Luau mods

Luau support is in progress. Today a Luau mod hears events, works with players, chat, timers, inventories and its settings, and talks to other mods. It cannot set game rules yet, such as rates or limits. A Rust mod can.

A Luau mod is a data pack with scripts: a folder in mods/ with a pack.toml, a main.luau, and any other .luau files it loads, up to four folders deep. The loader runs it as it runs any pack: it is in the mod list and the lock, counts in the join check with the hash of every script, has its log logs/enshwick/mods/<id>.log, and is turned off alone when it goes wrong. It may hold data files too, such as items.toml.

mods/
  you.greeter/
    pack.toml
    main.luau
    lib/
      greet.luau
    types/
      enshwick.d.luau

Scripts are Luau, Roblox’s typed dialect of Lua 5.1. Each mod runs in a sandbox of its own and reaches the game only through the global enshwick.

Start a Luau mod

1. Run cargo enshwick new --luau you.greeter. It makes the folder with pack.toml, a main.luau that greets each player who joins, a README, and types/enshwick.d.luau, the API’s definitions for the editor. --side sets where it runs, the server when left out. With --game <game folder> it also writes types/game.d.luau, the game’s own types, such as the fields enshwick.on_game_type hands a handler.

2. Open the folder in an editor with the luau-lsp extension. The folder’s .vscode/settings.json points it at the definitions, so every call and event shows its types and documentation.

3. Check the types without the game:

   luau-lsp analyze --definitions:@enshwick=types/enshwick.d.luau main.luau

   With the game’s types, add --definitions:@game=types/game.d.luau.

4. Copy the folder into the game’s mods/ folder as mods/you.greeter/.

The repository’s examples/you.welcome is a Luau mod to start from. cargo enshwick luau --out types/enshwick.d.luau writes the definitions again for the loader the tool was built with, after an update, and cargo enshwick types --from <game folder> --luau types/game.d.luau the game’s types after a game update.

What a script reaches

--!strict
enshwick.on("PlayerJoined", function(player)
    enshwick.world.broadcast(`entity {player.entity} joined`)
end)

enshwick.scheduler.every(60, function()
    enshwick.log.info(`{#enshwick.world.players()} players online`)
    return true
end)

Name	What
enshwick.on(event, handler)	calls handler on each loader event or typed game event, with its data as a table; only at the top level of main.luau
enshwick.on_game_type(type, fields, handler)	a game event by its reflected type, with the fields named
enshwick.extend(point, handler)	a link into another mod’s extension point
enshwick.on_mod_event(event, handler), enshwick.define_event(event)	mod events, heard and sent
enshwick.caller(call)	a function that runs another mod’s call; unstable
enshwick.log	info, warn and error write a line to the mod’s log; print writes as info
enshwick.world	the connected players, chat, notices and positions of the world; unstable
enshwick.inventory	slots and counts of inventories, and items given, taken and moved, on the server
enshwick.settings()	the mod’s settings in force, as a table
enshwick.scheduler	next_tick, after and every run a function on the game thread; an every task stops when it returns false
require("./name")	another script of the same folder, as Luau resolves it

The rows marked unstable may change in any release, as the Rust parts behind them do (Stability); a script uses them with no switch.

Names are the Rust API’s: enshwick.world.notify_all is World::notify_all, and the event PlayerJoined is events::PlayerJoined. The definitions file lists every call with its documentation. Values take these Luau types:

Rust	Luau
numbers up to 32 bits, f32, f64, entity ids	number
u64, such as an account key	string of its decimal digits
&str, String, a GUID	string
a position, [f64; 3]	vector
Option<T>	T?
Vec<T>	{T}
a struct	a table with its fields
an enum such as Notice	the variant’s name, "OnScreen"
Duration	seconds

The Luau API is not a second copy: it is read from descriptions kept beside the Rust items in enshwick::script. #[derive(Script)] describes a type, #[script(<part>)] the methods of an impl block a script may call, and the event tables describe each event, so a new event or a newly marked method reaches Luau and the definitions with no other change.

A call that fails raises a Luau error with the call’s name and the reason, such as enshwick.world.broadcast: text: expected a string, got a number. pcall catches it.

