How to Hide the HUD in CS2
Two commands, one important difference — and only one of them works in matchmaking
Open the console and type cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1. You keep your crosshair and the kill feed, everything else goes, and it works on official servers. For a completely bare screen use cl_drawhud 0 — but that one needs sv_cheats 1, so it is offline-only.
Almost every guide to this lists both commands as if they were interchangeable. They are not, and picking the wrong one is why people report that hiding the HUD "doesn't work" — they tried the cheat-protected command in a live match.
Which command to use
| Command | What stays on screen | Works in matchmaking? |
|---|---|---|
cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1 | Crosshair and kill feed | Yes |
cl_drawhud 0 | Nothing at all — no crosshair either | No — needs sv_cheats 1 |
For clips and screenshots, the first one is almost always what you actually want: a totally empty screen with no crosshair makes gameplay footage hard to follow, and the kill feed is usually the thing worth keeping.
Step by step
- Enable the console if you have not already: Settings → Game → Enable Developer Console → Yes. Full walkthrough in our open the console guide.
- Press
~to open it. - Type
cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1and press Enter. The HUD disappears immediately — health, armour, ammo, radar, timer and money all go, leaving the crosshair and kill feed. - To restore it, type
cl_draw_only_deathnotices 0.
If you want the completely bare version — for a cinematic shot or a wallpaper screenshot — you need a server where you control cheats (an offline match with bots, or your own practice server):
- Type
sv_cheats 1. - Type
cl_drawhud 0. Everything vanishes, crosshair included. cl_drawhud 1brings it back.
Our practice config generator will set up an offline server with cheats already enabled if you want somewhere to do this without fiddling.
Bind it to a key
Retyping a command every time you want a clean frame gets old fast, especially while reviewing a demo. Bind the toggle instead:
bind "h" "toggle cl_draw_only_deathnotices 0 1"
Now H flips the HUD off and on instantly. Swap h for any free key. If you want this to survive restarts, put the line in your autoexec — our autoexec generator builds one, and the bind generator handles more complex binds.
Recording demos with a clean screen
Hiding the HUD is usually one part of a wider setup. The pieces that pair with it:
- Watch from a demo, not live. You get free camera control and can re-record the same moment. See our demo and replay guide.
- Hide the crosshair too if the shot doesn't need it — set your crosshair size and thickness to 0 in the crosshair generator, which works without cheats.
- Drop the viewmodel for a first-person shot without the gun dominating the frame — see the FOV and viewmodel guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I hide the HUD in CS2?
- Open the console and type cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1. That strips the HUD down to your crosshair and the kill feed, and it works on official Valve servers. Set it back to 0 to restore the HUD.
- Does hiding the HUD need sv_cheats?
- It depends which command you use. cl_draw_only_deathnotices does not — it works in normal matchmaking. cl_drawhud 0, which removes absolutely everything including the crosshair, does require sv_cheats 1, so it only works offline or on a server where you can enable cheats.
- How do I get my HUD back?
- Set whichever command you used back to its default: cl_draw_only_deathnotices 0, or cl_drawhud 1. Both changes are instant.
- Can I hide the HUD but keep the kill feed?
- Yes — that is exactly what cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1 does. It is the standard setup for clip recording because the kill feed is usually the part you want to keep.
- Can I bind hiding the HUD to a key?
- Yes. bind "h" "toggle cl_draw_only_deathnotices 0 1" flips it on and off with the H key, which is far more practical than retyping the command mid-demo.
- Will hiding the HUD get me banned?
- No. Both are official Valve console commands, not third-party software. cl_drawhud is simply gated behind sv_cheats because seeing a completely clean screen would be an advantage in a live match.