ESX Legacy Framework Overview

ESX is the oldest FiveM roleplay framework still under active development, started in 2017. ESX Legacy is the maintained line; everything labelled ESX 1.1, ESX 1.2 or “ESX Final” is obsolete.

Current state


Core resource	`es_extended`
Repository	esx-framework/esx_core
License	No LICENSE file in the repository
Stars	453 (2026-10-20)
Latest release	1.16.4 (2026-10-18)
Last push	2026-10-20
Database	MariaDB via oxmysql
Default inventory	`esx_inventory` (bundled since recent releases)

ℹ️

ESX ships five releases in a typical quarter. If you read that ESX is unmaintained, check the releases page — that claim has been out of date for years.

esx_core, not esx-legacy

ESX is distributed as a monorepo, not as separate resource downloads. Guides that tell you to clone es_extended and a dozen esx_* repositories separately describe a pre-2021 layout.

Clone esx_core and you get the [core] folder with everything the framework needs already wired together:

Resource	Purpose
`es_extended`	The framework core
`esx_lib`	Shared library used by the core resources
`esx_inventory`	Bundled inventory
`esx_identity`	Character identity registration
`esx_multicharacter`	Character selection
`esx_skin` / `skinchanger`	Appearance system
`esx_context`	Context menus
`esx_menu_default`, `esx_menu_dialog`, `esx_menu_list`	Legacy menu styles
`esx_notify`	Notifications
`esx_progressbar`	Progress bars
`esx_textui`	On-screen text prompts
`esx_loadingscreen`	Loading screen
`esx_chat_theme`	Chat styling
`cron`	Scheduled task runner
`esx_whitelist`	Identifier and Discord-role whitelist, disabled by default

The separate ESX-Legacy-Addons repository holds the job, shop and property resources.

Architecture in one page

ESX object — resources get a shared ESX table, then call ESX.GetPlayerFromId(source) on the server to obtain an xPlayer.
xPlayer — the per-player object. Identified by identifier (a Rockstar or license identifier), not by a generated citizen id.
Accounts — money lives in named accounts: money, bank, black_money.
Jobs — defined in the jobs and job_grades database tables, with numeric grades. ESX is the framework that keeps jobs in SQL rather than in a Lua file.
Society accounts — shared job funds, handled by esx_addonaccount.

Full structure reference →

Server configuration

The recipe’s server.cfg sets these, and they matter:


sv_enforceGameBuild 3095
set onesync on
set mysql_connection_string "mysql://user:password@localhost/es_extended?charset=utf8mb4"
setr esx:locale "en"

onesync on is required for ESX Legacy 1.7.5 and later. esx:locale falls back to the language selected in txAdmin if you leave it commented out.

Documentation

ESX Framework website — framework information and resources
ESX installation — txAdmin and manual setup
ESX structure and xPlayer — player data, server functions, and events
ESX resources — bundled resources and addons
Troubleshooting — common FiveM and database errors