Roblox Studio supports command-line arguments that let you launch it with special functionality, such as opening a specific place or script when Studio starts. The Roblox Studio executable is typically installed in the following locations:
| OS | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | %localappdata%\Roblox\Versions\[version]\RobloxStudioBeta.exe |
| Mac | /Applications/RobloxStudio.app/Contents/MacOS/RobloxStudio |
When launched from the command line, Studio pipes verbose logs to stdout that are more detailed than what appears in the Output window. Arguments use a double-dash prefix and are case-insensitive. File paths that contain spaces must be quoted.
Any arguments not documented here are for internal use only and are subject to change without notice.
Open a place
To open a published place, specify the place ID, universe ID, and a task.
Required arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --placeId <placeId> | The numeric ID of the place to open. |
| --universeId <universeId> | The universe that owns the place. |
| --task <taskName> | Specifies how Studio opens the place based on the given task. See the supported tasks table below for more information. |
Supported tasks
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| EditPlace | Opens the latest published version of the place for editing. |
| EditPlaceRevision | Opens a specific previous version of the place. Requires --placeVersion <versionNumber> to specify the version. |
Optional arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --targetInstanceId <guid> | Moves the Studio camera to focus on the instance with this GUID after the place loads. |
| --annotationId <guid> | Opens the annotation with this GUID after the place loads. |
Examples
# Open the latest version of a place
RobloxStudio.exe --task EditPlace --placeId 74265016723074 --universeId 7127583708
# Open a specific previous version
RobloxStudio.exe --task EditPlaceRevision --placeId 74265016723074 --universeId 7127583708 --placeVersion 2Open a local file
To open a local place, use --task EditFile with the following argument.
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --localPlaceFile <path> | Absolute path to a local .rbxl or .rbxlx place file to open. |
You can also open a local place file by passing the file path as the first positional argument without a flag name.
Examples
# Open a local place file
RobloxStudio.exe --task EditFile --localPlaceFile "Projects\MyGame.rbxl"
# Shorthand
RobloxStudio.exe "Projects\MyGame.rbxl"Open a script
To open a script, specify the place ID, universe ID, and task as described in the open a place section. Then provide one of the following arguments depending on how you want to open the script.
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --openScriptPath <path> | The path to the script. Must use / as separators and follow absolute require-by-string semantics. |
| --openScriptFromId <uniqueId> | The unique ID of the script to open. |
Optional highlighting
Optionally, highlight specific lines or a character range when opening the script.
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --startLine <n> | Starting line of the highlight range. 1-based and inclusive. |
| --endLine <n> | Ending line of the highlight range. 1-based and exclusive. |
| --startCharacter <n> | Starting character position within the line. 1-based. |
| --endCharacter <n> | Ending character position within the line. 1-based and exclusive. |
Examples
# Open a script by path
RobloxStudio.exe --task EditPlace --placeId 74265016723074 --universeId 7127583708 --openScriptPath Workspace/MyFolder/MyScript
# Open a script by ID
RobloxStudio.exe --task EditPlace --placeId 74265016723074 --universeId 7127583708 --openScriptFromId 604a6aa2-04cc-c820-09b3-a1dc0000537f
# Open a script and highlight specific lines
RobloxStudio.exe --task EditPlace --placeId 74265016723074 --universeId 7127583708 --openScriptPath Workspace/MyFolder/MyScript --startLine 1 --endLine 5
# Open a script and highlight a character range
RobloxStudio.exe --task EditPlace --placeId 74265016723074 --universeId 7127583708 --openScriptPath Workspace/MyFolder/MyScript --startLine 1 --endLine 1 --startCharacter 1 --endCharacter 6Run a script
Use --task RunScript to execute a Luau script after a place finishes loading. Scripts run at the same permission level as the Studio command bar. You can combine this with --placeId and --universeId to run the script in a specific game, or --localPlaceFile to run the script in a local place file. If those arguments are omitted, Studio opens the default empty baseplate template and runs the script there.
Required arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --runScriptFile <path> | Absolute path to a .lua or .luau file to execute. |
Optional arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --outputFile <path> | Path to a file where script output is written. |
| --quitAfterExecution | If provided, Studio closes after the script finishes executing. |
Examples
# Run a script in a specific game and exit when done
RobloxStudio.exe --task RunScript --placeId 74265016723074 --universeId 7127583708 --runScriptFile smokeTest.luau --outputFile out.log --quitAfterExecution
# Run a script in the default Baseplate
RobloxStudio.exe --task RunScript --runScriptFile smokeTest.luauTry an asset
Use --task TryAsset to insert a specific asset into a baseplate template and open it for editing.
Required arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --assetId <id> | The asset ID to insert. |
Example
RobloxStudio.exe --task TryAsset --assetId 53326API dump
Use --api, --fullApi, or --apiV2 to write the Roblox API surface to a file and exit.
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --api <path> | Writes the Luau scripting API as JSON to the specified file. |
| --fullApi <path> | Writes the full API surface as JSON to the specified file. |
| --apiV2 <path> | Writes the full API as JSON in the V2 schema format to the specified file. |
Examples
RobloxStudio.exe --api "Desktop/output.json"
RobloxStudio.exe --fullApi "Desktop/output.json"
RobloxStudio.exe --apiV2 "Desktop/output.json"