Skyrim console commands: PC cheats and how to use them

Console commands in Skyrim only work on PC, in both the Special Edition and the Anniversary Edition. This guide shows you how to open the console, how to type commands correctly, and the most useful ones grouped by purpose: god mode, noclip, gold, skills, teleporting, working with NPCs and fixing stuck quests with setstage. Everything here is current as of 19 October 2026.

How to open the console in Skyrim

Open the console with the key in the top left corner, below Esc and above Tab. On a US keyboard it’s the tilde “~” and backtick key. Other layouts print a different character on it, but the position is always the same. Press the same key again to close the console.

A few rules that will save you some frustration:

• Case doesn’t matter. tgm, TGM and TgM all do the same thing.
• Don’t type the brackets. When a guide shows a parameter in brackets, replace the whole thing with the actual value, such as a number or an ID.
• Targeting. Some commands act on a selected character or object. With the console open, click on it with the mouse. Commands that start with player. always target your own character.
• Save first. Some commands can break a quest or a save, or crash the game. Make a save you can go back to before experimenting.

PlayStation, Xbox and Switch don’t have a command console at all. What you can do there instead is covered in our guide to console cheats.

Player commands

God mode, attributes, skills and your character’s appearance. Where the “What to enter” column has a description, type the actual value after the command.

Command	What to enter	What it does
tgm	nothing	God mode: you can’t die and don’t use up magicka or stamina
tim	nothing	Immortal mode: you take damage but can’t die
player.resethealth	nothing	Restores your health
player.setav carryweight 1000	attribute name (e.g. carryweight or health) and a number	Sets an attribute value; the example sets carry weight to 1,000
player.modav	attribute name and a number	Permanently adds to or subtracts from an attribute, such as carry weight
player.advskill	skill name and amount of experience	Adds experience to a skill; counts towards your level
incpcs	skill name	Raises a skill by one level; counts towards your level and perks
player.advlevel	nothing	Adds one level, but no perk point
player.addperk	perk ID (look it up on UESP)	Adds a perk
psb	nothing	Teaches every spell and shout; can crash the game
showracemenu	nothing	Opens character creation; changing race resets your skills
sexchange	nothing, or a targeted NPC	Changes your character’s sex, or that of the selected NPC
player.setscale	a number, 1 = normal size, 10 = maximum	Changes your character’s size

For faster levelling, incpcs and player.advskill are the ones to use, because they count towards your level just like training the skill normally. How levelling works and what each race gives you is explained in our beginner’s guide.

Toggles, camera and world

Most of these work like a switch: enter once to turn the effect on, enter again to turn it off.

Command	What to enter	What it does
tcl	nothing	Turns off collision (noclip), so you fly and walk through walls
tfc / tfc 1	nothing, or 1	Free camera; with 1 it also freezes the world
sucsm	a number	Free camera speed
tm	nothing	Hides the whole interface, console included; the same command brings it back
tmm 1 / tmm 0	nothing	Shows or hides all map markers
tai	nothing	Toggles NPC AI
tcai	nothing	Toggles combat AI
tdetect	nothing	NPCs can’t detect you, though a failed pickpocket attempt still gives you away
tg / tt / tws	nothing	Hides grass, trees or water
csb	nothing	Clears blood from the screen
set timescale to	a number (default 20, 1 = real time)	How fast in-game time passes
fov	angle in degrees	Field of view

For screenshots, combine tm and tfc 1: hide the interface, freeze the world and put the camera wherever you like.

Items, gold and teleporting

Command	What to enter	What it does
player.additem f 500	amount; the example gives 500 gold	Adds gold
player.additem a 20	amount; the example gives 20 lockpicks	Adds lockpicks
player.additem	item ID and amount	Adds any item to your inventory
unlock	targeted door or chest	Unlocks it, even locks that normally need a key
coc Riverwood	location name; the example is Riverwood	Teleports you to that location
coc qasmoke	nothing	Teleports you to the test room that holds every item

IDs for other items, perks and locations are listed on the UESP Console page and in UESP’s articles on individual items. Gold (f) and lockpicks (a) have IDs short enough to remember.

NPC commands

For most of these, open the console and click on the character you want to affect first.

Command	What to enter	What it does
kill	targeted NPC	Kills the selected character
killall	nothing	Kills every non-essential NPC nearby
resurrect / resurrect 1	targeted NPC	Brings the character back to life; with 1 they keep their gear
setessential	the NPC’s Base ID and 1 or 0	Makes the NPC essential (1) or mortal (0)
player.placeatme	Base ID and amount	Spawns an NPC or item next to you; named NPCs get cloned
player.moveto	the NPC’s Ref ID	Teleports you to that character
set playerfollowercount to 0	nothing	Resets the follower counter when you can’t recruit a new companion

Watch the difference between Base ID and Ref ID. player.placeatme and setessential need the Base ID, player.moveto needs the Ref ID. UESP lists both for every character.

Fixing stuck quests

The most common reason players open the console is a quest that won’t progress. The quest commands below help with that. You’ll find each quest’s ID and stage numbers on its page in the UESP quest list.

Command	What to enter	What it does
sqs	quest ID	Lists the quest’s stages
setstage	quest ID and stage number	Moves the quest to that stage
movetoqt	quest ID	Teleports you to the quest target without advancing the quest
completequest	quest ID	Completes the quest; related NPCs may not react to it
caqs	nothing	Completes every quest in the game; not recommended, it can crash the game

The usual approach: sqs shows you the quest’s stages and setstage moves it to the one you need. If you just don’t know where to go, movetoqt is enough and leaves the quest alone. Keep completequest, and especially caqs, as a last resort.

Other commands and what to watch out for

Command	What to enter	What it does
qqq	nothing	Quits the game immediately

Commands like psb, caqs or qqq reach deep into the game. Always save before using them, and if something breaks, reload. If you want to go further than the console, take a look at our Skyrim mods guide. Keep in mind that mods disable achievements in the Special Edition.

Join our Discord if a command isn’t working or a quest is stuck and you want a second opinion: GamersTogether Discord.

FAQ

Information verified on 19 October 2026. More guides are waiting in our Skyrim guides section.