Enable Cheats on Your GMod Server

Garry's Mod keeps its cheat commands locked until the server allows them. The switch is a console variable called sv_cheats. You can flip it from the Console tab in a few seconds, or save it in server.cfg so it is on every time the server starts.

What sv_cheats does

The Garry's Mod wiki describes sv_cheats as "Allow cheats on server". It is one setting for the whole server, not a permission you give to a single player. Commands the game marks as cheats stay locked until it is on. Two examples from the wiki's console variable list:

• host_timescale is marked as a cheat. It will "Prescale the clock by this amount."
• setpos will "Move player to specified origin (must have sv_cheats)."

Garry's Mod also stops addon Lua from switching it on with RunConsoleCommand: the wiki lists sv_cheats among the commands blocked there, with the reason "Could allow cheats on server." An addon can't turn cheats on behind your back that way.

Turn cheats on for this session

1. Make sure the server is Running, then open the Console tab.
2. Click the Send a command box at the bottom of the console.
3. Type sv_cheats 1 with no slash in front, and press Enter or Send.

Cheat commands are now allowed on the server. To check the value, send sv_cheats on its own. To switch it off again, send sv_cheats 0.

A value set this way lasts until the server restarts. A restart drops what you sent, and only a line saved in server.cfg comes back.

Keep cheats on after a restart

1. Press Stop on the Console tab and wait for the server to go offline.
2. Open the File Manager and go to garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg. The file is created when the server is first installed.
3. Scroll to the bottom. A new file has a // Add custom lines under here line there. Add sv_cheats 1 underneath it.
4. Save the file, then press Start.

The server runs server.cfg each time it starts, so the setting is back after every restart. If you only want cheats for an evening, skip this section and use the Console route above. Then a restart puts the server back to normal by itself.

Server name, password and server.cfg shows the same file with a hostname and password example.

Use the cheat commands

Players type cheat commands in their own game console. The wiki says console commands "can be called from the console of the server or client". Open the in-game console in Garry's Mod covers opening it. Try setpos or host_timescale once sv_cheats is on to see the effect.

If cheat commands still do nothing

1. The server restarted. A value set in the Console is gone after a restart. Send sv_cheats 1 again or save it in server.cfg.
2. The line is in the wrong place. Keep sv_cheats 1 on its own line, with no // in front of it. Lines that start with // are comments, like the ones already in the file.
3. It is not a cheat command. Only commands the game marks as cheats need sv_cheats. Look a command up with help <command> in the console.

For everyday admin work such as kicking, banning and teleporting players, ULX is a better fit than cheats.

Checked against the Facepunch Garry's Mod wiki and our panel, October 2026.