ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK Admin Commands
ARK has the most argument-heavy commands of any game on this site. GiveItemNum alone takes four values in a fixed order, and getting the last one wrong hands you a blueprint instead of the item.
The builder puts them in the right order with sensible defaults. It also handles the prefix question, which is the other thing that trips people up.
On a multiplayer server the prefix is admincheat and you must run enablecheats with the admin password first. In single player you need no prefix and no password at all — the same command written three different ways is why so many people think ARK commands are broken.
ARK Command Builder
GiveItemNum and Summon with every argument in the right order and the prefix already in place. The full admin reference is below.
Four arguments in a fixed order: item number, quantity, quality, and whether you want the blueprint or the finished item.
Higher numbers give better stats on gear.
Your command
cheat GiveItemNum 1 1 1 falseOn a multiplayer server the prefix is admincheat rather than cheat, and enablecheats must have been run first. Single player needs no prefix at all.
Full command reference
Every command, searchable and filterable by what it does. Each one copies with a tap.
Showing 20 of 20
Authenticate as admin
Required on a server before any other command works.
Setup
Single player does not need this, and does not need the cheat or admincheat prefix either.
God mode
Invulnerable to everything except drowning.
Player
Fly
Move freely in any direction, ignoring gravity.
Movement
Stop flying
Cancels Fly and puts you back on the ground.
Movement
No clip
Walk through terrain and structures.
Movement
Infinite stats
Health, stamina, food, water and weight stop draining.
Player
Give an item by number
Adds an item using its numeric ID, quantity, quality and blueprint flag.
Items
The last argument is true for a blueprint and false for the finished item.
Give resources
Adds 50 of every basic resource.
Items
Unlock all engrams
Learns every craftable recipe.
Items
Summon a creature
Spawns a creature directly in front of you at a random level.
Creatures
Force tame
Instantly tames the creature you are looking at.
Creatures
Tame properly
Tames the target as if the taming bar had filled normally.
Creatures
Wipe wild creatures
Removes every untamed creature so the map respawns fresh.
Creatures
Tamed creatures are not touched. Useful when the map has filled with low-level spawns.
Level up
Adds levels to your character.
Player
Set time of day
Sets the clock using 24-hour time.
World
Change game speed
1 is normal. Higher is faster, lower is slower.
World
Teleport forward
Moves you in the direction you are facing.
Travel
Teleport to coordinates
Moves you to a map location by latitude and longitude.
Travel
Restore stats
Refills food, water and stamina without god mode.
Player
Hide the interface
Removes the HUD for screenshots.
World
The Console and the Prefix Problem
Press Tab to open the command bar. On console it is reached through the pause menu instead, and the commands themselves are the same.
Then comes the part that causes most of the confusion. In single player you type the command on its own: GodMode, Fly, GiveItemNum. On a multiplayer server the same commands need the admincheat prefix in front of them, and before any of them work you have to authenticate by running enablecheats followed by the server’s admin password.
Guides publish these three forms interchangeably, which is why a command copied from one site fails on your setup. If a command does nothing on a server, the first thing to check is the prefix; the second is whether enablecheats has been run since you joined.
The cheat prefix used by this page works in both contexts on most builds, and is the safer default to copy.
GiveItemNum and Summon
GiveItemNum takes four arguments and every one of them matters. The first is the item number. The second is quantity. The third is quality, where higher numbers produce better stats on gear and the value is ignored on things like resources. The fourth is a true or false flag deciding whether you receive the blueprint or the finished item — and passing true when you wanted the item is the single most common mistake with this command.
Summon spawns a creature directly in front of you at a random level. Creature identifiers are blueprint names ending in _Character_BP_C, so a Rex is Rex_Character_BP_C. They are long, they are exact, and a typo produces nothing rather than an error.
Summon drops the creature more or less on top of you, and it arrives untamed and behaving normally for its species. Doing this indoors, or with something large, goes about as well as you would expect. ForceTame on a creature you are looking at tames it instantly, which is the usual follow-up.
DestroyWildDinos is worth knowing for a different reason: it wipes every untamed creature so the map repopulates from scratch. On a world that has filled up with low-level spawns it is the fastest reset available, and it leaves tamed creatures alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I open the admin console in ARK?
Press Tab during play on PC. On console it is opened through the pause menu. The commands themselves are the same either way.
When do I need the admincheat prefix?
On a multiplayer server. There you also have to run enablecheats followed by the admin password before any command works. In single player you need neither the prefix nor the password.
What are the arguments for GiveItemNum?
Item number, quantity, quality and a blueprint flag, in that order. The flag is true for a blueprint and false for the finished item — passing true by mistake is why people end up with a blueprint they did not want.
How do I spawn a creature in ARK?
Use Summon followed by the creature’s blueprint name, which ends in _Character_BP_C. A Rex is Summon Rex_Character_BP_C. The creature appears in front of you at a random level and is not tamed.
How do I tame a creature instantly?
Look at it and run ForceTame. DoTame is the alternative and tames it as though the taming bar had filled normally, which preserves the stat bonuses proper taming gives.
Why is my ARK command doing nothing?
Usually the prefix. A command copied from a single-player guide will not work on a server without admincheat in front of it and enablecheats run first. The other cause is a typo in a long blueprint name, which fails silently rather than reporting an error.
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