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Using with roblox-ts

The rbxts emit mode (default) is designed so that luau2ts output drops straight into a roblox-ts project.

Project layout​

After running:

luau2ts -p default.project.json -o src/

You can build the result with rbxtsc:

npx rbxtsc

rbxtsc reads the same default.project.json to figure out where to emit Luau, and the .server.ts / .client.ts suffixes preserve the script-kind information.

Required dependencies​

Add these to package.json (most are zero-cost type-only packages):

{
  "devDependencies": {
    "@rbxts/types": "^1.0.0",
    "@rbxts/services": "^1.0.0",
    "@rbxts/promise": "^1.0.0",
    "@rbxts/roact": "^1.0.0",
    "roblox-ts": "^3.0.0"
  }
}

You only need the @rbxts/* packages you actually import. The compiler tracks which ones it emits imports from and you can prune accordingly.

tsconfig​

A minimal tsconfig.json for the output:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ESNext",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "typeRoots": ["node_modules/@rbxts"],
    "strict": false,
    "jsx": "react",
    "jsxFactory": "Roact.createElement"
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*.ts"]
}

Tighten "strict": true once the migration has settled.

Limitations​

  • Metatable-OOP patterns translate to TS classes, but esoteric metamethod uses (__newindex, custom __index chains) may need hand-tuning.
  • _G access becomes _G["key"] indexing. If you use _G heavily, consider declaring a typed global wrapper.
  • Coroutine code translates to JS generators / Promises depending on context. Cooperative-yielding patterns survive; preemptive-yielding doesn't (because JS has no equivalent).