Inventories

enshwick.inventory reads and changes inventories on the server, as Inventories does in Rust. slots and count read at once; give, take, destroy_slot, move_slot and move_all run in the game’s next inventory step and hand the outcome to a function:

local GIFT = 3073 -- an item id from the game's data

enshwick.on("PlayerJoined", function(player)
    local held = enshwick.inventory.count(player.entity, GIFT)
    enshwick.inventory.give(player.entity, GIFT, 10, function(outcome)
        if outcome.done ~= "Committed" then
            enshwick.log.warn(`no gift for {player.entity}: {outcome.done}`)
        end
    end)
    enshwick.log.info(`{player.entity} held {held} before the gift`)
end)

outcome.done is Committed, RolledBack, Unavailable, TimedOut or Refused, and each entry of outcome.ops has the operation’s error by name and the count it fell short by. A slot is a string key, as slots returns it in at.

Game events

enshwick.on takes the name of a typed game event as well, such as HitEvent or EntityDiedEvent. The handler gets the event’s fields as game_events::HitEvent has them, a mask as the list of its bit names, a game value as its name. A value the API does not name arrives as Other(<number>), a name of ours with the game’s number in it:

enshwick.on("HitEvent", function(hit)
    if hit.health_change < 0 and hit.root_source_id then
        enshwick.log.info(`{hit.root_source_id} hit {hit.target_id}`)
    end
end)

Any other game event is read by its reflected type and the fields the script names, each with how to read it: u8, i8, u16, i16, u32, i32, u64, i64, f32, f64, bool or entity, the 64-bit ones as strings. enshwick.game_event_types() lists every type of the running build with its size. A field the type lacks on this build leaves the mod off at start, with the reason in the log.

enshwick.on_game_type("keen::ecs::EntityDiedEvent", { deadEntityId = "entity" }, function(event)
    enshwick.log.info(`entity {event.deadEntityId} died`)
end)

Game events run on the server’s game thread before the step’s systems, as for a Rust mod; on a client, only while it hosts a game.

Extending another mod

A Luau mod links into another mod’s extension point as a Rust mod does. cargo enshwick point <owner>:<point> --from <owner's DLL> --luau --out points/<point>.luau writes the point’s module: the types it reaches, its named values, and each field’s place with the layout hash the owner’s build wrote. The loader links only when every hash matches the owner’s, the input the module reads is no larger than the owner’s and the answer has the owner’s size. A script changes an answer only of a number, boolean, GUID or id type (Entity, ItemId, RecipeId, KnowledgeId, SkillNode, PlayerKey, BuffTypeId, NpcId), whose hash the runtime checks against the type the module names; on another answer type it may observe the point. The handler gets the input and the answer so far, and returns a new answer, nil to keep it, or enshwick.refuse on a refusable point:

local price = require("./points/price")

enshwick.extend(price, function(input: price.Price, answer: number)
    if input.deal == price.Deal.SELL then
        return answer * 2
    end
    return nil
end)

The handler runs on the thread that asks the point, under the same budget as an event handler. An error or an answer of the wrong type turns the mod off, and the answer stays as it was. An owner version with another layout leaves the link idle, with the reason in the log, until the module is written again.

Mod events

A Luau mod hears another mod’s events and sends its own. cargo enshwick event <owner>:<event> --from <owner's DLL> --out events/<event>.luau writes the description of an event the owner lists in its manifest!(events: [..]). A description may also be written by hand: each field with a name and how it reads, u8 to i64, f32, f64, bool, guid, or an id: entity, item_id, recipe_id, knowledge_id, skill_node, player_key, buff_type_id or npc_id, laid out and hashed as Rust lays out a #[repr(C)] struct of those fields:

local greeted = enshwick.define_event({ name = "you.greeter:greeted", fields = {
    { name = "player", read = "entity" },
    { name = "times", read = "u16" },
} })

enshwick.on_mod_event(require("./events/sold"), function(sold)
    greeted.send({ player = sold.character, times = 1 })
end)

The loader matches a subscription by its layout hashes, as for a Rust mod, and leaves it idle, with the reason in the log, when the defining mod’s event differs or is smaller. An event a script defines has primitive fields only. define_event raises an error for a new event, or for changed fields, after the start: either takes the next start. A send before main.luau has finished reaches no one.

Calling another mod

Unstable: needs the unstable feature and may change in any release (Stability).

