You can do a lot with Skyrim console commands. At this point it's safe to say everyone and their grandma has already played Skyrim, and it's a great RPG. But Skyrim console commands let you fine tune the world's rules to your liking. You can become a god, summon a specific weapon or piece of gear, make yourself a giant, fly through the air, walk through walls, level up—pretty much nothing is off limits. Skyrim console commands are pretty easy to input, too.

Want to see what Skyrim console codes can do? We used them (along with some mods) to turn our Skyrim character into Santa Claus and deliver presents to every NPC in the game. Read about it in A Very Skyrim Christmas.

For other ways to change, improve, and break Skyrim, try our list of Skyrim Special Edition mods, best Skyrim mods (the original), mods for playing Skyrim as another character, and Skyrim graphics mods.

Here's how it's done:

How to use Skyrim console commands

To enable the console, just hit the tilde (~) key and enter the appropriate codes, which are listed below. You can turn on more than one at once, too, so you can become invincible, fly, and teleport all at the same time.

Be warned, some of these console commands may cause glitches, problems, or crashes, so it's definitely worth saving your game first and using the codes with a separate save. You don't want to make some change and get stuck with it.

Many of these console commands require specifying an NPC or Item or place with a reference number. Here's a quick cheat sheet of reference pages where you can find those codes. Remember, CTRL+F is your friend!

Skyrim toggle console commands

Toggle commands for Skyrim turn various game features off or on. You can turn off the UI for taking great screenshots or turn off detection from NPCs to make yourself the perfect thief.

Code Effects tgm Good ol' God Mode means you're completely invulnerable to everything, and pretty damn god-like. tcl No clipping lets you walk through walls, ceilings, and mountains like some sort of ghost. Use the code again to return to normal. tm Toggles all in-game menus, perfect if you want to take some screenshots to convince elderly relatives that Skyrim is where you went on your holidays. Note that this also hides the console commands menu, meaning you'll have to type it again without being able to see the console. tmm [0/1] Followed by 0 or 1 turns all map markers on or off. tfc Not Team Fortress Classic, unfortunately. However, you will be able to access the flycam, essentially leaving your host body behind and sailing through the air. Great for screenshots. tai Toggles AI on and off, which means NPCs won't interact with you, or do anything at all. tcai Turns combat AI on or off, turning dragons into placid beasts who act like you aren't there. A bit like cats. tdetect This one lets you behave like a little rapscallion, as it turns naughty business detection (stealing, murdering, doing a poo in the woods etc) on or off. You'll still get caught if you try pickpocketing, though. tfow Turns off the fog of war on your local map, filling it in completely.

Skyrim player console commands

Skyrim player cheats can set different values for your Dragonborn. You can change your level, your face, your carry weight, and a bunch of other things.

Code Effects psb Every single spell in Skyrim is now yours! It's like graduating magic school in under a second. player.advlevel Automatically gain one level. showracemenu Unhappy with your blind, inbred-looking Bosmer chap? You can adjust the way your character looks just like you did at the start of Skyrim—but this will reset your level and skills. player.modav skill [#] Where "skill" is the skill you want to modify, and # is the amount you want to modify it by. Skills are inputted via their in-game names without spaces, apart from Archery which is "Marksman", and Speech, which is known as "Speechcraft". player.additem [Item ID] [#] Every single item in Skyrim has a code, a bit like an Argos catalogue of fantasy objects. You'll find them in our list of Skyrim item codes. Now your dreams of owning 47 cabbage potato soups can come true. player.additem 0000000f [#] A simple way to get some free gold. Any number between 001 and 999 will do. player.additem 0000000a [#] Running low on lockpicks? Enter the number you require here and they'll magically appear. addshout [Shout ID] Use the reference page of Shout IDs above to give yourself any Dragonborn ability you like. player.setcrimegold [#] Adjust your wanted level with this handy command - setting it to zero resets removes your wanted level completely. player.setlevel [#] Up or down your player level as you see fit. player.setav speedmult [#] Want to run like The Flash? Set this number to anything more than 100 to speed up movement. player.modav carryweight [#] Tired of getting tired? Up your carryweight and you'll be able to transport more goodies. Toggling god mode (tgm) also lets you carry as much as you like. player.setav health [#] Up your health here. sexchange Change your character's gender. player.placeatme [Item/NPC ID] [#] Use this to spawn NPCs and monsters at your location. Just replace actor/object ID with a Base ID (not a Ref ID) from our list of Skyrim NPC codes. This is the command we used to crank out a horde of dragons around Whiterun. Note that this command spawns new creatures, rather than moving old ones, so if you use it on an NPC, you'll clone them. player.moveto [NPC Ref ID] Use this to move yourself next to an NPC, useful for Kharjo, the nomadic Khajit, who can be hard to find as he follows the caravans around Skyrim. In this case you use the Ref ID (not the Base ID), the opposite of placeatme. You can find the ID in our list of Skyrim NPC codes. setrelationshiprank [ID] [#] Select two NPCs and set the relationship between them, the values range from 4 (lover) to -4 (archnemesis). Use it to make NPCs fight or do other er... more worrying things. player.setscale [#] Changes the size of the player or NPC. You start out at level one, which is normal sized, while zero is small. It goes all the way up to an absurdly huge ten. player.drop [Item ID] [#] Forces the player to drop items, even usually undroppable quest items. Try just 'drop' to drop absolutely everything you're carrying. coc [Cell ID] Teleports you to any specified cell in the world.

