Codes are simple until you find that yours is for a different platform or a different patch.
Short answer
Use the codes built into the game, in single-player only, after making a separate save.
Anything requiring an external program is a different category with different risks attached. Console entry uses button sequences with tight timing, and mistiming reads as a broken code. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.
Console commands versus codes
Single-player cheats are a supported feature; the same behaviour online is a ban. Enabling cheats disables achievements in most games, and the warning is easy to miss. If this seems to describe a different version, it probably does, and that is the thing to check first. Controller-entered codes need rhythm rather than speed.
Codes typically do not persist through a reload, which surprises people who use them for convenience. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. Anything that requires downloading a program is not a cheat code.
What you give up
Achievement locking is usually per-save rather than per-account, but not always. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Some effects cannot be undone within a save, and the game does not always warn you first.
- Confirm whether achievements get disabled first.
- Enter controller codes with rhythm rather than speed.
- Region and platform change more than people expect, so confirm both.
- Enter codes exactly, including spacing.
- Never enter anything into an online mode.
- Treat any number without a date attached as approximate.
Before you enable anything
Codes are usually case-insensitive but rarely space-insensitive. The useful part of any answer is the part that tells you what to do differently. Case and spacing matter more than the lists suggest. A code that worked on an older patch may have been removed rather than changed.
Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. Glitches get patched and codes tend not to, which makes codes the more durable option. Anything that alters save state can corrupt it, which is why a separate save is worth the ten seconds.
Codes that no longer work
If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. If a site asks you to sign in to receive a code, it is not a code. Console commands and cheat codes are different systems with different consequences.
None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of. Codes entered correctly and rejected usually mean the wrong platform variant. A code that softlocks a mission is a known risk in more than one of these games.
What gets you banned
A specific answer beats a comprehensive one when you are in the middle of something. A cheat menu built into the game cannot get you banned, whatever the forum says. Some effects stack in ways the developers did not intend and the game does not handle gracefully.
Where people go wrong
- Confusing a server-side outage with something broken locally.
- Giving up after one attempt that failed for an unrelated reason.
- Changing five things at once and then not knowing which one helped.
Genshin FAQ
Do I need any mods or third-party tools for this?
No. Everything described here works with the base game on any supported platform.
Why do other guides describe this differently?
Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.
Does this differ by region?
Occasionally. Where it does, it is usually storefront or server behaviour rather than the game itself.
Is this specific to one platform?
The reasoning is not. Anything that genuinely differs by platform is called out where it comes up.
Come back to the caveats list if it does not work first time — the answer is almost always in there.