No Man's Sky: How to Use Portals & Get All 16 Glyphs

Part of the series:

• No Man's Sky Exploration & Endgame Guide (2026): The full hub — portals, freighters, reaching the galaxy center, and beyond.
• No Man's Sky Hyperdrive Upgrades & Warp Guide: Maximize your warp range before diving into the portal network.
• No Man's Sky Beginner's Guide (2026): New to the game? Start here first.

Quick Answer

• There are 16 glyphs in No Man's Sky; you need them to enter portal addresses.
• The fastest way to get all 16 glyphs is to follow the Artemis Path storyline: you earn one glyph per hyperdrive warp during the "16/16" mission phase.
• Alternatively, talk to Traveller NPCs at space stations, pay 100 Nanites to learn their grave's location, then interact with the grave.
• To find a portal, buy Alien Cartographic Data charts from a space station Cartographer, use them to locate a Monolith, then trade a faction item for the portal's coordinates.
• Charge the portal terminal with common resources spanning four element categories (Fuel, Catalyst, Earth, and Stellar), then enter a 12-glyph address to dial your destination.
• Portal travel is galaxy-specific: addresses from Euclid only work from Euclid portals.
• Build a Base Computer next to any portal you want to revisit; you can then teleport back to that base from any space station.

Overview

Portals are one of No Man's Sky's most powerful tools: giant stone rings scattered across planets that let you dial a 12-glyph address and teleport to any system in the galaxy, including coordinates shared by other players. They make the difference between spending hours warping toward a specific system and arriving in seconds.

The catch is that dialing an address requires you to have learned the corresponding glyphs first, and collecting all 16 takes a bit of work. Once you have them, though, the entire player-shared portal network opens up: exotic ship locations, S-class multi-tool systems, community farming hubs, and more become a paste-and-travel away.

For a glyph-by-glyph breakdown of what an address encodes, see the portal glyph reference.

Getting All 16 Glyphs

Method 1: The Artemis Path (Fastest)

The Artemis Path is No Man's Sky's main storyline, beginning automatically when you start a new save. If you follow the mission chain through to the "16/16" mission (part of the sequence: Awakenings → Alone Amidst The Stars → Ghosts in the Machine → A Leap in the Dark → The First Traveller → Patterns in Time → 16/16), you'll earn one glyph for every hyperdrive warp you make during that mission phase.

Make 16 warps and you'll have the complete set, no grave-hunting required. This is the recommended route for new players because it also teaches you core mechanics and rewards you with story context.

Tip: The 16/16 mission leads directly into The Purge, the final chapter of the Artemis story. If you want to collect all your glyphs before committing to the ending, complete all 16 warps in the 16/16 phase and then save your game. You can set the Artemis quest aside and continue exploring — the glyphs are permanently yours regardless of when or whether you finish the story. If you are weighing that decision, the Atlas Path, story, and endings guide explains what finishing The Purge actually does.

Method 2: Traveller Graves (Any Time)

If you'd rather collect glyphs organically without following the main quest:

1. Visit a space station and look for a Traveller NPC (they look distinct from Gek, Korvax, and Vy'keen).
2. Interact with the Traveller twice: first to open dialogue, then to ask "Where did you come from?"
3. Pay 100 Nanite Clusters and they'll mark a Traveller's Grave on a nearby planet.
4. Fly to the grave and interact with it to receive one glyph, a broken memory message, and occasionally a random technology blueprint.
5. Repeat with different Travellers across different systems until you have all 16.

This method is slower because Travellers are uncommon, you need Nanites each time, and you may see repeats. If you're already farming Nanites, for example by scanning fauna and flora with the Analysis Visor, the cost is manageable.

The 16 Glyphs at a Glance

Each glyph corresponds to a hexadecimal digit (0–F) used in portal addresses. The community has assigned visual nicknames to make addresses easier to communicate:

Finding a Portal

Once you have glyphs, you need an actual portal to use them. Portals are large stone structures on planetary surfaces. You won't randomly stumble onto one easily, so use these methods:

Method 1: Alien Cartographic Data Charts (Recommended)

1. Land at any space station and visit the Cartographer (the NPC with the map terminal, located near the teleporter).
2. Purchase several Alien Cartographic Data charts. Buy three to five since the results can vary.
3. Use a chart on a planet surface; it may direct you to a Monolith. If it points to alien ruins or a plaque instead, visit that location and try another chart.
4. At the Monolith, interact with it and answer the scenario correctly. If you fail, reload your quick-save and try again without searching for a new Monolith.
5. Once the Monolith is satisfied, interact with it a second time and trade a faction-specific item for portal coordinates:

• Gek system: Gek Relic
• Korvax system: Korvax Casing
• Vy'keen system: Vy'keen Dagger

1. The portal's location will be marked on your HUD.

Method 2: Exocraft Scanner

If you have an Exocraft set up at a base, equip it with the Radar upgrade and scan for Alien Structures. This can locate Monoliths directly without spending charts.

