Start here
The whole guide in order, and roughly how long each part takes.
If you have never written a line of code, start at the top and do not skip. The three pages of First steps are one continuous hour, and at the end of them you will have built a working door and understood every line of it.
If you have programmed before, read Luau in an hour for the twelve things that differ from other languages, then go straight to the recipes.
First steps#
| Page | What you get | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What scripts are | the idea, and the fences around it | 10 min | → |
| Your first script | a door that opens, closes itself and remembers | 30 min | → |
| Luau in an hour | the language, assuming nothing | 45 min | → |
How it works#
Read these when something surprises you, not before.
| Page | Answers | |
|---|---|---|
| How scripts run | what Save actually does, and why a variable got wiped | → |
| How a world loads | what exists at the moment your script wakes up | → |
Working comfortably#
| Page | Answers | |
|---|---|---|
| Editing in VS Code | autocomplete, red squiggles, Ctrl+S straight into the game | → |
| Trying things alone | testing without dragging a friend in | → |
| When nothing happens | the eight usual causes, in the order to check them | → |
Then what#
Two places, and they point at each other.
| Recipes | finished things to copy: doors, shops, weapons, weather, saves | → |
| Reference | every verb, every option, every refusal | → |
You do not have to read the reference
Nobody reads an API reference front to back. It is there for the moment you think "what were the arguments to that again", and search (Ctrl+K) is the fastest way in.