roblox-tooling

Roblox tooling

Pick a sync model

Need	Use
Edit scripts in an external editor / git for code only; keep Studio as source of truth; Team Create	Studio Script Sync (built in: right-click a folder → Sync to…)
Whole project as files, file system is the source of truth, CI builds, packages	Rojo (rojo serve + Studio plugin)

Script Sync syncs only Script/LocalScript/ModuleScript/Folder (≤ 10,000 scripts per synced root, ≤ 128 roots); don't sync scripts that carry attributes/tags (they're not written to disk). Pair either with the Luau Language Server VS Code extension + its Luau Language Server Companion Studio plugin (sends the DataModel tree so requires and instance paths type-check).

Rokit: pinned toolchain

# rokit.toml (commit it; run `rokit install`)
[tools]
rojo = "rojo-rbx/rojo@7.7.0"
wally = "UpliftGames/wally@0.3.2"
lune = "lune-org/lune@0.10.5"
stylua = "JohnnyMorganz/StyLua@2.5.2"
selene = "Kampfkarren/selene@0.31.0"
luau-lsp = "JohnnyMorganz/luau-lsp@1.70.1"
darklua = "seaofvoices/darklua@0.19.0"

Install Rokit: curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rojo-rbx/rokit/main/scripts/install.sh | bash (Windows: install.ps1). Add tools with rokit add owner/repo. Versions above are current as of September 2026; bump deliberately. (Aftman and Foreman are older equivalents.)

Rojo project

{
  "name": "my-game",
  "tree": {
    "$className": "DataModel",
    "ReplicatedStorage": {
      "Shared": { "$path": "src/shared" },
      "Packages": { "$path": "Packages" }
    },
    "ServerScriptService": {
      "Server": { "$path": "src/server" },
      "ServerPackages": { "$path": "ServerPackages" }
    },
    "StarterPlayer": {
      "StarterPlayerScripts": {
        "Client": { "$path": "src/client" }
      }
    },
    "Workspace": {
      "$properties": { "StreamingEnabled": true }
    }
  }
}

File mapping: Foo.luau → ModuleScript, Foo.server.luau → Script, Foo.client.luau → LocalScript, folder with init.luau/init.server.luau/init.client.luau → that script with children, *.meta.json → properties/attributes, *.model.json/.rbxm/.rbxmx → instances, *.json/*.toml/*.txt → ModuleScript returning data / StringValue. Commands: rojo serve, rojo build -o game.rbxl, rojo sourcemap default.project.json -o sourcemap.json (for luau-lsp), rojo upload / Open Cloud for publishing. Keep maps/art in Studio (or .rbxm files) and code in Rojo — partially managed trees are fine.

Packages

• Wally (wally.toml, wally install → Packages/, ServerPackages/ for realm = "server"):

  [dependencies]
  React = "jsdotlua/react@17.2.1"
  ReactRoblox = "jsdotlua/react-roblox@17.2.1"
  [server-dependencies]
  ProfileStore = "lm-loleris/profilestore@1.0.3"
  

  Wally thunks lose types: run wally-package-types --sourcemap sourcemap.json Packages/ after install. Check each package's page on wally.run for its exact name/version.
• pesde (pesde.toml): newer manager for Roblox/Lune/Luau that can also depend on Wally packages.
• Commit wally.lock/pesde.lock; don't commit Packages/.

Code quality

• luau-lsp (editor + CLI) — type checking against Roblox definitions. CLI: luau-lsp analyze --definitions=@roblox=globalTypes.d.luau --sourcemap=sourcemap.json --base-luaurc=.luaurc src/ (definitions: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JohnnyMorganz/luau-lsp/main/scripts/globalTypes.d.luau). Enable the new solver in the editor (luau-lsp.fflags.enableNewSolver) to match Studio.
• StyLua — formatter. stylua.toml: indent_type = "Tabs", column_width = 120. stylua --check src.
• selene — linter. selene.toml: std = "roblox" (generate/refresh with selene generate-roblox-std).
• darklua — code transforms (e.g. convert string requires, bundle) for publishing pipelines.
• .luaurc — per-directory type-check mode and require aliases:

  { "languageMode": "strict", "aliases": { "Shared": "src/shared", "Packages": "Packages" } }
  

  Roblox resolves string requires relative to the DataModel (./, ../, @self, @game); custom .luaurc aliases need tooling (luau-lsp/darklua) that understands your mapping.

Lune

Standalone Luau runtime for scripts outside Roblox: build steps, place file manipulation (@lune/roblox reads/writes .rbxl/.rbxm), asset pipelines, running pure-Luau unit tests, calling Open Cloud with @lune/net. lune run scripts/build.

roblox-ts

If the repo has tsconfig.json, package.json with roblox-ts and @rbxts/types, write TypeScript: npx rbxtsc -w compiles src/*.ts to out/*.luau, and Rojo syncs out/. Use @rbxts/services, @rbxts/* packages from npm. Don't hand-edit generated Luau.

Git and CI

.gitignore: *.rbxl.lock, *.rbxlx.lock, Packages/, ServerPackages/, sourcemap.json, build outputs. A ready-to-use GitHub Actions workflow (install tools, format check, lint, type-check, build, publish via Open Cloud): references/ci-workflow.md.

Related skills

roblox-testing (running tests in CI), roblox-open-cloud (publishing, Luau execution), roblox-studio-mcp (driving Studio from an agent), roblox-luau.