Updated 25 October 2026. Facts on this page come from minecraft.wiki, minecraft.net and the live Artemis PvP server; sources are listed at the bottom.
Minecraft /tellraw: Colored and Clickable Chat Messages
/tellraw sends a formatted message to players: colors, bold text, and on Java hover text and clickable links or commands. Java takes a text component, such as /tellraw @a {text:"I am blue",color:blue} (or the older JSON form with quotes); Bedrock takes rawtext JSON, such as /tellraw @a {"rawtext":[{"text":"Hello"}]}. It needs cheats or operator rights.
How does /tellraw work?
| Edition | Syntax | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Java | /tellraw <targets> <message> | /tellraw @a {text:"I am blue",color:blue} |
| Java (JSON style) | Same | /tellraw @a {"text":"I am blue","color":"blue"} |
| Java (plain) | Same | /tellraw @a "Hello" |
| Bedrock | /tellraw <target> <raw json> | /tellraw @a {"rawtext":[{"text":"Hello"}]} |
Unlike /say, /tellraw shows no sender name, so messages look like they come from the game itself. On Bedrock, colors are written as formatting codes inside the text.
What can a Java text component do?
- color (named colors or hex), bold, italic, underlined, strikethrough and obfuscated.
- hover_event: text that appears when you hover over the message.
- click_event: run a command, suggest one, open a URL or copy text when clicked.
- Show a player's score, name or selector result inside the text.
- Combine several pieces in a list to mix colors in one line.
What is /tellraw used for?
Adventure maps, minigame announcements, clickable menus in chat, and command block messages. For big centre-screen text use /title, and for logic use /execute and scoreboards.
Why does my /tellraw say invalid?
Usually a missing quote, bracket or comma. Bedrock needs the rawtext wrapper; Java accepts SNBT without quotes around keys but each piece still needs content such as text, translate, score, selector, keybind or nbt (a plain quoted string also works). Try a short message first, then add parts. More commands: Minecraft commands.
Can you show items in chat on ArtemisPvP?
Frequently asked questions
How do you send a colored message with a command?
Java: /tellraw @a {text:"Hello",color:gold}. Bedrock: /tellraw @a {"rawtext":[{"text":"Hello"}]} with formatting codes in the text.
What is the difference between /say and /tellraw?
/say shows your name and plain text; /tellraw sends formatted text with no sender.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these pages; the wording is ours.