PcoWSkbVqDnWTu_dm2ix
The Developer Hub is now deprecated and information on this page may no longer be accurate. To see our new and improved documentation, please click here. You can read more about the future of documentation here.
Collapse Sidebar
  1. API Reference
  2. Tool

Tool

Show deprecated
Hide content
  1. apireference
  2. tool

Tool

Show deprecated

Tools are objects that a Humanoid object can equip. For players, they are stored in a Backpack object parented to a Player object. In-game, players may have multiple tools which appear as icons at the bottom of the screen. Equipping a tool moves it from the Backpack and into a player’s Character|character model in the Workspace. By default, tools are held in the right hand and have a handle in them, which is a BasePart|Part named “Handle” inside (though one is not required if Tool/RequiresHandle is off). Tools that are to be provided to (re)spawning players ought to be stored in the StarterPack.

On desktop, pressing a number key (1, 2, 3…) will equip a tool. Equipped tools can be dropped into the Workspace by pressing Backspace. It’s recommended that you turn Tool/CanBeDropped off so it is not possible to drop a tool, die, respawn and drop again to duplicate tools. On gamepads, LB and RB buttons will equip tools. You can disable activation via left click (or right trigger on gamepad) by setting Tool/ManualActivationOnly on. Doing so requires that you call Activate yourself through some sort of other user input.

Tools are not the only way to capture user input. You can also use ContextActionService, UserInputService or Player/GetMouse. If you need a Tool to have multiple actions, such as pressing a key while the Tool is equipped, you should use ContextActionService’s ContextActionService/BindAction|BindAction and ContextActionService/UnbindAction|UnbindAction in the Tool/Equipped|Equipped and Tool/Unequipped|Unequipped events, respectively. Use a LocalScript send these actions to the server via a RemoteFunction inside the Tool.

Properties

bool

CanBeDropped

Controls whether the player can drop the tool
bool

Enabled

Relates to whether or not the tool can be used
CFrame

Grip

Stores the Tool’s Grip properties as one CFrame
Vector3

GripForward

[NotReplicated]

One of the properties that specifies a Tool’s orientation in a character’s hand. This represents the R02, R12, and R22 values of the Grip CFrame’s rotation matrix
Vector3

GripPos

[NotReplicated]

The positional offset of a Tool weld matrix
Vector3

GripRight

[NotReplicated]

One of the properties that specifies a Tool’s orientation in a character’s hand. This represents the R00, R10, and R20 values of the Grip CFrame’s rotation matrix
Vector3

GripUp

[NotReplicated]

One of the properties that specifies a Tool’s orientation in a character’s hand. This represents the R01, R11, and R21 values of the Grip CFrame’s rotation matrix
bool

ManualActivationOnly

The ManualActivationOnly property controls whether the Tool can be activated without executing Tool/Activate
bool

RequiresHandle

Determines whether a tool functions without a handle
string

ToolTip

Controls the message displayed when the player’s mouse hovers over the tool in their backpack

Inherited from Instance: Show Hide

bool

Archivable

Determines if an Instance can be cloned using /Instance/Clone or saved to file.
string

ClassName

[ReadOnly] [NotReplicated]

A read-only string representing the class this Instance belongs to
int

DataCost

[Hidden] [ReadOnly] [NotReplicated] [Deprecated]

The cost of saving the instance using data persistence.
string

Name

A non-unique identifier of the Instance
Instance

Parent

[NotReplicated]

Determines the hierarchical parent of the Instance
bool

RobloxLocked

[Hidden]

A deprecated property that used to protect CoreGui objects
int64

SourceAssetId

[Hidden] [NotReplicated]
bool

archivable

[Hidden] [NotReplicated] [Deprecated]
string

className

[ReadOnly] [NotReplicated] [Deprecated]

Functions

void

Activate ( )

Simulates a click on a Tool
void

Deactivate ( )

Simulates the deactivation of a Tool

Inherited from Instance: Show Hide

void

ClearAllChildren ( )

This function destroys all of an Instance’s children.
Instance

Clone ( )

Create a copy of an object and all its descendants, ignoring objects that are not Instance/Archivable|Archivable
void

Destroy ( )

Sets the Instance/Parent property to nil, locks the Instance/Parent property, disconnects all connections, and calls Destroy on all children.
Instance

FindFirstAncestor ( string name )

Returns the first ancestor of the Instance whose Instance/Name is equal to the given name.
Instance

FindFirstAncestorOfClass ( string className )

Returns the first ancestor of the Instance whose Instance/ClassName is equal to the given className.
Instance

FindFirstAncestorWhichIsA ( string className )

Returns the first ancestor of the Instance for whom Instance/IsA returns true for the given className.
Instance

FindFirstChild ( string name , bool recursive )

Returns the first child of the Instance found with the given name.
Instance

FindFirstChildOfClass ( string className )

