DIY

DIY is a new feature to the Animal Crossing Series, introduced in. The player, upon receiving their Nook Phone, will be able to find the DIY Recipes app on the home screen. This allows the player to catalog the DIY Recipes they receive, as well as the materials in their inventory. This app works with any DIY Workbench and allows the player to bookmark recipes, track which recipes they have crafted, and which crafted items are already in their pocket.

Initially, Tom Nook allows the player to use his DIY Workbench, which is located at Resident Services. Upon interacting with it for the first time, Tom Nook teaches the player the basic mechanics of crafting. The player will also receive a letter from Nintendo early in the game which will have the recipe for a simple DIY workbench attached. The player has the option to craft at the workbench at Resident Services, or their own workbench; each workbench allows access to the player's full catalog of DIY Recipes.

Although there are several varieties of workbenches that can be used or obtained, all of them function identically and can be used to craft any item, with the only differences in workbenches being size and appearance.



Materials
Materials are resources that can be found around islands. The player can obtain raw materials from hitting rocks, shaking trees, and fishing around the player's island as well as Mystery Islands. Additionally, the player can obtain Star Fragments after wishing on a shooting star during a Meteor Shower. These resources can be crafted into items from DIY Recipes or sold to Timmy or Tommy. There are also seasonal materials that are only available at certain times of the year or during specific events.

Crafted items generally sell for more Bells than the raw materials' total value, however there are some exceptions for consumables such as medicine, and there are Mile Stamps associated with selling certain materials.

Recipes
Recipes are the largest part of the DIY system. DIY recipes allow the player to actually craft items. The player starts with a handful of recipes from Tom Nook after taking the DIY workshop. As the player progresses, they will encounter more methods of obtaining recipes.

Recipes chiefly use the natural resources listed above, but some use other items which must be obtained or crafted first. It is possible to learn recipes, such as the ironwood kitchenette, which require other crafted items that the player may not yet have found the recipes for.

Methods of obtaining recipes include:
 * from Tom Nook and Blathers (for basic tools in early gameplay - some of these recipes may be only given for free to the Resident Representative);
 * purchases from Nook's Cranny (or from Timmy in the Resident Services tent);
 * redemptions of Nook Miles via the Nook Stop;
 * speaking to special characters such as Celeste and Zipper T. Bunny;
 * from villagers in their home - at almost any given waking hour once the island is established (outside of special events), at least one villager will be using a workbench in their home, and will give the player a recipe if spoken to. Up to 3 recipes can be obtained this way over the course of a day;
 * letters in the mail (rarely);
 * from Balloons (via Slingshot) (rarely);
 * a daily Message Bottle on the beach containing a DIY recipe (one may also be found on each Mystery Island visited); and
 * learning automatically upon encountering (or collecting a certain number of) particular items, such as fishing out trash, digging up Manila Clams, or collecting Bunny Day eggs.

While some recipes can be potentially obtained from multiple sources including Message Bottles and Balloons, certain recipes can only be learned from specific characters. For example, recipes for Astrology Set furniture, and for most other space-themed items, can only be obtained from Celeste.

It is common to encounter recipes multiple times on the same island, and sometimes from the same villager, even if there are other recipes in the game that have not been encountered yet, with villager dialog explicitly encouraging sharing the previously-learned recipe with other players. A DIY recipe that the player already knows cannot be learned again, but can be dropped or gifted for other players or sold/trashed. All recipe cards sell for 200 Bells each.

Visiting another player's island can result in the villagers on that island giving them gifts which could include recipes.

By villager personality
Villagers may be found crafting inside their homes. Speaking to them while crafting will result in the villager providing the player with a DIY recipe. A villager's personality dictates the pool of DIY recipes they can give to the player.

Construction Kits
During the main storyline, the Resident Representative will be given recipes for construction kits needed for two pieces of infrastructure. Both recipes are single-use only and are removed from the recipe catalog once used. Only one campsite may be built. Additional bridges can be built once Resident Services upgrades to a building; for these the player will given the necessary kit upfront. These recipes are not seen again afterwards once the player has completed those tasks.