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FeaturesModels in Packages

Models in Packages

Roblox

Roblox packages can ship model files (.rbxm) alongside their code: UI templates, rigs, VFX assets, prebuilt instance trees of any kind. Forest is code first, so models are complements to your scripts, not a product on their own. A package that is only models will be rejected at publish; ship the code that makes them useful.

Every model file is scanned when you publish. Forest parses the binary format and rejects anything that could smuggle executable code, so installing a package with models is as safe as installing plain source.

The rules

A model file passes publish validation when:

  • It contains no scripts. No Script, LocalScript, or ModuleScript instances anywhere in the tree. All code in a Forest package lives in .lua/.luau files where anyone can read it on the Code tab. A model hiding a script, the classic free-model backdoor, is rejected with the offending class names listed.
  • It has exactly one root instance. Save one model per file. Selecting several things and using Save Selection produces a multi-root file, which has no predictable shape when installed.
  • It is binary .rbxm. The XML variant (.rbxmx) is not accepted; re-save as binary, which is Studio’s default.
  • The package ships real code too. A bare one-line loader next to a model does not pass the code-first check.

Naming: the file is the instance

On install, a model becomes an instance named after its file, and the name stored inside the file is ignored. HealthBar.rbxm is HealthBar in the tree no matter what the model was called in Studio. Name your files what your code expects.

One file per model, and folders become Folders:

src/
  init.luau            -- the module itself
  Models/
    Rock.rbxm          -- script.Models.Rock
    Tree.rbxm          -- script.Models.Tree
  UI/
    HealthBar.rbxm     -- script.UI.HealthBar

Your code reaches shipped models by those paths, and consumers get the identical tree after forest install plus their normal Rojo sync. Nothing about installing changes; models ride the same tarball as your source.

Seeing inside a model

The package page’s Code tab renders every model file as its instance tree: class icons, instance names, full hierarchy. Consumers can inspect exactly what a model contains before installing, without downloading anything.

Authoring workflow

Models are binary, so the edit loop runs through Studio:

  1. Edit the model in Studio.
  2. Pull it back to disk with rojo syncback (Rojo 7.7+), or right click and Save to File over the existing .rbxm.
  3. Publish the new version.

Keep the file name stable across edits; renaming the file renames the instance for every consumer.

Going deeper

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