How to Open the Command Console in Valheim

Valheim, the popular Viking-themed survival game, offers players a vast open world to explore, build, and conquer. The game also exposes a developer console that lets you tweak the world, troubleshoot issues, or experiment with mechanics. By default that console is disabled — it has to be enabled through a Steam launch option before you can press F5 to bring it up.

This guide walks through enabling the console on PC, opening it in game, and switching on the cheat commands.

Enabling the console on Steam

1. Open Steam and go to your Library.
2. Right-click Valheim and select Properties…
3. On the General tab, find the Launch Options field at the bottom.
4. Type the following exactly as shown:

5. Close the properties window and launch Valheim normally.

That single launch flag tells Valheim's engine to attach a console window. You only need to set it once — Steam remembers it for future launches.

Opening the console in-game

Once you're loaded into a world, press the F5 key. A small text input opens at the bottom of the screen.

Enabling cheat commands

Most of the interesting commands (spawn, god, fly, etc.) are cheat commands and require an extra step. With the console open, type:

and press Enter. You'll see a confirmation that dev commands are enabled. Cheats now work for the rest of your session — but you'll need to re-run devcommands after every world reload.

What to try first

With the console open and dev commands on, try one of these to confirm everything works:

• help — lists every available command in the console.
• fly — toggles freecam-style flight. Useful for scouting.
• spawn Wood 80 — gives you 80 pieces of wood. See the full item list for every ID.

Once you're comfortable with the console, the complete console commands guide walks through every category in detail.