levels today. Often the two modes give the same plan (for an unusually large pile of sources the search has a 2-second budget and then returns the best plan it has found, which may not be the true minimum); when they differ, Min prior work typically combines books with each other first instead of adding them to the item one at a time.

How low can the prior work of the finished item go? See [Minimum Prior Work](/guides/minimum-prior-work) for the formula and examples.

Both modes obey the level cap and include a rename the same way. The plan names the mode it was built with and the prior-work count the finished item ends up with ("Mode: Min XP · result prior work: 3"), and so do the shared link and the copied image.

## 7. Read the result

**Combine order** lists every anvil step as a left slot (base) + right slot (sacrifice) → result, exactly like the in-game UI, with that step's own XP cost. If even the cheapest possible sequence in the chosen mode would exceed the level cap, the calculator still shows that hypothetical sequence with the offending step(s) marked — so you can see *why* it's not possible, not just that it isn't. The headline says **Too Expensive!** (Java) or **Combine cost too high** (Bedrock) only when the level cap is the sole problem.

If a needed book isn't available to the solver — typically under **Only use**, when your active inventory has no source for an enchantment — you still get the cheapest plan, built on the assumption that the missing book could be obtained. A neutral summary above it reads *This plan can't be completed as is: N steps are blocked*, and every blocked step carries a full-width banner inside its card: *Not found in your inventory: Mending I book* (or *…in your inventory or trades*), and/or *Would require N XP levels, more than the 39-level limit* (the cap of your edition; a step can have both). The total is labelled hypothetical, blocked steps can't be marked done, and the plan can still be copied as an image or shared with the same explanations. Requests that can never work whatever you obtain (conflicting enchantments, a level above the maximum, lowering an enchantment) keep their plain error message instead.

Tap **Mark done** as you complete each step in-game (untap to undo it) — this state carries into a shared link too, so you can pick up a plan later exactly where you left off. **Copy as image** copies a picture of the plan; **Share** creates a link to a dedicated review page others can follow without ever seeing your inventory — see [Sharing a Combine Plan](/guides/sharing-a-plan).

[Open the calculator →](https://anvilcalc.com/)

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between Min XP and Min prior work?**

Min XP finds the plan with the fewest total XP levels. Min prior work finds the plan whose finished item has the fewest anvil operations on it (its prior-work count) and, among those, the cheapest in XP. Choose Min prior work for gear you will keep upgrading, because each extra operation doubles the prior-work penalty of any later combine; choose Min XP when you just want the item finished as cheaply as possible. Often both give the same plan.

**Is my choice of Min XP or Min prior work remembered?**

Yes. The calculator remembers the mode on your device and re-solves the plan the moment you switch. Shared plan links and copied images show which mode produced the plan; links made before the modes existed open as Min XP.

**What does the Rename field cost?**

A flat +1 XP level, bundled into whichever step has room for it — on top of that step's normal combine cost and prior-work penalty.

**Does marking a step done affect a shared link?**

Marking a step done before you tap Share bakes that progress into the link you create. Once someone opens it, their copy's mark-done state is independently togglable from that point on — see Sharing a Combine Plan for how it works after that.

**Does switching my active inventory change the calculator's edition or version?**

Yes. Edition (Java or Bedrock) and version are properties of the active inventory, not the page — switching inventories switches which edition/version the calculator uses right along with it.

**Why are some enchantment pills disabled?**

A pill is disabled when it would conflict with something you've already selected — the calculator shows a short explanation rather than letting you pick an illegal combination.