Are there any Steam genius’ around?
My 10yr old is a PC gamer and now they want access to the Console Tab in Steam, but I can’t see how to allow access without fully disabling parental controls.My main concern with steam is not allowing access to the chat system or to full adult content. But I can’t see how to allow access to the console without disabling everything.
My child likes to mod/code games, so I’m guessing this is a part of that?
What is the Steam Console?
The console in Steam (often accessed via steam://open/console) is a hidden debugging and command interface. It’s typically used for advanced commands like downloading or verifying game files, launching betas, or testing game builds. It’s not normally part of Steam’s regular parental controls because it’s a developer or advanced user feature.
Access & Parental Controls
Here’s the catch: Steam’s Family View (parental controls) is an “all or nothing” style lock. If Family View is enabled and you want your child to access the console, you’ll need to unlock Family View temporarily (or permanently) — because it locks the console too.
Unfortunately, Steam doesn’t have a way to individually allow console access without unlocking everything else. So yes, the only way is to disable Family View (by entering your PIN) whenever your child wants to use the console, then re-enable it afterwards if you still want restrictions on content and chat.
Why would a child want to access the console?
- Modding games: Sometimes the console is used to trigger downloads or updates for mods or to troubleshoot issues.
- Debugging: For more technical kids, the console can show log outputs that help with coding experiments.
Safe approach
If your child is interested in modding or coding games, here’s a suggestion:
✅ Temporarily disable Family View when you’re around and can supervise.
✅ Let them use the console to experiment.
✅ When they’re done, re-enable Family View to keep them protected.
Steam unfortunately doesn’t let you be granular with console access (unlike, say, Discord’s more detailed parental controls), so this is the only workaround right now.
If you want more detailed modding/coding tools, you could also look at safe, separate platforms like:
- Unity or Unreal Engine for game coding (child-friendly tutorials exist!)
- Roblox Studio for coding within Roblox
- Minecraft modding tools (safe, isolated environment)