Choosing an IDE/Editor

Before getting started on making a server or writing code, it's best that you choose an IDE/code editor that makes sense for what you are doing. In FiveM, the primary language you'll be interacting with is lua. lua is very beginner friendly and is easy to work with, that being said it's also supported in dozens of different code editors.

Choosing an IDE

Here's a list of our recommended IDEs and why:

Zed

Zed is a super light weight and extremely fast IDE build in Rust. It offers many advantages over alternatives like Visual Studio Code. Zed also has many features built directly into it rather than requiring extensions like Visual Studio Code does.

Recommended Extensions

• Git Firefly by d1y
  • Provides Git Syntax highlighting directly in-line
• SQL by nervenes, notpeter, phileix and tammyxiong
  • SQL language support, this is useful if you are working with SQL files.
• Lua by Max Brunsfeld
  • Provides syntax highlighting for the Lua language and adds the Lua Language Server (LLS) to Zed.
• XML by sweetppro
  • Provides syntax support for XML/Meta files. This is useful if you are working with those files.
• Color Highlight by Jason Lee
  • Shows colors directly in the editor, like HEX or RGB.
• HTML by Issac Clayton
  • Provides support for HTML, useful if you are working with NUI.

Recommended Settings

• Git Blame

  "git": {
      "inline_blame": {
          "enabled": true,
      },
  },

• Diagnostics (Like ErrorLens)

  "diagnostics": {
      "inline": {
          "enabled": true,
          "max_severity": null, // same values as the `diagnostics_max_severity` from the editor settings
      }
  },

• Lua Language Server Settings

  We Highly recommend using per-project configs via .luarc.json files. You can read how to setup the fivem-lls-addon here

  "lsp": {
      "lua-language-server": {
      "settings": {
          "Lua": {
          "runtime": {
              "version": "Lua54",
              "nonstandardSymbol": [
              "/**/",
              "`",
              "+=",
              "-=",
              "*=",
              "/=",
              "<<=",
              ">>=",
              "&=",
              "|=",
              "^="
              ],
              "special": {
              "lib.load": "require"
              },
              "pathStrict": true,
              "plugin": "path/to/fivem-lls-addon/plugin.lua" // https://github.com/overextended/fivem-lls-addon
          },
          "diagnostics": {
              "disable": [
              "lowercase-global",
              "undefined-field",
              "undefined-global",
              "missing-parameter",
              "param-type-mismatch",
              "err-nonstandard-symbol",
              "unknown-symbol",
              "exp-in-action",
              "malformed-number",
              "no-visible-label",
              "miss-end",
              "duplicate-doc-field"
              ],
              "severity": {
              "duplicate-set-field": "Hint",
              },
          },
          "workspace": {
              "checkThirdParty": false,
              "ignoreDir": [
              ".vscode",
              ".github",
              ".git",
              "**/node_modules",
              "node_modules",
              "\\[cfx\\]",
              "\\[cfx-default\\]",
              ],
              "library": [
              "path/to/fivem-lls-addon/library", // FiveM LLS addon - https://github.com/overextended/fivem-lls-addon
              "path/to/fivem-lls-addon/library/runtime", // FiveM LLS addon - https://github.com/overextended/fivem-lls-addon
              "path/to/fivem-lls-addon/library/natives/CFX-NATIVE", // FiveM LLS addon - https://github.com/overextended/fivem-lls-addon
              "path/to/fivem-lls-addon/library/natives/GTAV", // FiveM LLS addon - https://github.com/overextended/fivem-lls-addon
              "path/to/ox_types/types", // ox_types, useful for working with Overextended resources - https://github.com/overextended/ox_types
              "path/to/ox_lib", // ox_lib type/formating support - https://github.com/overextended/ox_lib
              ],
          },
          },
      },
      },
  }

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is the most popular IDE, however its much slower than Zed, takes up more resources and requires more extensions to have a proper developer experience. I'd highly recommend switching to and/or using Zed instead.

Recommended Extensions

• Lua Language Server by sumneko
  • Adds proper lua syntax highlighting and support for the Lua Language Server (LLS)
• Error Lens by Alexander
  • In-line hightlighting of error, warning and other language diagnostics
• TODO Highlight by Wayou Liu
  • Highlight TODOs, FIXMEs, and any keywords, annotations...