HOI4 has over 170 documented console commands, and the vast majority won't do anything for you unless you're debugging a mod. This isn't that full list — specialized wikis like hoi4cheats.com already cover that. What follows is only the commands a normal player actually ends up using: fixing a save that's gone sideways, testing a strategy without waiting hours, or clearing a one-off bug without restarting. One warning before anything else: opening the console and running any command disables Steam achievements for that save, and the console doesn't work at all in multiplayer.
How to Open the Console and What Arguments Are
The usual key is ` (the backtick/grave accent, normally under the ESC key) — if your keyboard doesn't have it or it doesn't respond, try Shift + 2, Shift + 3, or Alt + 2 + 1. Almost every command needs one or more arguments (the data you pass to the command): in tag GER, "GER" is the argument. Two kinds of argument come up constantly:
- Country tag — a unique 3-letter code per nation, always in English regardless of what language you're playing in (GER for Germany, SOV for the USSR, USA for the United States, ENG for the United Kingdom...). If you're unsure of a tag, turn on
tdebugand hover over the country on the map to reveal it. New countries formed during the game (say, after a civil war) get a generic tag — D01, D02, and so on — in the order they're created. - Equipment code — the internal name of a piece of equipment (e.g.
infantry_equipment_1), needed foradd_equipment. If you don't know it by heart, turn ontdebugand check the name directly in the production menu, or look it up in a list like hoi4cheats.com's.
Economy, Resources, and Experience
The group you'll reach for most just to test things without waiting: topping up the resources that govern almost every important decision in the game.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| pp [amount] | Adds political power. The single resource most worth inflating if you just want to test a law or minister without waiting weeks. |
| manpower [amount] | Adds available  manpower to recruit. |
| xp [amount] | Adds army, air, and naval experience all at once — more convenient than going one at a time. |
| cp [amount] | Adds  command power (capped at 100%). |
| st [amount] |  Stability (capped at 100%). A negative number reduces it. |
| ws [amount] |  War support (capped at 100%). Same as stability, accepts negatives too. |
| add_equipment [amount] [equipment] | Adds a set amount of a specific piece of equipment. You need to have researched it (or use research all) for it to show up in your inventory. |
| add_latest_equipment [amount] | Adds that amount of the most modern version of every piece of equipment you've already researched — the real shortcut if you don't want to type in a code for each item. |
| nuke [amount] | Adds  nuclear bombs to your stockpile, skipping the reactor entirely. |
Focuses, Decisions, and Research
The most dangerous group on this list in terms of game balance: most of these affect the AI too, not just you, so use them knowing what that implies.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| research_on_icon_click | Instantly researches whatever technology you click on — the best-known "cheat" of them all, and the most convenient way to test a tech tree without waiting. |
| research [slot id/'all'] | Instantly researches a specific technology slot, or all technology in the game if you use all. |
| focus.nochecks | Ignores the activation requirements of any focus in your tree. |
| focus.ignoreprerequisites | Lets you complete a focus without having completed the earlier focuses the tree normally requires. |
| focus.autocomplete | Completes an entire focus instantly. Careful: this also affects the AI, not just your game — only use it if you actually want to speed up the overall pace, not just your own. |
| decision.nochecks | Ignores the activation requirements of any decision — the equivalent of focus.nochecks for the Events and Decisions tab. |
| instantconstruction | Toggles whether all construction (factories, forts, anything) finishes instantly instead of queuing up. |
Diplomacy and Domestic Politics
For forcing diplomatic or political situations that would otherwise take entire playthroughs to arise on their own.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| tag [country tag] | Switches the country you're playing. tag GER puts you in charge of Germany, for example. |
| allowdiplo | Allows any diplomatic action (declaring war, for instance) without needing any justification first. |
| whitepeace [tag] [tag] | Forces instant white peace between two countries — everything reverts to how it was before that specific war. |
| annex [tag/'all'] | Annexes the specified country outright, or every country in the world if you use all. |
| civilwar [ideology] [tag] | Triggers a civil war in the specified country, with whichever ideology you choose: fascism, communism, democratic, or neutrality. |
| add_party_popularity [group] [amount] | Adds popularity to an ideology group in the country you're playing (f fascism, d democratic, c communism, n neutrality). |
| set_ruling_party [group] | Puts the specified ideology group in power immediately, no election or coup required. |
| add_autonomy [tag] [amount] | Raises or lowers a subject country's autonomy level — useful for simulating a puppet's progress without waiting it out. |
| yesman | Makes the AI automatically accept any diplomatic offer you send it. Handy for testing pacts or alliances without depending on actual opinion. |
War, Units, and the Map
This is where you need to be most careful: several of these commands require changing the game's launch options first before they'll work at all.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| winwars | Gives your country maximum war score in every war it's currently fighting — the fastest way to force a total victory. |
| teleport [province id] | Instantly teleports your selected units or ships to the specified province. |
| spawn [unit] [province id] [amount] | Spawns units directly on the map. You need to add -debug to your Steam launch options for this to work at all — otherwise the command does nothing. |
| deleteallunits [tag] | Instantly deletes the entire army and navy of the specified country. |
| allowtraits | Removes the restrictions on assigning traits to generals and admirals: you can hand them out freely without the usual experience requirements. |
| instant_prepare | Naval invasions skip their preparation time entirely. Also requires -debug in your launch options. |
| debug_nuking | Allows launching a nuclear strike on any province, ignoring the normal conditions (range, technology, etc). |
Debugging and Utilities
Not "cheats" in the sense of giving you an edge, but the foundation for using everything above correctly.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| tdebug | Toggles tooltip debug mode: hovering over the map now shows the real IDs for provinces, states, and country tags you need for every other command. |
| observe | Takes you off any country's control and puts the whole game on autopilot — useful for watching how the AI plays without your input. |
| event [event id] [tag] | Manually fires the specified event in the specified country. You need to know the event's ID beforehand. |
| help [command] | With no argument, prints the full list of available commands. With a command as an argument, prints help specific to that command. |
Common Mistakes
- Using
focus.autocompletethinking it only affects you — it also speeds up the AI's focuses, so it can throw off the balance of the rest of the game entirely. - Typing
spawnorinstant_prepareand assuming they're broken — without-debugin your Steam launch options, these specific commands do absolutely nothing, and there's no error message explaining why. - Being surprised your achievements are gone — it happens the moment you run your very first command, even something as harmless as
help, and there's no way to undo it within that save. - Trying to use the console in a multiplayer game — it's simply unavailable there, by design.