What are the best Minecraft commands? There are many ways to play Minecraft, from the pure survival aspect of reaching the end to building mind-blowing projects in creative mode. Using console commands in a survival world is somewhere between the two, and we’ve been testing out all the best commands to help you along the way.
Minecraft commands are wonderfully simple to use, and you can use them to give yourself Minecraft diamonds, enchanted items, and other goodies, summon Minecraft mobs, locate rare structures like Minecraft ancient cities, and so much more. You won’t earn achievements with cheats turned on, but if you want all the fun of survival Minecraft without the struggle, then this guide to Minecraft cheats and console commands is for you. Note that a lot of the cheats are also only applicable to multiplayer servers, but our top pick of the best cheats is for any survival world.
How to use Minecraft console commands
To use Minecraft commands, you would typically type the command into the chat box, starting with the forward slash. The methods for enabling and disabling Minecraft cheats differ between versions and depending on whether you have already generated your world. Here is how to use console commands on the different editions of Minecraft:
Java edition
To enable Minecraft cheats in a new world:
- Click ‘Create New World’.
- Toggle ‘Allow Cheats’ to ‘On’.
- Select any other options, name your world, or enter a Minecraft seed.
- Click ‘Create New World’.
To turn Minecraft cheats on or off in an existing world:
- Open the game menu.
- Click ‘Open to LAN’.
- Toggle ‘Allow Cheats’.
Note that you will need to do this each time you launch the world.
Bedrock edition
To enable Minecraft commands in a new world:
- Click ‘Create New World’.
- Scroll down to ‘Cheats’ tab.
- Toggle on cheats at the top of the screen.
- Change any other game settings you require, and click ‘Create’.
To turn Minecraft cheats on or off in an existing world:
- Open the game menu.
- Click the pen edit button next to the chosen world.
- Scroll down to the ‘Activate Cheats’ toggle.
- Toggle on or off as desired.
The best Minecraft commands
Here are the most essential Minecraft cheats for a standard, single-player world:
- /locate – provides the coordinates of the closest place of interest.
- Structure: find structures like shipwrecks or ancient cities with /locate structure [structure_name]
- Biome: find any biome, such as snowy taiga or warm ocean with /locate biome [biome name]
- POI: locate a more specific structure, including specific villager homes, with /locate poi [poi name]
- /difficulty – changes the world difficulty
- Peaceful: /difficulty peaceful
- Easy: /difficulty easy
- Normal: /difficulty normal
- Hard: /difficulty hard
- /give
- [amount]
- /enchant [enchantment] – with the item you want to enchant in your main hand, use the command /enchant @s [enchantment], but make sure the enchantment is compatible with that item.
- /gamemode – switches the game mode between creative, survival, and spectator
- Creative – /gamemode creative
- Survival – /gamemode survival
- Spectator – /gamemode spectator
- /timeset [time] – changes the time of day. You can use “day” or “night” for this command, but for a more specific time of day, this command works in ticks. For example, use “0” for dawn, “6000” for midday, “12000” for dusk, and “18000” for night time.
- /setworldspawn – sets the spawnpoint to your current location
- /spawnpoint – sets the spawnpoint to your current location
- /seed – displays the seed for the current world. Click on the seed in the text channel to copy to clipboard.
All Minecraft cheats commands
Here’s a list of every other Minecraft command and what it does:
- /advancement – grants a specified advancement to players
- /advancement @a everything – grants all advancements to players
- /attribute – change or read attributes
- /bossbar – configure a custom boss bar
- /clear – clears your inventory
- /clone – clones a structure or area of land and copies it somewhere else, including moving blocks between the overworld, The Nether, and The End
- /damage – applies damage to chosen entity
- /data – modify NBT data of a block or entity
- /datapack – controls the loading and unloading of data packs
- /debug – start or stop a debug session
- /defaultgamemode – returns the game to its original gamemode
- /effect – add or remove status effects to players or entities
- /experience – gives or takes away player experience, or displays their current amount
- /fill – fill an area with a specific block
- /fillbiome – fill an area with a specific biome
- /forceload – force chunks to load
- /function – runs a function from a data pack
- /gamerule – changes a gamerule value, such as maxEntityCramming or randomTickSpeed
- /help [CommandName] – provides more information on the given command.
- /item – copies items
- /kick – kick player off the server
- /kill [entity] – kills the entity chosen, be that yourself, another player, or a mob.
- /list – list all players on the server
- /loot – adds the specified loot table to the player’s inventory
- /me – broadcast a message about yourself in the text chat
- /msg – send a private message to player(s)
- /particle – displays particle emission at specified area
- /place – place a block
- /playsound – plays a specified sound
- /publish – publishes a single-player world to the local network
- /random – draw a random number
- /recipe – locks or unlocks recipes for players
- /reload – reloads the world
- /ride – Turns the creature or player you’re facing into a mount.
- /say – broadcasts a message in chat to all players
- /schedule – delays the execution of a function
- /scoreboard – manages and displays scores
- /setblock – changes one block to another
- /spectate – specify another player to spectate or stop spectating
- /spreadplayers – teleports players to random locations
- /stopsound – stops all current sounds, though normal sounds resume immediately
- /summon [entity name] – summons an entity to your location
- /tag – controls scoreboard tags on individual entities
- /team – controls teams, assigning or removing members, creating teams, and more
- /teammsg – sends a chat message to only members of the team
- /teleport [TargetPlayer] x y z – transports yourself or another player to any specific location instantly.
- /tell – send a private message to specified player(s)
- /tellraw – sends a JSON message to players
- /title – controls title text displayed
- /tm – sends a message to all players of sender’s team
- /tp – works as /teleport
- /weather [weathertype] – allows you to choose the weather for your world. Your weather options include rain, thunder, and snow.
- /worldborder – set, move, and control the world border
- /xp – gives or takes away player experience, or displays their current amount
Minecraft command targets
You might not always want to target yourself with these commands. Perhaps you want to kill an entity, give an item to a friend, or teleport one person to another.
Here are all the command targets for different entities:
- @a – all players
- @e – all entities
- @p – the nearest player
- @r – a random player
- @s – yourself
And those are all the Minecraft console commands you’ll need to help enhance one of the best PC games. While you’re here, take a look at some of the craziest Minecraft seeds to get you off to a good start. Make your game even more impressive with these Minecraft mods – they’re sure to make your game even more exciting than Mojang ever imagined.
