Population — "pops" — drives almost everything in Stellaris: jobs, research, production and growth all scale with how many pops you have. Two commands let you boost a planet's population on demand: grow_pops for a quick top-up, and add_pops for adding a specific species. First, open the command console (~).
grow_pops — add pops to the selected planet
Select a planet, then run grow_pops [amount]. To add 10 pops to that planet:
See the grow_pops command page for details.
add_pops — add a specific species
add_pops spawns pops of a species you choose by ID, using add_pops [species id] [amount]. To add 100 pops of the species with ID 3:
Run it with no arguments to print a list of every species ID first:
Full reference on the add_pops command page.
Finding species IDs
Besides running add_pops alone, you can turn on debugtooltip and hover a species to read its ID — see how to find IDs.
Tips
grow_popsacts on the selected planet, so click the planet before running it.- Adding pops past a planet's housing creates an overcrowding penalty — build housing (or use instant build) to keep them happy.
- Cheats disable achievements for the session and don't work in Ironman.
Frequently asked questions
How do you add population to a planet in Stellaris?
Select the planet and run grow_pops followed by an amount, e.g. grow_pops 10, to add that many growing pops to it.
What's the difference between grow_pops and add_pops?
grow_pops adds pops to the selected planet. add_pops spawns pops of a specific species by ID — add_pops 3 100 adds 100 pops of the species with ID 3.
How do I find a species ID for add_pops?
Run add_pops on its own to print every species ID, or turn on debugtooltip and hover a species in the species menu.