On Legacy MDG refmaps are generated but it's up to the user to make sure the path is present in the mixins.json. If MDG were to take care of this there would be less chance of user error and it would reduce manual work (e.g. when re-using project files or using a template). Fabric Loom already does this: https://github.com/FabricMC/fabric-loom/blob/c7accc60a49b086655305597d08b4df87317dce6/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/task/service/MixinRefmapService.java#L124