Method 3: Community Teleporters

On the Space Anomaly, browse the bases of other players in your instance. Search for bases with "Portal" in their name. Many players specifically build bases next to portals and share them. Teleport to one of those bases and walk to the nearby portal.

Charging and Using a Portal

When you reach a portal, approach the control terminal at its base. Before you can dial an address, you need to charge it. The terminal requires one resource from each of four element categories:

A practical travel stack to bring: Carbon, Sodium, Cobalt, and Copper. These cover all four categories with materials that are easy to gather on almost any planet. You don't need exotic materials. The cheapest option in each category works fine.

Once charged, the terminal gives you three options:

• Activate Portal: opens the 12-glyph address keypad
• Request this planet's address: shows your current location's portal address (useful for sharing)
• Leave

Select Activate Portal, enter a 12-glyph sequence, and step through.

Portal Addresses Explained

A portal address is a 12-glyph sequence that encodes a specific location. The first glyph identifies the planet index within the system, the next three glyphs encode the star system index within the region, and the remaining eight encode galactic X, Y, and Z coordinates.

Critical rule: Portal addresses are galaxy-specific. An address that works in Euclid (the starting galaxy) will not take you to the right place if entered from a portal in Hilbert Dimension or any other galaxy. Always confirm which galaxy an address is from before using it.

Where to Find Addresses

• Our portal glyph reference explains the address format and how to verify one someone shares with you. It deliberately does not publish an address list, because unverified addresses go stale and cost you a charge to find out.
• Any player can share their current planet's address by using the "Request this planet's address" option at any portal terminal. This is how nearly every published address originated: someone stood on the planet, read the glyphs off the terminal, and wrote them down.
• Before you punch in an address from anywhere, check three things: which galaxy it was recorded in, roughly when, and whether it names the platform. Addresses are stable across patches far more often than not, but a five-year-old address for a ship that a later update reseeded will send you to an empty landing pad.

Pro Tips for Portal Travel

Build a base at every portal you use. Drop a Base Computer within range of the portal and upload it. Going forward, you can teleport back to that base, and therefore that portal, from any space station teleporter in the galaxy, for free. This is the core of efficient base networking and teleportation.

You don't lose anything by going through. Portal travel is completely free once the terminal is charged, and you keep all your inventory. You can return home by warping to a space station and using its teleporter to jump back to any base you've previously visited.

You can use a portal you haven't personally charged. If another player has built a base nearby and the portal is already active, you can walk up and use it without charging it yourself.

Check your glyph count before entering a shared address. If you haven't learned all 16 glyphs yet, you won't be able to input glyphs you don't have. Make sure your collection is complete for full access.

Portal travel doesn't cross galaxies. If you've reached a secondary galaxy (see our guide to reaching the galaxy center), you'll need addresses specific to that galaxy. Euclid addresses won't work there.

FAQ

Do I need all 16 glyphs before I can use any portal?

No. You only need the glyphs that appear in the specific address you want to dial. If an address uses only the first eight glyphs, you can enter it as long as you've learned those eight. That said, having all 16 gives you access to every address the community shares, so it's worth completing the set early.

Can I bring friends through a portal with me?

Yes. If you're playing in multiplayer, other players in your session can step through the same portal to the same destination. You'll all arrive in the same system. This makes portals useful for joining friends at specific locations quickly.

What happens if I enter a wrong or random portal address?

Nothing bad. The portal simply transports you to whatever location that 12-glyph sequence maps to, which may be a barren planet or empty space above a system. You can use any nearby space station teleporter to return to your base network. There's no penalty for entering incorrect addresses.

Are portal addresses permanent? Will a location always be there?

The star system at a portal address is permanent. The universe layout doesn't change. However, things like crashed ships or specific NPC traders at a station may vary per instance or may have changed over game updates. Community databases do flag outdated entries when this happens.

Do I need to recharge a portal every time I use it?

Within a single game session, a charged portal stays charged and you can dial multiple addresses without re-charging. However, the charge does not persist across game sessions. When you return in a new session, you'll need to charge the terminal again before using it.

Can portals be used to travel between galaxies?

No. Portals only work within a single galaxy. To move between galaxies, you need to reach the galaxy center and pass through it, or use a black hole to jump closer and warp the rest of the way. See our guide to reaching the galaxy center for the full breakdown.

Key Takeaways

• Complete the Artemis Path's "16/16" mission (one glyph per hyperdrive warp) for the fastest route to a full glyph set, or hunt Traveller Graves for 100 Nanites each.
• Find portals via Alien Cartographic Data charts from Cartographers → Monolith interaction → faction item trade → portal marker.
• Charge the portal terminal with one resource from each of four categories: Fuel, Catalyst, Earth, and Stellar: Carbon, Sodium, Cobalt, and Copper cover all four cheaply.
• Enter any 12-glyph address from the community portal databases to reach player-shared locations instantly.
• Build a Base Computer next to every portal you use so you can teleport back to it for free from any space station.
• Portal addresses are galaxy-specific: always confirm you're using an address for your current galaxy.
• Portals don't replace your teleporter network. They complement it. Together, these two systems give you near-instant travel across the entire galaxy.