The Witcher 3 Console Commands: How to Enable Them
Type additem('Aerondight',1) into a hidden text box and Geralt is holding one of the best swords in the game before he has left White Orchard. CD Projekt Red has never put that box in a menu, never written a support article about it, and never published a full list of what it accepts. Here is how to open it, what to type, and what nobody can quite agree it costs you.
Type additem('Aerondight',1) into a hidden text box and Geralt is holding one of the best swords in the game before he has finished the tutorial. CD Projekt Red has never put that box in a menu, never written a support article explaining it, and has never published a complete list of what it accepts. The community found it by reading the game's own script files, and a decade later that is still the only documentation that exists.
This is not a mod list and it is not a trainer. It is the debug console CD Projekt Red's own developers used to test the game, left switched off by default but never actually removed. Here is how to turn it on, the one syntax rule that trips up everyone the first time, the commands worth actually knowing, and the honest answer to the two questions that matter most: does it break your achievements, and will any of it still work once Remastered ships.
What the console actually is
The official Witcher wiki states it plainly: console mode is not enabled by default with a regular installation. It is a leftover developer tool, not a hidden feature CD Projekt Red quietly supports — nothing about it appears in the game's options menu, its support site, or its patch notes, ever.
Because it was never meant for players, there is no official command reference either. The wiki's own advice for finding the full set of what it accepts is to go digging in the game's own script files yourself: temp.ws, one of the game's internal script files, is described as containing "basically debugging- and cheat-related commands only," which is the closest thing to a canonical list anyone has published. Everything below is drawn from the console mode page's own command tables, cross-checked against the game's item and skill code lists on the same wiki.
How to turn it on
The switch lives in a plain text file, not a menu. Open bin\config\base\general.ini inside your game's install folder in any text editor and add:
DBGConsoleOn=true
That is the entire official method, and it works identically whether your copy is on Steam, GOG or Epic, because it is editing a file inside your own install folder rather than anything the storefront controls. The wiki's only alternative is a community mod, the Native Debug Console, built for the original 1.32 patch — if you go that route on an old install, its own instructions say to remove any leftover debug-console files from a previous attempt first, or the two can conflict.
The next-gen build is less cooperative
If you are on the current build — the free 4.0-and-later "Complete Edition" update everyone has been running since December 2022 — the plain ini edit is noticeably less reliable than it used to be. GamerGuides' own walkthrough for the next-gen console is upfront about it: "it also doesn't work for many, no matter what they try," even after adding the line correctly.
Players troubleshooting it on the Nexus Mods forums and in GamerGuides' own comments report the edit getting silently reverted after a later launch or update, undoing the line they added — CD Projekt Red has never confirmed or explained that mechanism, so treat it as an unverified but widely repeated troubleshooting report rather than a documented fact. What is confirmed is that the problem is common enough to have its own dedicated fix: Debug Console Next Gen, a small Nexus Mods package built specifically for the post-4.0 game. If the plain ini edit stops sticking for you, that is the mod to reach for rather than repeating the same edit and hoping.
Opening it, and the one syntax rule
Once it is on, the key is the tilde, in the same corner of the keyboard as the number 1 — the wiki notes this shifts on non-English keyboard layouts, so if tilde does nothing, try the key physically in that same spot.
Then the rule that wastes everyone's first ten minutes: commands are case-sensitive, and arguments go in parentheses. god works. God does nothing and gives you no error to explain why. A command that takes an argument needs the parentheses even for a single value — healme needs none, setlevel(15) does. Strings can be wrapped in single or double quotes, and the wiki notes you can usually skip the quotes entirely unless the text contains something unusual, but quoting item names is the safer habit since several of them contain spaces.
The commands actually worth learning
The full set runs to hundreds of entries across character, inventory, combat, weather, map and Gwent categories. These are the ones that actually solve a problem instead of just being possible.
| What you want | Command | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Full heal | healme | No parentheses needed |
| Invincibility | god | Toggle, run it again to turn off |
| Set your level | setlevel(15) | Sets character level directly |
| Add experience | addexp(25000) | Adds the exact amount given |
| Add a skill point | addskillpoints(5) | Adds points, does not spend them for you |
| Learn a specific skill | learnskill(sword_s3) | Skill codes come from the wiki's own list; running it again ranks the skill up |
| Add an item | additem('Bear Armor 1',3) | Quantity is optional; item names come from the wiki's code list |
| Add crowns | addmoney(100000) | removemoney(#) is the inverse |
| A specific, smaller amount of crowns | klapaucius | Exactly equal to addmoney(100) — named for the trickster inventor from Stanisław Lem's The Cyberiad |
| Everything the game has, at once | witchcraft | Gives one of every item in the game. The wiki's own warning: it may crash or take several minutes, so do not assume it has frozen |
| Spawn a monster or NPC | spawn(drowner_lvl2) | Optional quantity, distance, hostility and level arguments |
| Clear a fight instantly | killall | Kills every enemy currently engaged in combat |
| Jump straight to a region | gotoNovigrad, gotoSkellige, gotoKaerMorhen, gotoProlog | Instant region teleport, no loading screen prompt |
| Fast travel from anywhere | AllowFT(1) | Has to be re-entered every time you start a new session |
| Reveal every signpost and map icon | ShowAllFT(1), ShowPins(1) | Useful for checking our question marks guide's counts against your own save without riding to every region first |
| Precise teleport | tptopos(x,y,z) | Exact coordinates; xy(x,y) is the two-axis version, and its first use drops you high in the air before a second call at the same coordinates puts you on the ground |
| Every Gwent card at once | addgwintcards | Adds one of every card straight to your deck, a shortcut around the whole collection game our Gwent guide covers properly |
| Win the current Gwent match | winGwint(#) | Ends the active match in your favour with the power total you specify |
| Change the weather | changeweather(WT_Rain_Storm) | Codes are region-specific; the wiki's table lists which named codes actually render in which region |
Two of the entries above are worth a second look. addskillpoints hands you the points, not the build — you still have to slot the ability manually, which is the whole subject of our general skills guide and build guide. And the wiki lists a separate pair of commands, addfact and removefact, that toggle the internal story flags quests check against — flip the wrong one and you can desync a quest state the game never expects a player to reach outright, so they belong to script debugging, not to a normal session.
