Can Villagers Open Gates in Minecraft?
Last updated: Mar 31, 2025 • 5 min readImagine that you have villagers in a recently discovered village, but you don’t want them to run around all over the place.
Will placing a gate do the trick? Can a villager open a gate? In the Minecraft world, there are many dangers lying ahead.
If you want to have full control of your villagers and their surroundings, it is important to protect your communities.
Besides, everything can happen without further notice inside villages, which is why it is imperative for the Minecraft community to learn more about this matter.
Continue reading today’s blog post so you can learn more about:
- Can villagers open gates in Minecraft?;
- What to know about villagers and a door;
- How to keep villagers inside a house or a building.
Can Villagers Open Gates?
So, can villagers open fence gates? No, villagers can’t open wooden fence gates nor any type of gates.
They can’t also open trapdoors, fence gates made of other materials, and iron doors.
They can indeed open doors made of wood (wooden door), and if Redstone power is used to open fences, then they can walk through its path.
It is a bad idea to leave villagers inside structures without enough space, though.
Remember that every villager needs to sleep, and they need a bed and a wall to protect them during the night before doing so.
As you might have realized, villagers are a fundamental part of this game.
You can trade with them, have nice houses in villages, and some can even help you way more during your journey.
So, keeping villages in just one place with a block that they can’t pass through (such as ladders), seems like a smart idea.
Pro Tip
If you don’t like to walk around the world just to find a single village, then we highly recommend you read our “ How to Find a Village in Minecraft” blog post.
There, you will receive all the information you need about finding a village, where you can also locate useful blocks, chests, items, and more.
Doors vs. Fence Gates in Minecraft
Villagers can simply pass through doors. There’s no need for them to break them - they just cross wooden doors and are good to go.
Fence gates, on the other hand, are a little different in Minecraft.
Mobs can’t see through fence gates, but players can.
Also, there’s no way for to villagers open fence gates.
They are a more reliable way to keep your Minecraft villagers in just a single place, but this isn’t the only block that can help you achieve this.
How to Keep a Villager Locked Somewhere
If you are wondering if fence gates are the best way to keep Minecraft villagers in just one place, then wonder no more.
There are three proven ways that can help you manage your villagers more efficiently, and we are going to show you the three of them.
Without further ado, let’s get to it.
1. Make Iron Doors, not Wooden Doors
Firstly, forget about any door made out of wood - you need an iron door instead.
It is a little harder to make since you will need more complex materials, such as iron golems.
Can villagers open iron doors, you ask? No, they cannot! They work kind of like fence gates, but they are more practical for other purposes. Iron doors for the win!
2. Craft a Fence Gate
You can make fence gates in the crafting table easily. You will just need two sticks, and four blocks.
Place two blocks around the sticks, and the fence gates will be created.
Worry not - you can indeed use wood to do so, since a villager can’t open any type of fence.
Learn more about fences in Minecraft here: Minecraft Fence.
3. Give Villagers a Job
A busy villager is a villager that won’t be running around without any purpose! You need to place a job block right next to a villager if you want them to get a job.
Doing so will keep the villagers busy all the time, meaning that they probably won’t annoy you by running away.
Pro Tip
Why are Villagers Not Restocking in Minecraft? If you want to trade with a villager, they need to have items to trade for yours.
Sometimes, the game can get bugged.
If this happens, villagers won’t be as useful as they are meant to be.
In this case, we highly recommend you read our related blog post to learn how to get rid of this issue.
It is clear that villagers in Minecraft are a certain part of the game’s mechanics.
As a consequence, you need to keep villagers inside villages - otherwise, it will be a headache.
No, they can’t open fences, but they can open doors indeed. Thus, have this in mind before proceeding in your journey.
If you need more useful Minecraft content, you can always check each blog post we have for you here on our website, Hypenoon. See you next time, Minecrafter!
FAQ
Can Zombie Villagers Open Fence Gates?
Villagers that have been turned into zombies (they were probably bitten by zombies, but they can also appear through natural generation) cannot open fence gates.
So, worry not - if there’s a zombie villager, they won’t be able to open the fences. Learn more about villagers and how to breed them here: Breed Villagers in Minecraft.