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Watch trailer on Steam ↗DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine
The DFHack Team · Published by The DFHack Team · Official site ↗
Overwhelmingly Positive — 99% positive (1,152 reviews)
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
Extensions for Dwarf Fortress, including bugfixes, interface improvements, automation agents, design blueprints, modding building blocks, and other tools.
Free to PlayDJCTQ l
Free
RPG, Simulation, Strategy · 2023 · More free games
Dive into a richly modded Dwarf Fortress experience crafted by The DFHack Team, where bugfixes and new tools transform your simulation and strategy gameplay.
About this game
DFHack is an add-on for Dwarf Fortress (search for it here on Steam!) that enables mods and tools to significantly extend the game. The default DFHack distribution contains a wide variety of these tools, including bugfixes, interface improvements, automation agents, design blueprints, modding building blocks, and more. Third-party tools (e.g. mods downloaded from Dwarf Fortress Steam Workshop or the forums) can also seamlessly integrate with the DFHack framework and extend the game far beyond what can be done by just modding the raws.
DFHack’s mission is to provide tools and interfaces for players and modders to:
- expand the bounds of what is possible in Dwarf Fortress
- reduce the impact of game bugs
- give the player more agency and control over the game
- provide alternatives to toilsome or frustrating aspects of gameplay
- make the game more fun
Our online Quickstart Guide (see the "View the website" link in the sidebar) will help you get up to speed with how to use DFHack. It's also available in-game via the quickstart-guide command.
The best way to make feature requests or report problems is to open an Issue on our GitHub issue tracker (see the "Stats" link in the sidebar).
When reporting problems, links to your zipped, uploaded savegame and mods are immensely helpful, and issues with attached savegames and mods get fixed faster. We need a zip of your mods because we can't load your savegame without them.
DFHack installs itself directly into your Dwarf Fortress installation. It does this the first time you launch it, so you must launch DFHack once for this to happen. If you are on Linux, both games must also have the same "Compatibility" setting (e.g. "Steam Linux Runtime 1.0 (scout)") or this won't work.
It is not a problem if you already have DFHack manually installed and are switching to Steam. You can subscribe to the Steam version. Your saved DFHack configuration in the dfhack-config directory will be safe, and the DFHack launcher will detect and clean up your prior installation so it won't interfere.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
Minimum:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: XP SP3 or later
- Processor: Dual Core CPU - 2.4GHz+
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB of VRAM: Intel HD 3000 GPU / AMD HD 5450 / Nvidia 9400 GT
- Storage: 50 MB available space
Recommended
Recommended:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- Processor: Dual Core CPU - 4GHz+
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
Supported Languages
English
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
DFHack 53.16-r1.1
This is a hotfix release to fix a crash bug.Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!HighlightsHotfixThis hotfix release addresses a defect that can cause DF to crash after using tools, such as gui/quantum, that programmatically create stockpiles.AnnouncementsPSAsAs always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.Some DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools listed as "unavailable" in the docs do not compile yet and are not accessible at all, even when in dev mode.If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real option in Dwarf Fortress). You can enable the keyboard cursor by entering mining mode or selecting the dump/forbid tool and hitting Alt-K (the DFHack keybinding for toggle-kbd-cursor). We...Read full article on Community Announcements (rome of oxtrot)AnnouncementsOfficial
DFHack 53.16-r1
Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!HighlightsCompatibility with DF 53.16The main feature of this release is compatibility with Dwarf Fortress 53.16.Minor fixesThis release also includes a minor fix to the implementation one of DFHack's widgets.AnnouncementsPSAsAs always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.Some DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools listed as "unavailable" in the docs do not compile yet and are not accessible at all, even when in dev mode.If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real option in Dwarf Fortress). You can enable the keyboard cursor by entering mining mode or selecting the dump/forbid tool and hitting Alt-K (the DFHack keybinding for toggle-kbd-cursor)....Read full article on Community Announcements (rome of oxtrot)AnnouncementsOfficial
DFHack 53.15-r3
Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!HighlightsBug fixesA bug in buildingplan which made some controls invisible has been fixed.API changes and improvementsSome of our Lua and C++ APIs have been updated in this release; see the changelog for details. Notably, several MaterialInfo constants have been removed, which may impact third party plugins and scripts. Developers of third party plugins and scripts should be aware of these.AnnouncementsPSAsAs always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.Some DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools listed as "unavailable" in the docs do not compile yet and are not accessible at all, even when in dev mode.If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real...Read full article on Community Announcements (rome of oxtrot)AnnouncementsOfficial
DFHack 53.15-r2
Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!HighlightsBug fixesThis release is mostly a bug fix release. Many tools had small (or not so small) defects corrected with this release: autoclothing, autolabor, buildingplan, combine, getplants, rename, and stonesense. See changelog for full details.New features and improvementsbuildingplan also got a few small new added features that some players may enjoy. And the orders tool now includes a human-readable name with each exported order in its export file, which is a small feature that some players have requested.New API featuresScripters should be aware that we've added a getConfigPath method to locate the dfhack-config folder. This is in preparation for moving the dfhack-config folder out of Dwarf Fortress's installation folder, which will happen in an upcoming release. Maintainers of third party scripts should update their scripts now to use getConfigPath instead of hardcoding the dfhack-config pathname into their scripts to avoid misoperation in the future.There is also a new radio button widget that scripters may find useful.AnnouncementsPSAsAs always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.Some DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (thoug...Read full article on Community Announcements (rome of oxtrot)AnnouncementsOfficial
DFHack 53.15-r1
Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!HighlightsCompatibility with Dwarf Fortress 53.15The main feature of this release is compatibility with Dwarf Fortress 53.15.Fixes and improvementsSeveral tools have had minor fixes or improvements. See the changelog for details.AnnouncementsPSAsAs always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.Some DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools listed as "unavailable" in the docs do not compile yet and are not accessible at all, even when in dev mode.If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real option in Dwarf Fortress). You can enable the keyboard cursor by entering mining mode or selecting the dump/forbid tool and hitting Alt-K (the DFHack keybinding for...Read full article on Community Announcements (rome of oxtrot)