The internal names are not the in-game names
Pull up the wiki's own item code list to build an additem call and one thing jumps out immediately: the witcher school sets do not use their shipped names internally. Griffin School Gear is filed under Gryphon School in every single code — Gryphon School silver sword 1 through 4, Gryphon School steel sword, all of it. Cat School Gear is filed under Lynx School the same way. Bear, Wolf and Viper keep their real names in the code; only Griffin and Cat were renamed for players at some point in development and the internal template names were never touched to match.
That is not a rumour or a datamined leak — it is sitting directly in the same code tables our witcher gear guide draws its set names from, and it means anyone building an additem list from memory of the in-game menu will get a "command not found" on Griffin and Cat specifically until they know to type Gryphon and Lynx instead.
What it costs you
Two costs are real and confirmed. Two more are genuinely unsettled, and no amount of forum searching turns up a straight answer, so here is the honest state of each rather than a guess dressed up as a fact.
It is PC only, full stop. There is no equivalent switch, mod, or workaround for PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch. Console commands in the literal sense only exist on the platform that also has "console" as a computing term — the one bit of naming irony this guide couldn't resist pointing out.
It edits your own game files, not a supported feature. CD Projekt Red has never published anything treating DBGConsoleOn as a real setting — no support article, no mention in patch notes, nothing. If a future update changes how general.ini is read, or restructures the folder next to it, there is no guarantee this keeps working, and the post-4.0 reliability problems above are the visible evidence that it already has drifted once.
Whether it disables achievements is a genuinely open question. Search this and you will find players confidently asserting both directions — some reporting achievements unlocked fine with the console enabled the whole session, others reporting the opposite, and dedicated community guides exist specifically for using console commands to farm particular achievements, which would make little sense if the console reliably blocked them. CD Projekt Red has never issued a statement resolving it either way. If your Steam or GOG achievement list matters to you, the only safe move is backing up a save before you touch the console, not trusting either side of that argument.
Using addfact/removefact or spawning quest-tagged NPCs can break a save in ways nothing else on this list does. Everything else here is additive or cosmetic. Those two touch the same internal state your actual quests read from, and the wiki does not promise it is reversible.
Does any of this survive Remastered?
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered ships four days from today, on 29 September — our Remastered saves and mods guide covers what CD Projekt Red has confirmed about save compatibility and console mod support so far. None of it mentions the PC debug console, and there is a real reason to expect this specific trick is the part most likely to break: Remastered moves the game to DirectX 12 exclusively and raises the minimum spec, which means an install folder and executable structure that has already changed once before, in the 4.0 update, is changing again. The general.ini path and even the file's own contents could easily move a second time, the same way the plain ini edit already went from reliable to unreliable across the first transition.
Nothing here is confirmed either way, because CD Projekt Red has said nothing about it either way. If you rely on the debug console for testing builds or grabbing screenshots, back up your current pre-Remastered install rather than assuming 29 September changes nothing about a tool the studio has never officially acknowledged existed in the first place.
Quick Action Checklist
- Add
DBGConsoleOn=truetobin\config\base\general.iniinside your install folder. Works the same on Steam, GOG and Epic. - If it stops working after an update, that is a known next-gen build issue, not a mistake on your part — try the Debug Console Next Gen mod on Nexus Mods instead of re-editing the same file.
- Remember commands are case-sensitive and need parentheses around any argument, even a single one.
- Use
additem('Gryphon School silver sword 1',1)for Griffin gear andLynx Schoolfor Cat gear — the in-game names do not match the item codes. - Back up your save before using
addfact/removefactor spawning quest-tagged actors; those touch real quest state. - Back up your save before using the console at all if your achievement list matters — the community is split on whether it still unlocks them, and CD Projekt Red has never settled it.
- Do not expect any of this on PlayStation, Xbox or Switch. It is a PC-only file edit.
- Treat it as unconfirmed whether this survives the 29 September Remastered update, since CD Projekt Red has not addressed it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you enable the console in The Witcher 3?
What key opens the console in The Witcher 3?
Are Witcher 3 console commands case-sensitive?
Does using the debug console disable achievements in The Witcher 3?
Why doesn't additem work on Griffin or Cat School gear in The Witcher 3?
Do console commands work on Witcher 3 for PS5, Xbox or Switch?
Will Witcher 3 console commands still work after the Remastered update?
Keep Reading
- Official Witcher Wiki — the full console mode page: enabling it, case-sensitivity rules, and every command table this guide draws from
- Nexus Mods — Debug Console Next Gen, the community fix for the post-4.0 build
- GamerGuides — confirms the plain ini edit is unreliable on the next-gen build ('it also doesn't work for many, no matter what they try')
- Steam Community discussion — one of several threads showing conflicting player reports on whether the console disables achievements, unresolved by CD Projekt Red
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