Rive Scripting

Rive Scripting uses Luau (Roblox's Lua variant) to create interactive and procedural behaviors inside Rive animations. Scripts run in the Rive editor and export with your .riv file.

Script Types

Type	Purpose	Key Methods
Node Script	Procedural drawing and interactivity	init, advance, update, draw
Layout Script	Custom sizing and positioning	measure, resize
Converter Script	Transform data for bindings	convert, reverseConvert
PathEffect Script	Modify paths procedurally	effect
Util Script	Reusable helper functions	exports

Luau Quick Reference

-- Types
type MyState = {
  count: number,
  active: boolean,
  items: {string},
}

-- Functions
local function add(a: number, b: number): number
  return a + b
end

-- Tables
local t = {x = 10, y = 20}
t.z = 30

-- Conditionals
if value > 0 then
  -- positive
elseif value < 0 then
  -- negative
else
  -- zero
end

-- Loops
for i = 1, 10 do
  print(i)
end

for key, value in pairs(table) do
  print(key, value)
end

Core Pattern

All Rive scripts follow this pattern:

-- 1. Define your state type
type MyNode = {
  path: Path,
  paint: Paint,
  time: number,
}

-- 2. Define protocol methods
function draw(self: MyNode, renderer: Renderer)
  renderer:drawPath(self.path, self.paint)
end

function advance(self: MyNode, elapsed: number)
  self.time = self.time + elapsed
end

-- 3. Return factory function
return function(): Node<MyNode>
  return {
    draw = draw,
    advance = advance,
    path = Path.new(),
    paint = Paint.new(),
    time = 0,
  }
end

Key APIs

Drawing

• Path - Vector paths (moveTo, lineTo, quadTo, cubicTo, close)
• Paint - Fill/stroke styling (color, gradient, thickness)
• Renderer - Drawing operations (drawPath, clipPath, transform)

Geometry

• Vec2D - 2D vectors (xy, length, normalize, dot)
• AABB - Axis-aligned bounding boxes
• Mat2D - 2D transformation matrices

Data

• ViewModel - Access bound data
• Property - Read/write data values
• Trigger - Fire events

Rules

@file rules/getting-started.md
@file rules/node-scripts.md
@file rules/drawing.md
@file rules/pointer-events.md
@file rules/layout-scripts.md
@file rules/converter-scripts.md
@file rules/path-effects.md
@file rules/data-binding.md
@file rules/util-scripts.md
@file rules/api-reference.md