Built with Rive
Rive Luau LSP: VS Code Extension for Rive Scripting
Ilya G.
Rive Luau LSP
The Project
Rive Luau LSP is a Visual Studio Code language server for Rive's Luau scripting environment. Published on the VS Code Marketplace as
IVGDesign.rive-luau. Source: github.com/ivg-design/rive-luau-lsp.The Challenge
Rive scripting is being adopted by artists and motion designers who do not write code professionally. The Rive editor's own script panel is fine for short scripts, but for anything substantial — real state-machine logic, custom drawing routines, ViewModel orchestration — you want a real editor with autocomplete, hover docs, and live diagnostics.
The problem: a generic Luau LSP gives you autocomplete for Roblox idioms, not Rive's specific runtime. And the documentation tooltips it shows assume you already speak the language of typed APIs and method signatures. That's the wrong audience for Rive scripting.
What I Built
A VS Code extension that:
Autocompletes the entire Rive scripting API — Vector, Color, Path, Paint, Renderer, Mat2D, ViewModel, Context, and 40+ types — alongside the standard Luau library and your own code
Hovers documentation written in plain English for people who don't code for a living. Tooltips explain concepts in visual terms, use analogies, show practical examples with context, and warn about common mistakes
Catches type errors, missing properties, and undefined variables in real time as you type
Provides go-to-definition for any symbol
Adds full Luau syntax highlighting including Markdown code blocks
Distributes a custom
.luau file icon so script files are easy to spot in the explorerSample tooltip language:
drawPath— Render a shape on screen. This is the core drawing call in Rive scripting. You give it two things: path (what to draw) and paint (how it looks).
clipPath— Mask all future drawing to only appear inside this shape. Like cutting a hole in paper: after clipPath(), only the area inside the clip path is visible.
BlendMode— Controls how overlapping shapes blend together, like Photoshop layer blend modes. multiply = darken, screen = lighten, overlay = contrast boost.
Standalone CLI for AI Agents and CI
The repo also ships standalone CLI tools so the same type checker can run outside VS Code — from CI pipelines, build scripts, or AI coding agents. No editor required.
rive-luau-analyze path/to/script.luau # exit 0 = no errors
rive-luau-analyze path/to/scripts/ # batch validate a directory
Bundled with the repo: a complete Rive globals type definition file (
rive-globals.d.luau) that AI agents can read to ground their script generation against the actual Rive scripting surface — every type, method, property, and parameter, with educational doc comments.Companion Claude Code Skill
The repo also ships a Claude Code skill at
/rive-luau-lsp that wraps the CLI so any agent can validate Luau scripts as part of its workflow. Drop the skill into a Claude Code session, and the agent will:Read the bundled API reference before writing
Run
rive-luau-analyze after writingIterate until exit code 0
I use this skill on every Rive Luau script I author. Type-clean output is the delivery contract.
Part of a Bigger Ecosystem
Rive Luau LSP is the authoring layer of a Rive scripting toolchain that also includes:
LERP — interactive course teaching Luau scripting for Rive (77 lessons, 201 exercises, 189 quizzes)
RAV (Rive Animation Viewer) — desktop and web inspector for .riv files with a built-in MCP sidecar
Together they cover the full path from learning, to authoring, to debugging.
The Result
Published on the VS Code Marketplace at IVGDesign.rive-luau. Open source (MIT) at github.com/ivg-design/rive-luau-lsp. Used by me daily on Rive scripting work, including on the State Farm NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and the AT&T Live Arena projects.
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Posted May 10, 2026
Rive's Luau scripting language server for VS Code. Autocomplete, real-time diagnostics, go-to-definition, and educational tooltips and a CLI tool for AI agents.
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