Project Zomboid Admin Commands: Full List for Build 42 Servers

Where Project Zomboid server commands run

You have two normal places to run admin commands. In the dedicated server console, type the command name directly with no slash. In-game, open chat and add a leading slash, for example /players. If the account doesn’t have the access level a command needs, it won’t run. If you need to sort staff roles, closed-server accounts or passwords first, use our admin and whitelist guide.

The built-in help is worth using even when you know the command. /help lists commands, and /help command shows the expected arguments. The game is strict about syntax: player names with spaces should be wrapped in double quotes, item IDs are case-sensitive, and several toggle-style commands expect -true or -false rather than a plain word.

• Use double quotes around usernames or values that contain spaces: "John Smith".
• Keep item IDs exact: Base.Axe works; base.axe does not.
• Use the dash form for toggles on commands such as god mode, invisible, noclip and voiceban: -true or -false.
• Console and chat syntax are otherwise the same, apart from the slash.

players
/players
servermsg "Restart in 5 minutes"
/servermsg "Restart in 5 minutes"
additem "rj" Base.Axe 5
/additem "rj" Base.Axe 5
/help
/help additem

Every admin command

Type in the search box to filter all 59 commands by name or description. The Build 42 column flags commands that are work in progress, missing help text or spelled two ways.

Most commands are about the server itself or world events. Moderation and player access, the ones you’ll use weekly, are a smaller set.

The ten commands most server owners use

The full list is handy, but most routine admin work comes down to a short core set. These keep a live server running, keep players informed and fix access without a restart.

save and quit matter most. By default the map only saves when players leave an area, so killing the process instead of using quit can lose recent progress. Make save then quit your habit before every restart, update or file edit.

showoptions tells you what the running server is actually using, which settles it when a panel and the ini file seem to disagree. changeoption changes one option on the running server, written as changeoption OptionName "value". For the actual setting names and what they affect, see the servertest.ini settings reference.

reloadoptions is for edits you made to servertest.ini by hand. It covers server options, not SandboxVars: sandbox changes still need a restart. Run showoptions afterwards to see the new values.

Moderation commands: when to kick, ban, banid, banip or voiceban

Good moderation is a ladder, not a single hammer. For minor trouble, start with a warning through servermsg. Move to kickuser when you need to stop the problem now without a permanent ban.

• kickuser: best for cooling off, mic spam, accidental rule breaks or getting someone back to the menu to fix a mod mismatch.
• banuser: best when the account itself should not return. Add -ip if the behaviour is deliberate and immediate re-entry is likely.
• banid: best for persistent abuse tied to a Steam account. It is usually cleaner than an IP ban because dynamic IP addresses change and shared networks can catch innocent people.
• banip: reserve this for obvious evasion or throwaway accounts on the same connection. The trade-off is collateral damage on shared households, campuses or cafés.
• voiceban: use when the text and gameplay behaviour are fine but proximity voice is the issue. It is far less disruptive than a full ban.

Always add -r "reason" where the command supports it. Other staff can see why later, and the player knows it wasn’t a glitch.

Run 42.21 or later if you rely on SteamID bans: it fixed a Steam authentication bypass that affected them. Against a player who keeps making new accounts, banid is then the first tool to reach for.

World and event commands: useful, but not free

Event commands are where admin fun meets server load. chopper, gunshot and alarm make noise that pulls zombies towards players, and createhorde adds them directly: createhorde 150 "rj" puts 150 zombies around that player. Leave out the name and the horde spawns around you, but from the server console a name is required.

• createhorde is the one to be careful with. Every extra zombie is one more for the server to move and send to nearby players, so a big horde on a busy server is a quick way to cause rubber-banding.
• chopper, gunshot and alarm cost little themselves. The load comes from the zombies they draw in. alarm only works while you stand inside a room.
• startrain, startstorm, stoprain and stopweather change the weather. Rain takes an intensity from 1 to 100; a storm takes a duration in in-game hours.

If players start reporting rubber-banding or late hits right after an event, make the next horde smaller and avoid running events while players are spread across several towns, when the server is already busy with several loaded areas. The Project Zomboid server lag guide covers the rest.

Before any world-changing command on a live save, take a backup. The backup and restore guide covers how.

