Valheim admin console commands: the vanilla reference

On a vanilla Valheim dedicated server, admin power is a short list typed into the in-game console: kick, ban, unban and banned to manage players, save to force a world save, and a handful of diagnostics anyone can run - ping, info, lodbias and help. The console opens with F5, but only after it has been enabled for your copy of the game, usually by adding -console to Valheim's launch options in Steam. Your ID has to be in the server's adminlist.txt for the admin commands to work. The cheat commands - devcommands, god, fly, spawn - are not part of this set and are refused on a vanilla dedicated server whoever types them.

This post is the reference for that vanilla set: how to get the console open, what each command does exactly, what it does not do, and the gaps you fill with other tools. Becoming admin in the first place is covered in Valheim adminlist, bannedlist and permittedlist; the cheat set and what it takes to enable it is in Valheim devcommands explained.

Opening the console#

The console is part of the game client, not the server. You type commands into your own game while connected, and the client sends the admin ones to the server, which checks your ID against adminlist.txt before acting.

Valheim ships with the console disabled. On Steam:

1. In your Steam library, right-click Valheim and open Properties.
2. Under General, find Launch Options.
3. Enter -console and close the window.
4. Start the game, join the server, and press F5.

-console

Recent versions of the game have also added a way to enable the console from the in-game settings. Menus move between patches, so if your version has such an option, it does the same job; if not, the launch option does. On the Microsoft Store and Game Pass edition on PC, adding launch arguments is awkward, and on Xbox there is no console at all. In practice a PC player on Steam does the admin work even on a mostly-Xbox crossplay group - Valheim crossplay and Xbox players covers the rest of that arrangement.

Pressing F5 again closes the console. The console keeps a short history; the up arrow recalls earlier commands, which saves retyping a long player ID.

Who can run what#

Commands fall into two groups, and confusing them is behind most "the command does not work" questions.

help prints the commands your build accepts. It is worth running once after each major patch: Iron Gate has added and renamed console commands over the game's life, and help is the authority for your version, not any list on the internet, including this one.

An admin command from someone not on the list is simply refused. Nothing is logged in a way the server owner will notice, so do not rely on failed attempts to spot someone poking at admin commands.

kick#

kick [name/ip/userID]

Disconnects a player immediately. They can reconnect at once if they have the password, so a kick is a warning or a way to clear a stuck player, not a punishment.

• By name. The character name as shown in game. Names with spaces are a problem for any console parser; if a name will not match, use the ID.
• By ID. The player's ID as the server records it - a SteamID64 on a Steam-only server, or the platform-prefixed form such as Steam_76561198012345678 on a crossplay server. Unambiguous, and the only safe option when two players have similar names.
• By IP. Works for players connected directly. On a crossplay server, traffic relayed through PlayFab does not carry a meaningful player IP, so use the ID.

A kick is also the standard fix for a player whose connection is dragging a whole area down. Valheim hands simulation of each zone to the first player in it, and a player on a bad link can make enemies rubber-band for everybody nearby. Kicking them passes ownership to someone else. Valheim server performance and lag explains the mechanism.

ban, unban and banned#

ban [name/ip/userID]unban [ip/userID]banned

ban kicks the player and records them in bannedlist.txt so the next connection is refused. Given a connected player's name, it records the player's ID, which is what you want - a ban by name alone would be worthless, since names are not unique and players can rename characters.

unban removes an entry. It takes an ID or IP, not a name: once someone is banned they are not connected, so there is no name for the server to look up. Run banned first to see the list and copy the exact entry.

banned prints the current ban list to your console. On a server with a long history this is the quickest way to check whether someone complaining that they cannot connect is banned rather than broken.

Things to know:

• IP bans are weak. Home addresses change, and a ban on a shared address can hit an innocent housemate. Ban by ID wherever you can.
• Bans are per server. There is no shared ban list across servers in vanilla. If you run more than one, copy bannedlist.txt between them.
• No reasons, no expiry. The game keeps no record of why or for how long. Keep notes yourself; handling cheaters and ban lists covers policy for communities that need more than a text file.

Editing bannedlist.txt directly does the same as the commands and works when no admin is online - useful from a hosted panel's file manager.

save#

save

Forces the server to write the world to disk now instead of waiting for the next -saveinterval. The world is held in memory between saves - thirty minutes apart by default - and anything not yet written is lost if the server is killed rather than stopped.

When to use it:

• Before anything risky. A boss attempt you might want to roll back to, a big terraforming session, letting a new player loose near the main base.
• Before stopping a server you do not trust to stop cleanly. A clean stop saves anyway, but if you are about to kill a hung process, a save first limits the damage.
• Before taking a backup. A backup copies the files on disk. If the last save was twenty-nine minutes ago, so is the backup.