Returns the first child of the Instance whose Instance/ClassName|ClassName is equal to the given className.
Instance

FindFirstChildWhichIsA ( string className , bool recursive )

Returns the first child of the Instance for whom Instance/IsA returns true for the given className.
Instance

FindFirstDescendant ( string name )

Returns the first descendant found with the given Instance/Name.
Actor

GetActor ( )

Returns the Actor associated with the Instance, usually the first Actor ancestor
Variant

GetAttribute ( string attribute )

Returns the attribute which has been assigned to the given name
RBXScriptSignal

GetAttributeChangedSignal ( string attribute )

Returns an event that fires when the given attribute changes
Dictionary

GetAttributes ( )

Returns a dictionary of string → variant pairs for each of the Instance|Instance’s attributes
Objects

GetChildren ( )

Returns an array containing all of the Instance’s children.
string

GetDebugId ( int scopeLength )

[NotBrowsable]

Returns a coded string of the Instances DebugId used internally by Roblox.
Array

GetDescendants ( )

[CustomLuaState]

Returns an array containing all of the descendants of the instance
string

GetFullName ( )

Returns a string describing the Instance’s ancestry.
RBXScriptSignal

GetPropertyChangedSignal ( string property )

Get an event that fires when a given property of an object changes.
bool

IsA ( string className )

[CustomLuaState]

Returns true if an Instance’s class matches or inherits from a given class
bool

IsAncestorOf ( Instance descendant )

Returns true if an Instance is an ancestor of the given descendant.
bool

IsDescendantOf ( Instance ancestor )

Returns true if an Instance is a descendant of the given ancestor.
void

Remove ( )

[Deprecated]

Sets the object’s Parent to nil, and does the same for all its descendants.
void

SetAttribute ( string attribute , Variant value )

Sets the attribute with the given name to the given value
Instance

WaitForChild ( string childName , double timeOut )

[CustomLuaState] [CanYield]

Returns the child of the Instance with the given name. If the child does not exist, it will yield the current thread until it does.
Objects

children ( )

[Deprecated]

Returns an array of the object’s children.
Instance

clone ( )

[Deprecated]
void

destroy ( )

[Deprecated]
Instance

findFirstChild ( string name , bool recursive )

[Deprecated]
Objects

getChildren ( )

[Deprecated]
bool

isA ( string className )

[Deprecated] [CustomLuaState]
bool

isDescendantOf ( Instance ancestor )

[Deprecated]
void

remove ( )

[Deprecated]

Events

RBXScriptSignal

Activated ( )

Fired when the player clicks while a tool is equipped
RBXScriptSignal

Deactivated ( )

Fired when the left mouse button is released.
RBXScriptSignal

Equipped ( Mouse mouse )

Fired when the tool is equipped
RBXScriptSignal

Unequipped ( )

Fired when the tool is unequipped

Inherited from Instance: Show Hide

RBXScriptSignal

AncestryChanged ( Instance child , Instance parent )

Fires when the Instance/Parent property of the object or one of its ancestors is changed.
RBXScriptSignal

AttributeChanged ( string attribute )

Fires whenever an attribute is changed on the Instance
RBXScriptSignal

Changed ( string property )

Fired immediately after a property of an object changes.
RBXScriptSignal

ChildAdded ( Instance child )

Fires after an object is parented to this Instance.
RBXScriptSignal

ChildRemoved ( Instance child )

Fires after a child is removed from this Instance.
RBXScriptSignal

DescendantAdded ( Instance descendant )

Fires after a descendant is added to the Instance
RBXScriptSignal

DescendantRemoving ( Instance descendant )

Fires immediately before a descendant of the Instance is removed.
RBXScriptSignal

Destroying ( )

Fires immediately before the instance is destroyed via Instance/Destroy.
RBXScriptSignal

childAdded ( Instance child )

[Deprecated]

Code Samples

Explode Tool Example

This code is meant to be placed in a Script within a Tool. It allows a player to spawn explosions by equipping the tool and clicking on the ground. It does so by defining a function, explode, which creates a non-deadly explosion at a given point. Then, it defines a function, onActivated, that runs when the tool is activated. Finally, it connects the Activated event of the tool to the onActivated function.

To test this code out, try creating a Tool and put a Part inside it. Name the Part “Handle”. Put a Script inside the Tool next, and paste the code into it. Finally, put the Tool in the StarterPack.

Copy Code Light Theme

Sword Tool Example

This code sample is for a Tool object with a Part named Handle. It detects when Humanoids other than the current holder hit the handle, and deals some damage to them. In addition, when the Tool is activated, it triggers a slash animation in the default character animation scripts. Try out this script by creating a Tool object in the StarterPack. Put a Part inside it, and name it Handle. Paste this code into a Script inside the Tool, then try slashing at another Humanoid!

Copy Code Light Theme
TeleportService Workspace