Anyone who’s spent hours mining for diamond only to fall into a lava pool knows the frustration of losing hours of progress in Minecraft. Sometimes, you don’t want to grind for 3 hours just to get a single netherite ingot, or you want to test out a crazy build idea without gathering thousands of blocks first. That’s where knowing how to activate cheats in Minecraft comes in handy, and it’s way easier to set up than most players think. We’ve tested these steps across every popular edition of the game, so you don’t have to waste time troubleshooting broken commands or corrupted world saves.
How to Activate Cheats for New Minecraft Worlds (All Editions)
The simplest way to enable cheats is to turn them on when you first create your world, and this works exactly the same across Java, Bedrock, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch editions. You won’t have to mess with any complicated settings or file edits later, and it only takes one extra click during the world creation process.
For Java Edition, look for the Allow Cheats toggle on the world creation screen, it’s located right under the game mode selection dropdown. Flip it to “On” and you’re good to go, no extra steps needed. For Bedrock and console editions, the toggle is labeled the same, it just lives in the “Game” tab of the world creation menu.
One important thing to note here: enabling cheats for a new world will disable achievements for that save file. If you care about earning in-game achievements, you’ll want to keep cheats off unless you’re just messing around for fun, or playing in a separate creative test world. That tradeoff is worth it for most players who just want to test builds or fix annoying survival mishaps.
How to Turn On Cheats for Existing Minecraft Worlds
Already spent weeks building out your survival world and don’t want to start over just to enable cheats? You don’t have to, there are simple workarounds for both Java and Bedrock editions that let you toggle cheats on without losing any of your progress. The steps are a little different depending on which edition you play, but neither requires any third-party software.
For Java Edition, you’ll use the built-in Open to LAN feature, even if you’re not playing with other people. Just hit escape to open the menu, click “Open to LAN”, toggle “Allow Cheats” to on, and hit “Start LAN World”. Cheats will stay enabled until you close the game, and you can repeat the process every time you load the world if you want permanent access. If you want to enable cheats permanently for a Java world, you can edit the world’s level.dat file with a free online editor, just make sure you back up your save first to avoid data loss.
For Bedrock and console editions, the process is even simpler. Just open the world settings menu from the main menu, scroll down to the “Cheats” section, and flip the toggle to on. You’ll get a pop-up warning you that achievements will be disabled, just hit confirm and you’re all set. This change is permanent for that world, so you won’t have to redo it every time you load your save.
Essential Cheat Commands to Try First After Activation
Once you’ve got cheats enabled, you might be overwhelmed by the hundreds of available commands you can use. We’ve rounded up the most useful ones that every player should know, whether you’re fixing a survival mistake or testing a new build. All of these commands work across every edition of the game, as long as you have cheats enabled.
- /gamemode creative: Switches you from survival to creative mode instantly, so you can fly, place unlimited blocks, and take no damage. Use /gamemode survival to switch back when you’re done.
- /give [your username] minecraft:[item name] [amount]: Spawns any item you want directly into your inventory, no mining or crafting required. For example, /give steve minecraft:diamond 64 will give you a full stack of diamonds.
- /tp [x coordinate] [y coordinate] [z coordinate]: Teleports you anywhere in the world instantly. You can use this to get back to your base if you get lost, or teleport to a friend’s location in multiplayer.
- /kill: Kills your character instantly, which is useful if you’re stuck in a cave with no way out and don’t want to wait for your hunger bar to run out. You’ll keep all your items if you have keep inventory enabled.
- /weather clear: Turns off rain or thunder instantly, so you don’t have to wait around for bad weather to pass before working on an outdoor build.
You don’t have to memorize every single command to use cheats effectively, these five will cover 90% of the use cases for most casual players. If you want to find more commands, you can hit the tab key while typing in the chat bar to get auto-complete suggestions for every available cheat in your edition of the game.
One quick tip: always double-check your spelling when typing commands, even one wrong letter will make the command fail. If you’re playing on a console, you can use the built-in command selection menu to pick commands from a list, so you don’t have to type them out manually.
Important Rules to Follow When Using Minecraft Cheats
Cheats are a ton of fun, but there are a few ground rules you should follow to avoid ruining your game or upsetting other players if you’re in a multiplayer world. These are all lessons we’ve learned the hard way over years of playing Minecraft, so take them seriously to avoid unnecessary headaches.
First, never enable cheats on a multiplayer server unless you’re the owner or have explicit permission from the server owner. Most public servers have anti-cheat software that will ban you instantly for even trying to type a cheat command, even if you didn’t mean any harm. Cheating on a public server also ruins the experience for other players who are putting in the work to grind for resources fairly.
Second, always back up your world save before editing any game files to enable cheats. It’s extremely rare for file edits to corrupt your save, but it’s not worth losing weeks of progress just to turn on cheats. You can back up your world by copying the save folder to a separate location on your device, it only takes 30 seconds to do.
Third, don’t overuse cheats if you want to keep enjoying your survival world. It’s easy to spawn in every item you need and get bored of the game in a couple of hours, since half the fun of Minecraft is the grind. We recommend only using cheats to fix mistakes, like getting back items you lost to a glitch, or to test build ideas before you spend hours gathering materials for the real version.
If you’re playing with friends, make sure everyone is on the same page about cheat use before you enable them. Some players hate the idea of using cheats even in private worlds, so it’s good to check first to avoid arguments later.
At the end of the day, Minecraft is a game you’re supposed to play however you want, and there’s no shame in using cheats to make the experience more fun for you. Whether you’re a new player who doesn’t want to deal with the frustration of losing all your items to a creeper explosion, or a veteran builder who wants to test out a massive castle design without gathering 10,000 stone blocks, knowing how to activate cheats in Minecraft opens up a ton of new possibilities for your gameplay. Just follow the steps we outlined, stick to the basic rules, and you’ll be spawning items and teleporting across your world in no time.