No, you’ve got it right. I would say no mods, and no resource/data packs would be vanilla.

I consider vanilla anything where no game mechanics are changed. Resource packs and performance mods are vanilla. Vanilla Tweaks is no longer vanilla.

Vanilla just means no mods. No extra downloads, no texture packs, no third party interface.

Vanilla is without mods imo

Once there’s QoL mods it becomes something akin to Vanilla+ and then once there’s content adding mods it’s modded

To be considered Vanilla means out of the box without mods, so definitely nothing that requires anything like Optifine, Forge, or Fabric, because then you are running the game through their interface instead of Mojang’s.

However, out of the box does have a built-in interface already included for letting you use and manage texture packs (now called resource packs), so IMO those would still count as being vanilla because you are still doing everything through Mojang’s installation. Just like using a customized skin. That’s how I would define it.

eta: When it comes to data packs, I would say those would not count as vanilla because you can change loot tables and such, which is definitely not playing it as designed.

Mostly just Minecraft out of the box. I feel that resource packs and certain performance mods like optifine could be accurately referred to as “vanilla with optifine” or “vanilla with such-and-such pack.” Once you get into datapacks or Forge or Fabric or hacked clients, it’s not vanilla.

Serverside, it’s a little more dodgy. How many server plugins can you have before it’s not vanilla?

That said, I don’t think there’s much reason to play Java Edition over Bedrock other than mods or wanting to play on older, pre-bedrock versions. Then again, I almost solely play modded anymore so I don’t have a lot of vanilla Bedrock under my belt to compare the two.

Yeah usually just means no mods.

Little bit of QOL, performance mods and resources packs - (texture pack , shaders, model change and maybe to qol resources that show inside shilker box)

The definition of vanilla software makes it clear that only unmodified software, in this case Minecraft, is considered vanilla. The word vanilla is choosen for this to represent the kind of standard taste (vanilla ice cream is often viewed as basic lmao). Technically, resource packs do not alter the codebase of minecraft and neither do data packs. All they do is provide some data that the game uses to run.

Here is where it gets complicated sometimes though. As you could have probably guessed, using mods is not vanilla. That is, because the code of Minecraft gets extended or injected. It is no longer unmodified. However, data packs can sometimes be structured code-like and can be used to execute functions. This is problematic, because although the source code of Minecraft is still the same, that code could load in other code from some data pack and execute it, essentially giving an effect also achievable by changing Minecraft’s source code. It’s similar with resource packs, although not nearly to the same extend.

So while generally an unmodified piece of software is called “vanilla”, Minecraft itself kind of blends what that means exactly. Minecraft out of the box would be considered vanilla.

No mods

For me I consider it vanilla if there are no mods. But plugins I still consider vanilla cause I can join without downloading anything

Vanilla is without mods imo

Once there’s QoL mods it becomes something akin to Vanilla+ and then once there’s content adding mods it’s modded

I think they just mean how the game is when you freshly install it. They might still count using texture packs alone as vanilla, unless they are talking about the aesthetics to begin with.

In my mind that refers specifically to an unmodded Java version.

Personally, I think “vanilla” Minecraft is anything that can be compatible with the official client but that can be a controversial take. If you can download something and execute it within the client all during runtime I’d say it’s still vanilla