Expect a short freeze on a large world while the save runs; everyone experiences it, not just you. The log records the save, which is a simple way to confirm the command was accepted. How saves, .old copies and backups fit together is covered in Valheim server backups and world corruption.

ping, info and lodbias#

These three do not change the world and do not need admin.

ping

ping

Measures the round trip from your client to the server and prints it. Useful as a quick check when someone reports lag: if their ping is fine and the area still stutters, look at zone ownership or the server rather than their connection. Compare it with the F2 overlay, which shows the same over time.

info

info

Prints information about your game and system: the game version, rendering details and similar. Its main use for an admin is confirming the exact version a player is running when they report "Incompatible version" or odd behaviour after a patch - have them run info and read out the version. Version drift between clients and server is covered in Valheim updates and version mismatch.

lodbias

lodbias [number]

Sets the level-of-detail bias: how far away the game keeps drawing objects at full detail. It accepts a value from 1 to 5; higher draws detail further away and costs frame rate. It affects only your own client - nothing about the server or anyone else changes - so it is a frame-rate tool for a player on a weak machine in a heavily built area, not an admin tool. If someone's game struggles around the main base, a lower lodbias is worth trying before blaming the server.

Chat commands#

Separate from the console, the chat box (opened with Enter) accepts a few commands that every player can use. /s shouts so everyone in range sees the message, /w whispers to people close by, and emotes such as /sit, /point and /wave play animations. None of them is an admin tool, and none reaches players beyond the game's chat range - there is no vanilla way to broadcast a message to the whole server from the console. For announcements, use whatever the group already reads, such as Discord; Discord bots for game server admin covers bridging the two.

What vanilla does not give you#

The short list above is the whole vanilla admin toolkit. Equally important is what is missing:

• No cheats. devcommands, god, ghost, fly, spawn, tod, killall and the rest are refused on a vanilla dedicated server, admin or not. The usual fix is the ServerDevcommands mod, which lets listed admins use them - see ServerDevcommands on a dedicated server.
• No server-side command line. The dedicated server process does not act on commands typed into its own console window or a panel's command line. Admin commands come from a connected client. Stopping the server cleanly is a process signal - the panel's Stop, or SIGINT - not a typed quit.
• No RCON. There is no remote console protocol in vanilla Valheim. Remote administration is the list files, the panel or SSH, and a client with the console open.
• No teleport, no kill, no inventory tools for admins. Moving a stuck player, removing an item or rolling back a griefed build means mods, or restoring a backup.
• No world modifier changes on the fly from the console, in most setups. Modifiers and presets are launch arguments; change them on the start line and restart. Valheim world modifiers and presets has the full set.

Global keys - the world flags that bosses set and that change raids and trader stock - are managed with setkey, removekey and listkeys, which belong to the cheat set and are covered in Valheim global keys and setkey.

Admin work on a hosted server#

On a hosted server the console split still applies: the panel console shows the server's log but does not accept Valheim admin commands, because the vanilla server does not read them. What the panel is useful for is everything around the in-game console. On RE:NODE you can read connection lines in the live console to copy a player's ID, edit adminlist.txt and bannedlist.txt in the file manager when no admin is in game, take a backup before the risky session you were about to save for, and use the Schedules tab to run a backup and a clean restart on a timer. Subusers can be given console or file access without billing, so a trusted friend can manage bans without your account.

A practical routine for a group server:

1. Two admins in adminlist.txt, both with -console set, so one is usually around.
2. A scheduled daily backup at an hour nobody plays.
3. save before boss fights and big builds, typed by whoever is admin and present.
4. Bans by ID, with a note kept outside the server of who and why.

FAQ#

Why does F5 do nothing in Valheim?

The console is disabled until you enable it. Add -console to Valheim's launch options in Steam, or use the in-game setting if your version has one, then restart the game and press F5 again.

Can I use admin commands from the server's own console?

Not on a vanilla server. The dedicated server does not act on typed commands; admin commands are sent from a connected client by a player in adminlist.txt. Mods can add server-side command handling.

Why does devcommands say it is not allowed on my server?

Because vanilla Valheim disables cheats on dedicated servers for everybody, admins included. Being admin unlocks kick, ban and save, not the cheat set. ServerDevcommands is the mod that changes this.

Does kick stop someone coming back?

No. A kicked player can reconnect at once if they have the password. Use ban to keep them out, and consider an allow list if the problem is strangers who found the password.

Does save interrupt the game for players?

On a big world there is a brief freeze while the world is written, and everyone feels it. On a small world it is barely noticeable. It is the same freeze the timed saves cause, just at a moment you choose.

How do I unban someone whose name I do not know?

Run banned to print the list, find the entry, and run unban with that ID. Or open bannedlist.txt and delete the line.