Item, XP and vehicle commands for fixing player problems after bugs

The cleanest use of admin powers is putting things right after a clear server-side problem: a crash that rolled back progress, a mod conflict that deleted an item or a vehicle that vanished. The core repair set is additem, removeitem, addxp and addvehicle.

• additem "username" Base.Axe 5 replaces missing inventory. If you omit the username, the item goes to the admin running the command.
• addxp "playername" Woodwork=2 gives XP in one skill, written as Skill=amount.
• addvehicle "Base.VanAmbulance" "rj" spawns a vehicle next to a player; use x,y,z instead of a name to place it at coordinates.
• removeitem Base.Axe 5 is mainly for cleaning up mistaken compensation, and it removes items from yourself rather than directly from another player.

The real risk is fairness. Generous top-ups without a record turn admin repair into a shortcut. Replace what was clearly lost, no more, and note it where the rest of your staff can see.

If the underlying problem is a damaged world area rather than a missing object, commands are the wrong tool. In that case, use a proper area reset or wipe process instead of trying to patch symptoms one crate or one car at a time; the safe approach is laid out in the map reset and wipe guide.

Build 42 notes that matter to admins

Build 42 is stable, but the command list still has a few rough edges worth knowing.

• addsteamid and removesteamid matter on Open=false servers since 42.13.2. Creating the account with adduser is not enough on its own; the player’s SteamID must also be allowed.
• godmod and godmode both work, and so do godmodplayer and godmodeplayer, thanks to a spelling slip in the game.
• worldgen, list, remove, addtosafehouse and kickfromsafehouse are marked work in progress.
• createhorde2 and removezombies exist, but have no help text yet, so /help won’t explain them.
• checkModsNeedUpdate writes its answer to the log rather than giving a friendly chat response, so check server-console.txt after you run it.

If a help entry looks half-finished, keep that command out of live sessions until a later build finishes it.

Running commands remotely with RCON

If you cannot stay logged into the game client or have staff who need remote console access, use RCON. Project Zomboid exposes RCON on TCP 27015 by default, controlled by RCONPort and RCONPassword. It works like the server console: commands go in without a leading slash.

The security rule is straightforward. If you use RCON, set a strong RCONPassword. If you don’t use RCON, leave the password empty.

The upside is convenience: remote saves, restarts, announcements and moderation without joining the world. The catch is that whoever has the RCON password can stop the server, change settings and ban players, so treat it with more care than a player password. Try a harmless command such as players first.

When a command does not work: symptom, likely cause, first fix

Most command failures come down to syntax, access level or persistence. Start with these checks before touching anything else.

If the failure is account related on a closed server, remember the Build 42 extra step: on Open=false you need both the account and the SteamID. If the failure is mod related, check the server log before blaming the command itself; a broken mod can stop the expected result even when the command syntax is fine.

When commands stop being the answer

Commands solve admin jobs. They don’t fix a server that is short of power. If you find yourself shrinking every horde, warning players before every save and handing out compensation after laggy rollbacks, the problem is settings or headroom, not syntax. Start with the lag guide and the RAM guide; for Build 42 we recommend 8 GB as the floor, with more as players and mods grow.

Project Zomboid server FAQ

How do I use admin commands in Project Zomboid?

Run them either in the dedicated server console with no slash, or in in-game chat with a leading slash. In chat, the account must have the right access level first, and the quickest syntax check is /help or /help command.

Do commands work from the server console?

Yes. The server console accepts the same command names and arguments, but without the leading slash used in chat. Console access is useful for saves, restarts, announcements and account work even when no admin is logged into the world.

How do I give items to a player?

Use /additem "username" Module.Item count, for example /additem "rj" Base.Axe 5. The item ID is case-sensitive, so incorrect capitalisation is one of the most common reasons it appears to fail.

How do I teleport to a player or coordinates?

Use /teleport "playername" to go to a player, /teleport "player1" "player2" to move one player to another, or /teleportto x,y,z for exact coordinates. If the screen goes black briefly after teleporting, wait for the destination area to load before assuming the command failed.

Why does a command say I don’t have permission?

The usual reasons are that the account is missing admin access, you are logged in on a different account, or the command was entered in chat without the slash. On closed Build 42 servers, a player who can’t join at all usually needs their SteamID added.

More Project Zomboid server guides

The rest of our Project Zomboid server guides, plus the host comparison.