How to Enable Cheats in Minecraft — Java & Bedrock Guide

To enable cheats in Minecraft, turn on the "Allow Cheats" (Java) or "Cheats" (Bedrock) toggle — in Java you can set it when creating a world or enable it for an existing world via Open to LAN; in Bedrock you flip the Cheats switch in the world's Game settings. Once enabled, you can run slash commands like /gamemode, /tp, /give, and /gamerule from the chat window. This guide walks both editions step by step, explains the achievement tradeoff on Bedrock, and provides a cheat command cheat-sheet covering the commands players actually use.

Java Edition: Enable Cheats on a New World

1. From the title screen, click Singleplayer → Create New World.
2. Click More World Options (or the Game/World tab in the newer world-creation UI).
3. Set Allow Cheats: ON (in recent versions the toggle is labeled "Cheats" or "Commands" — same setting).
4. Create the world. Chat commands now work — press T, type /, and the command list appears.

The toggle appears again if you ever copy or re-create the world; it's saved per world in level.dat.

Java Edition: Enable Cheats in an Existing World

If the world already exists and was created without cheats, you have three routes:

1. Open to LAN (easiest, no files touched): pause the game → Open to LAN → set Enable Cheats: ON → Start LAN World. Commands work for this session. The catch: you repeat this every session, and a LAN world is technically hosted — pausing behaves differently (other "players" keep the world running).
2. Pause menu toggle (newer versions): recent Java versions added Open to LAN → cheats remembering the choice, and some builds offer the cheat toggle directly in the pause screen — check your pause menu first, since this is version-dependent.
3. NBT editor (permanent): close the game, open the world's level.dat with an NBT editor (NBTExplorer or similar), flip the allowCommands tag to 1, and save. Permanent, but it's a file edit — back up the world first.

The LAN route is the community default because it's reversible and safe; the NBT edit is for players who want cheats on a long-term world without the LAN dance.

Bedrock Edition: Enable Cheats

1. From the Play screen, find the world and click the pencil icon (Edit) — or pause in-game and open Settings.
2. Scroll to the Game pane.
3. Flip Cheats to ON. A confirmation dialog warns about achievements.
4. Confirm, then resume or start the world. Commands now work from chat.

Critical Bedrock difference: turning cheats on permanently disables achievements for that world. The toggle can be flipped back off, but the achievement lock persists once triggered. If you care about achievements, duplicate the world first (Edit → Copy World) and cheat on the copy.

Bedrock also lets you set cheats when creating the world — same Game settings pane, before first launch.

Cheat Command Cheat-Sheet

With cheats on, these are the commands that cover 95% of everyday use. Cheats aren't required for all of them (/tell, /list, /me work anywhere), but the world-altering ones all do.

Movement and world control

Items and spawning

Finding things

Selector shorthand: @s = yourself, @p = nearest player, @a = all players, @e = all entities, @r = random player. Combine with type=, distance=, limit= filters — the full grammar lives in our commands list.

Good to Know Before You Cheat

• Cheats persist per world. Once enabled, they stay on — Bedrock's achievement loss can't be undone, so think before flipping the switch on a world you care about.
• Servers are different: on multiplayer servers, cheat commands require operator (OP) status granted by an admin via /op <player>. Regular players can only run harmless chat commands regardless of local settings.
• The / key opens commands directly — press / (or . on some keyboards) and chat opens pre-filled with the slash, showing the command autocomplete menu.
• Tab completion is your friend on Java: type /ga and press Tab to cycle gamemode, gamerule, etc., and see argument hints inline.
• Command blocks automate any of these without chat — see the command block guide for map-making and server workflows.
• If a command prints "Unknown or incomplete command", check the spelling and whether your account has permission — the two causes cover nearly every failure.

More Minecraft Guides

For deeper command work, see the Minecraft All Commands List, the Minecraft Command Block Guide for automation, and the Minecraft KeepInventory Guide for the most-requested gamerule walkthrough.