A Luau mod calls another mod’s call through the module this command writes:

cargo enshwick call <server>:<call> --from <server DLL> --luau --out calls/<call>.luau

enshwick.caller at the top level of main.luau returns the function that runs it once the start is over:

local price_of = enshwick.caller(require("./calls/price_of"))

enshwick.on("WorldSaved", function()
    local coins, why = price_of({ item = 7, count = 1 })
    if coins then
        enshwick.log.info(`item 7 sells for {coins}`)
    else
        enshwick.log.warn(`no price: {why}`)
    end
end)

The function answers nil and why not: unmatched when no running mod serves the call as described or the start is not over, off when the server or its handler is, and failed when its handler failed. A call asked for after the start raises an error, and so does a reload that describes an asked call differently: either change takes the next start.

The input’s fields are numbers, booleans, entities and GUIDs. The runtime works out each field’s layout hash from its name, type and offset and refuses a module whose hashes do not match, so a module edited by hand no longer reaches the server. A call whose input holds a value type or an enum is for Rust mods only: cargo enshwick call --luau refuses it, since a script could forge such a field’s description and send the server a value its type forbids. The answer may be of any type.

Settings

A Luau mod declares its settings in pack.toml, one [[setting]] table each, in the order the Mods screen shows them:

[[setting]]
key = "greeting"
default = "Welcome"
doc = "What a player who joins reads before their name."

[[setting]]
key = "announce_minutes"
default = 30
min = 1
max = 1440
stage = "restart"
doc = "How often the log counts the players online, in minutes."

Field	Meaning
key	the key in mod-configs/<id>.toml, of [a-z0-9_]
default	the value on first start; its type is the setting’s
doc	what it does, for the file’s comments and the Mods screen
stage	when a change takes effect, as for a Rust mod’s settings: runtime (the default), startup, restart, client or sync
synced	with stage = "startup", a joined player takes the server’s value
min, max	the range of a number
choices	the values it accepts
text	the key of its label in the pack’s texts.toml; config.<key> unless given

The loader writes the file from these on first start, checks every value against its declaration, and shows the settings behind the mod’s gear on the Mods screen, as it does a Rust mod’s. enshwick.settings() returns the values in force as a table. A SettingsChanged handler runs after the new values are in place, so it reads them again there:

enshwick.on("SettingsChanged", function()
    enshwick.log.info(`greeting now {enshwick.settings().greeting}`)
end)

The sandbox

A script reaches the game only through enshwick. It has Luau’s own libraries for tables, strings, utf8, bit32, math, buffer, vector, coroutines and the clock (os.clock, os.time, os.date), and nothing that reads files, starts processes or loads compiled code. The globals and the enshwick tables are read-only. require resolves only the mod’s own scripts.

Each mod has these budgets:

Budget	Limit	Past it
memory	64 MiB for the mod’s whole VM	the allocation fails
time per call	10 ms per call into the scripts, 2 s for main.luau at start	the script stops; pcall cannot catch it
time per second	100 ms for all calls into the scripts within one second	the mod turns off

A server step takes about 50 ms, so a handler that runs on every step does little work each time and leaves the rest to a task.

When a script fails

An error that leaves a handler or a task, a script past a budget, or a panic in a call it made turns that mod off, as a panic turns off a Rust mod. The log names the file and line:

WorldSaved: main.luau:2: boom

The game and every other mod run on. A main.luau that does not compile or fails at start leaves the mod off from the start, with the same line.

Threads

main.luau runs on the loader’s start thread, and after a reload on the thread that watches files. Event handlers and tasks run on the server’s game thread, between simulation steps, where calls into the world are allowed (see Threads). Hooks and filters inside a step stay in Rust: a Luau mod sees their results through events.

Change scripts while the game runs

With dev_reload = true in the loader’s settings, the loader looks at a Luau mod’s folder every second: a script added, removed, renamed or changed, in any subfolder the mod may hold scripts in, counts as a change. A new mod folder waits for the next start. On a change the loader runs main.luau again in a new VM: handlers of events subscribed at start move to the new scripts, and tasks of the old ones stop. A handler of an event the old scripts did not subscribe runs from the next start, and the log says so. When the new scripts fail, the old ones keep running. Without dev_reload, a script change waits for the next start. The pack’s data files reload as any data pack’s do.

What a mod costs

With diagnostics = true, the status summary shows each Luau mod’s memory, its peak, its calls and how many ran past their budget, beside the time its handlers took (see Logging and diagnostics).