Targeted Skyrim console commands

Targeted Skyrim commands will have an effect on an NPC or item that you have selected. They're perfect for unlocking chests, instakilling enemies, and bringing them back to life again.

Code Effects unlock Can't find that vital key? Lockpicking skill too low? Open the console, click on the door or chest you want to unlock, and type "unlock" into the console. If only this worked in real life. lock [#] For the opposite effect, you can set chests, doors (or NPCs?) to a locked state with a number from 1-100 representing the difficulty. kill Look at the thing you want to kill, open the console, click on the target, and type this command. They'll fall over in a very dead manner. resurrect Target the thing you want to bring back to life, and they'll get up in a very alive manner. removeallitems Target a character and type this and you'll get all their items—including their clothes. Note: does not work in real life. addtofaction [Faction ID] [#] Click on an NPC and use this command to add them to a faction. It's not just about Stormcloaks and Imperials though. Using 0005C84D will add a character to the follower faction, giving them the necessary dialogue to join you, while 00019809 will add them to the 'potential spouse' faction, allowing you to marry them. This won't work on NPCs with unique voices however, so you won't be able to wed Esbern or General Tullius any time soon. disable Also known as the 'I have no mouth and I must scream' command. Disable banishes the selected NPC to some sort of weird coding limbo. They become invisible, have no collisions and AI won't interact with them, but they're still technically there. Horrifying. enable Undoes the effects of the Disable command. Disabling and then Enabling your follower will reset them to your current level, which is a handy way of making sure they stay useful in a fight. setessential [NPC ID] [0/1] It might be fun putting on god mode and becoming immortal, but don't you get a little lonely knowing that one day all the other characters you love will die? I know I do. Thankfully there's a solution: simply use this console command with a 1 to set characters to 'essential', which means they'll take damage until they fall on their knees, but then get up again. Using it with a 0 will turn essential characters mortal, but be careful with that, Bethesda probably made them immortal for a reason. setownership [Item ID] This command sets you as the owner of the targeted item, removing all those annoying 'stolen' tags from your ill gotten gains. unequipitem [Item ID] Click on an NPC and type this to force them to put the item they're holding away. Useful if they're holding a sword you want. dispelallspells Unsurprisingly, dispells all spells on the target NPC. This won't work on werewolves, as they technically become a different NPC when they transform. MarkForDelete Marking an item for deletion sends a contract to the Dark Brotherhood, ensuring it will never been seen or heard from again. It will be removed from the world the next time you load an area. A useful way to get rid of annoying things like ash piles that never seem to go away.

Skyrim quest console commands

Skyrim quest commands can help you get around bugged issues in quests by automatically getting yourself to the next quest state or just let you cheat by moving directly to your next objective.

Code Effects caqs Automatically complete all the stages of your primary quest. Perfect if you hate playing games. movetoqt Go straight to your quest target. setstage [Quest ID] [Stage #] This allows you to move the quests you're playing back to a prior stage or forward to a new one. Useful if you've somehow broken it by murdering the wrong NPC. Skyrim wiki has a useful list of quests, along with IDs and stages.

Other Skyrim console commands

These are all of the odds and ends of Skyrim console commands. Do make sure you try out that secret developer room with all the toys.