In Core Keeper, merchants play an important role in your progression — offering rare materials, crafting benches, event-themed items, and even boss summoning idols. This guide covers every NPC merchant currently available in the game, how to summon them, and what they sell once settled at your base.
How Merchant Summoning Works
To attract a trader to your base, a few specific requirements must be met:
The merchant’s room must be fully enclosed by walls — a door also counts as a wall.
The room’s size should be between 2×2 and 8×8 tiles.
There must be a bed inside the room.
You need to place the unique summoning item associated with that merchant.
Once these conditions are met, the corresponding NPC will move in.
Tip: Vendors refresh their inventory roughly every 25–35 minutes of real time.
The Bearded Merchant
How to Unlock:
Defeat the first boss, Glurch the Vile Slime, and place the Slime Idol in a proper room.
Available Items:
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pouch Workbench | 100 Coins | |
| Potion-Making Table | 100 Coins | |
| Curious Egg | 375 Coins (3 pcs.) | |
| Details | 5 Coins (500 pcs.) | |
| Fiber | 8 Coins (10 pcs.) | |
| Copper Ore | 8 Coins (10 pcs.) | |
| Tin Ore | 15 Coins (10 pcs., requires Ghorm statue activation) | |
| Iron Ore | 30 Coins (10 pcs., requires Malugas statue activation) | |
| Gold Ore | 55 Coins (5 pcs., requires Malugas statue activation) |
The Merchant in the Cloak
Defeat the second boss, Ghorm the Devourer, and place the Mysterious Idol in a prepared room.
Before summoning, you can also find him wandering in a small dungeon inside the Forgotten Ruins (around 270 tiles from the Core).
Available Items:
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Caveman’s Bread | 30 Coins (3 pcs.) | |
| Giant Slime Summoning Idol | 200 Coins (3 pcs.) | |
| Ghorm’s Summoning Idol | 200 Coins (3 pcs.) | |
| Ulimatka Summoning Idol | 200 Coins (3 pcs.) | |
| Mechanical Part | 55 Coins (5 pcs., Core activated) | |
| Ancient Gem | 55 Coins (5 pcs., Core activated) | |
| Runic Parchment | 2000 Coins (1 pc., Core activated) | |
| Empty Crystal | 3000 Coins (1 pc., Core activated) | |
| Commander Core Summoning Idol | 500 Coins (3 pcs., requires defeating final boss) |
Seasonal Trader
Craft and place a Seasonal Calendar using a Weaving Table, then build the trader’s room as per the usual requirements.
This merchant’s appearance and stock rotate with in-game seasonal events, offering themed furniture and collectibles.
Available Items by Season:
Winter (Festive)
- Festive Workbench – 5 Cookies and Milk
- Gingerbread House Chest – 5 Cookies and Milk
- Little Helper – 10 Cookies and Milk
Valentine’s Day
- Romantic Workbench – 10 Love Letters
- Romantic Chest – 5 Love Letters
- Valentine’s Day Gift – 1 Love Letter
Anniversary
- Anniversary Cake – 20 Shining Tulips & 20 Slime
- Happy Birthday to You – 5 Fiber
- Green/Red/Blue/Purple Party Hat – 5 Fiber each
Easter
- Easter Workbench – 5 Brown, Pink, Gray, or Green Easter Eggs
- Big Golden Egg – 5 Easter Eggs of any color
Halloween (Samhain)
- Samhain Crafting Bench – 10 Pumpkin Coins
- Spooky Chest – 5 Pumpkin Coins
- Decorative Skeleton – 6 Pumpkin Coins
Lunar Festival
- Guardian Beast Statue – 4 Lucky Coins
- Mysterious Knotted Tassel – 1 Lucky Coin
- Paper Lantern – 2 Lucky Coins
- Lucky Coin Wall Lantern – 2 Lucky Coins
- Dragon Mask – 10 Lucky Coins
- Folding Partition – 4 Lucky Coins
- Tree with Red Envelopes – 4 Lucky Coins
- Lucky Cat – 6 Lucky Coins
Fishmonger
Defeat Sky Titan Azeos and place the Waste Idol in a suitable house.
You can find him earlier in the Azeos Wilderness, roughly 500 tiles from the Core.
Available Items:
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Orange Cave Guppy | 50 Coins (20 pcs.) | |
| Daggerfish | 50 Coins (20 pcs.) | |
| Azure Feathered Fish | 50 Coins (20 pcs.) | |
| Green Bait | 5 Coins (30 pcs.) | |
| Red Bait | 5 Coins (30 pcs.) | |
| Purple Bait | 10 Coins (30 pcs.) | |
| Seafoam Ring | 930 Coins | |
| Neptune’s Necklace | 1860 Coins |
The Brave Merchant
How to Unlock:
Install a Nuclear Battery in a merchant room.
This rare item can be located inside a chest containing alien technology within the Shimmering Frontier’s Alien Technology Lab, approximately 1050–1150 tiles from the Core.
Available Items:
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical Protection Helmet | 3440 Coins | |
| Chemical Protection Suit | 3870 Coins | |
| Chemical Protection Pants | 3640 Coins | |
| Exhibition Specimen of a Geode | 50 Coins (15 pcs.) | |
| Unusual Potion | 80 Coins (15 pcs.) | |
| Moon Cheese | 60 Coins (15 pcs.) | |
| Bait Column | 2895 Coins (5 pcs.) |
That wraps up every merchant currently available in Core Keeper as of version 1.1.2.5.
Each NPC provides its own unique advantage — from early-game ore trading to seasonal collectibles and end-game protective gear.
If any new merchants are introduced in future updates, this guide will be updated accordingly.
Feel free to share feedback or missing details in the comments section.