rbx-dom

rbx-dom is a collection of cross-platform libraries that enables any software to interact with Roblox instances.

Documentation about the project is hosted at dom.rojo.space.

At this moment, we do not specify a MSRV for any project in rbx-dom. If you need to build one of these libraries with an outdated version of Rust, please open an issue explaining what blockers there are to you updating Cargo, what version you would need us to support, and why.

rbx_dom_weak

Weakly-typed Roblox DOM implementation. Defines types for representing instances and properties on them.

rbx_types

Contains Roblox's value types like Vector3 and NumberSequence. Used by crates like rbx_dom_weak and a future rbx_dom_strong crate to let them share types and conversions.

rbx_xml

Serializer and deserializer for for Roblox's XML model and place formats, rbxmx and rbxlx.

rbx_binary

Serializer and deserializer for for Roblox's binary model and place formats, rbxm and rbxl.

rbx_reflection

Roblox reflection types for working with Instances in external tooling.

rbx_reflection_database

Bundled reflection database using types from rbx_reflection. Intended for users migrating from rbx_reflection 4.x and users who need reflection information statically.

rbx_reflector

Command line utility to generate a reflection database for rbx_dom_lua and rbx_reflection_database.

rbx_util

Command line utility to convert and debug Roblox model files.

rbx_dom_lua

Roblox Lua implementation of DOM APIs, allowing Instance reflection from inside Roblox. Uses a data format that's compatible with rbx_dom_weak to facilitate communication with applications outside Roblox about instances.

Property Type Coverage

Property Type	Example Property	rbx_types	rbx_dom_lua	rbx_xml	rbx_binary
Axes	`ArcHandles.Axes`	✔	✔	✔	✔
BinaryString	`Terrain.MaterialColors`	✔	➖	✔	✔
Bool	`Part.Anchored`	✔	✔	✔	✔
BrickColor	`Part.BrickColor`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Bytecode	N/A	❌	⛔	❌	❌
CFrame	`Camera.CFrame`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Color3	`Lighting.Ambient`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Color3uint8	`Part.BrickColor`	✔	✔	✔	✔
ColorSequence	`Beam.Color`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Content	`Decal.Texture`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Enum	`Part.Shape`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Faces	`Handles.Faces`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Float32	`Players.RespawnTime`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Float64	`Sound.PlaybackLoudness`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Font	`TextLabel.Font`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Int32	`Frame.ZIndex`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Int64	`Player.UserId`	✔	✔	✔	✔
NumberRange	`ParticleEmitter.Lifetime`	✔	✔	✔	✔
NumberSequence	`Beam.Transparency`	✔	✔	✔	✔
OptionalCoordinateFrame	`Model.WorldPivotData`	✔	❌	✔	✔
PhysicalProperties	`Part.CustomPhysicalProperties`	✔	✔	✔	✔
ProtectedString	`ModuleScript.Source`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Ray	`RayValue.Value`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Rect	`ImageButton.SliceCenter`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Ref	`Model.PrimaryPart`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Region3	N/A	✔	✔	❌	❌
Region3int16	`Terrain.MaxExtents`	✔	✔	❌	❌
SecurityCapabilities	`Folder.SecurityCapabilities`	✔	❌	✔	✔
SharedString	N/A	✔	✔	✔	✔
String	`Instance.Name`	✔	✔	✔	✔
UDim	`UIListLayout.Padding`	✔	✔	✔	✔
UDim2	`Frame.Size`	✔	✔	✔	✔
UniqueId	`Instance.UniqueId`	✔	❌	✔	✔
Vector2	`ImageLabel.ImageRectSize`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Vector2int16	N/A	✔	✔	✔	❌
Vector3	`Part.Size`	✔	✔	✔	✔
Vector3int16	`TerrainRegion.ExtentsMax`	✔	✔	✔	✔
QDir	`Studio.Auto-Save Path`	⛔	⛔	⛔	⛔
QFont	`Studio.Font`	⛔	⛔	⛔	⛔

✔ Implemented | ❌ Unimplemented | ➖ Partially Implemented | ⛔ Never

Outcome

This project has unveiled a handful of interesting bugs and quirks in Roblox!

GuiMain.DisplayOrder is uninitialized, so its default value isn't stable
MaxPlayersInternal and PreferredPlayersInternal on Players are scriptable and accessible by the command bar
Instantiating a NetworkClient will turn your edit session into a game client and stop you from sending HTTP requests
ContentProvider.RequestQueueSize is mistakenly marked as serializable
Trying to invoke game:GetService("Studio") causes a unique error: singleton Studio already exists
Color3 properties not serialized as Color3uint8 would have their colors mistakenly clamped in the XML place format. This was bad for properties on Lighting.
ColorSequence's XML serialization contains an extra value per keypoint that was intended to be used as an envelope value, but was never implemented.

For Maintainers

Cutting new releases is not currently as optimized as it should be. While we work on improving it, packages need to be published in a specific order to make sense. The order that currently works well is:

rbx_types
rbx_dom_weak and rbx_reflection
rbx_reflection_database
rbx_binary and rbx_xml

The process for publishing these is:

Decide a new version number, following SemVer
Update changelog to list new release under its own heading
Adjust versions of local dependencies to be the new release (this is why releases must happen in a specific order)
Increment version in Cargo.toml
Add a git tag in the format library_name-vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH at the commit that incremented the Cargo version
Publish to Cargo