Work Penalty
Work Penalty is a lightweight client-side Fabric mod that shows an item's repair cost directly in its tooltip — so you always know how expensive your next anvil operation will be before you commit to it.
What it does
Every time you use an anvil, Minecraft silently increases an item's work penalty. This hidden value doubles the XP cost of future repairs and enchantments. WorkPenalty makes this value visible direclty within the items tooltip.
- Gray: repair cost is low, anvil operations are still cheap
- Red: repair cost is 15 or higher, you're approaching the "Too Expensive!" limit
Features
- Adds a single tooltip line to any item that has a repair cost
- Color-coded so high costs are immediately obvious
- Zero configuration, zero performance impact
- Client-side only
Quick facts
- Edition: Minecraft Java
- File type: .jar
- Minecraft version listed: 26.1.2
- How to install: Install the matching mod loader (Forge, Fabric or NeoForge) for your Minecraft version. → Download the .jar. → Put it in the .minecraft/mods folder and launch that loader profile.
- Where to get it: Opens on Modrinth — not every file is mirrored on our own servers.
Install steps are the general flow for this file type — How to install Minecraft Java mods & modpacks walks through it step by step.
Verified by MCModsHub
- Ships as workpenalty-1.0.0+26.1.2.jar — drop this file into the mods folder
- Download size: 3 KB
- Download link checked 11 Sept 2026 — working
These come from our own check of the pack file, not from the source page.