Codes are simple until you find that yours is for a different platform or a different patch.
Short answer
They work on the platform they were written for and nowhere else. Check that first when one is rejected.
Codes entered correctly and rejected usually mean the wrong platform variant. Console commands and cheat codes are different systems with different consequences. The useful part of any answer is the part that tells you what to do differently.
Before you enable anything
Anything requiring an external program is a different category with different risks attached. Some effects cannot be undone within a save, and the game does not always warn you first. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Controller-entered codes need rhythm rather than speed.
Enabling cheats disables achievements in most games, and the warning is easy to miss. Where the game contradicts its own documentation, the game wins. Glitches get patched and codes tend not to, which makes codes the more durable option.
What gets you banned
Some effects stack in ways the developers did not intend and the game does not handle gracefully. Plenty of advice online is correct for a situation nobody bothered to specify. Single-player cheats are a supported feature; the same behaviour online is a ban.
- Never use any of this in an online mode.
- Check the code is for your exact platform.
- Prefer the in-game option over an external tool when both exist.
- Re-enter the same code to toggle an effect off.
- Enter controller codes with rhythm rather than speed.
- Confirm your platform matches the one being described.
When a code will not take
A cheat menu built into the game cannot get you banned, whatever the forum says. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. A code that worked on an older patch may have been removed rather than changed. Codes are usually case-insensitive but rarely space-insensitive.
The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Anything that alters save state can corrupt it, which is why a separate save is worth the ten seconds. Codes typically do not persist through a reload, which surprises people who use them for convenience.
What you give up
If this seems to describe a different version, it probably does, and that is the thing to check first. Achievement locking is usually per-save rather than per-account, but not always. Case and spacing matter more than the lists suggest.
The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. A code that softlocks a mission is a known risk in more than one of these games. Anything that requires downloading a program is not a cheat code.
How to enter them
If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. If a site asks you to sign in to receive a code, it is not a code. Console entry uses button sequences with tight timing, and mistiming reads as a broken code.
Where people go wrong
- Deciding a step is redundant before finding out what it prevents.
- Assuming an option exists here because it exists in a similar game.
- Taking the highest number in a comparison without checking what it was measured on.
- Reading a summary of the patch notes instead of the patch notes.
Minecraft FAQ
Is there a faster way to do this?
Usually, and it usually trades reliability for speed. Which one you want depends on whether you plan to repeat it.
Do I need anything else set up first?
No. Where a step assumes something, it says so at that point rather than up front.
What if none of this works for me?
Then something in your setup differs from the assumption — version, region or platform. Check those three before anything else.
Why does the community disagree about this?
Because most disagreements are two people describing different versions, platforms or skill levels without saying which.
Come back to the caveats list if it does not work first time — the answer is almost always in there.