Install ESX Framework

What is ESX Legacy?

ESX Legacy is the most popular roleplay framework for FiveM. It provides economy, inventory, jobs, character identity and a foundation for hundreds of RP scripts.

Prerequisites

• A running FiveM server with txAdmin
• MariaDB database configured (see our database guide)
• oxmysql installed and connected

Step 1: Download ESX Legacy

Connect via SSH to your VPS and clone the official repository:

cd ~/fxserver/server-data/resources/
git clone https://github.com/esx-framework/esx_core.git [esx]

This downloads the ESX core with all base modules.

Step 2: Import the database

ESX needs tables in your database. Import the included SQL:

mysql -u fivem -p fivem_db < ~/fxserver/server-data/resources/[esx]/[SQL]/legacy.sql

This creates tables: users, owned_vehicles, jobs, items, etc.

Step 3: Configure server.cfg

Add the following lines to your server.cfg:

# ESX Core
ensure es_extended
ensure esx_identity
ensure esx_society
ensure esx_status
ensure esx_basicneeds
ensure esx_skin
ensure esx_multicharacter

# Dependencies
ensure oxmysql
ensure ox_lib

Important: Load order matters. oxmysql and ox_lib must come before ESX.

Step 4: Configure ESX

Edit the ESX config file at resources/[esx]/es_extended/config.lua:

Config = {}
Config.Locale = 'en'
Config.MaxWeight = 24
Config.PaycheckInterval = 10  -- Minutes between job payments
Config.EnableDefaultInventory = true
Config.EnableSocietyPayouts = true
Config.StartingAccountMoney = { bank = 50000, money = 500 }

Step 5: Install additional scripts

ESX works with additional scripts for each RP mechanic:

cd ~/fxserver/server-data/resources/[esx]
git clone https://github.com/esx-framework/esx_policejob.git
git clone https://github.com/esx-framework/esx_ambulancejob.git
git clone https://github.com/esx-framework/esx_mechanicjob.git

Add them to server.cfg:

ensure esx_policejob
ensure esx_ambulancejob
ensure esx_mechanicjob

Step 6: Restart and verify

From txAdmin, restart the server. In the console you should see:

[ESX] [es_extended] Loaded successfully
[ESX] [esx_identity] Loaded successfully

If there are errors, check that oxmysql is properly connected to the database.

Recommended folder structure

resources/
├── [esx]/           # Framework core and ESX scripts
├── [standalone]/    # Independent scripts
├── [maps]/          # MLOs and custom maps
└── [vehicles]/      # Custom vehicles

Tips

• Always use the Legacy version of ESX (not the old v1)
• Keep ESX updated with git pull periodically
• Do not mix ESX scripts with QBCore scripts (they are incompatible)
• Test each new script on a development server before production
• Check the official documentation at docs.esx-framework.org