How To Vibe-Code a FiveM Script

The Core Rule: The AI is the junior developer; you are the senior lead. AI writes drafts; you ship decisions.

The Demo Script: “Item Use + Progress + Validation”

To learn this workflow, we aren’t just printing “Hello World.” We are building a real-world scenario that teaches the most important concept in FiveM: Server Authority.

The Script: vibe-consumable

• Action: Player uses an item (e.g., a “repair kit” or “energy drink”).
• Client: Checks if player is busy, plays an animation, shows a progress bar.
• Server: Verifies the player actually has the item, removes it, and grants a reward (health/armor/status).
• Security: We will specifically focus on preventing exploiters from triggering the reward without using the item.

If you need a refresher on the basics before diving in, read our Introduction to Lua Scripting.

Chapter 0: Setup & Tooling

Before we vibe, we need a studio.

1. Code Editor: VS Code is standard, but Cursor (a fork of VS Code with built-in AI) is the ultimate vibe-coding tool. It allows you to “Chat with codebase” and apply diffs instantly.
2. The Environment: A local FXServer for rapid testing.
3. The Mindset: “The Client is Untrusted.” This is your mantra. The AI will often forget this and trust the client blindly. You must catch it.

Chapter 1: Define the Spec

The biggest mistake developers make with AI is vague prompting. “Make a script that eats food” will give you garbage. “Make an ESX script where using bread triggers a 5s progress bar via ox_lib, then triggers a server event to remove bread and add hunger” will give you gold.

Our Spec for vibe-consumable :

Our Spec for vibe-consumable:

“Create a standalone resource compatible with QBCore/ESX (via bridge or config).

1. Config: Define items, duration, anim dict, and reward type (health/armor).

2. Client: Listens for a specific event or export to ‘use’ the item. Checks if ped is alive/not busy. Plays anim. Uses ox_lib for the progress bar.

3. Server: Listens for the completion event. MUST verify item count before removing. Adds reward.

4. Structure: config.lua, client/main.lua, server/main.lua, fxmanifest.lua.”

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   Chapter 2: The Scaffold

   Let’s generate the skeleton. We want a clean folder structure immediately.

   “I need a folder structure for a FiveM resource named vibe-consumable. Please generate the fxmanifest.lua with standard metadata, a config.lua with one example item (water), and empty client/main.lua and server/main.lua files. Use ‘1.0.0’ version.”

Review:
Does the fxmanifest.lua include the client/server scripts correctly? | You can read here what a fxmanifest is | fx_version 'cerulean' | |