Parallel

Functions for interacting with Roblox's parallel Luau Actors. These allow executing code across multiple Lua states and communicating between them.

checkparallel

Returns whether the current thread is executing inside a parallel context (Actor).

Aliases: isparallel

checkparallel() -> boolean

Example

if checkparallel() then
    print("Running in parallel!")
else
    print("Running on main thread")
end

get_actors

Returns a list of all "active" Actor instances that have been initialized with a Lua state.

Aliases: getactors

get_actors() -> {Actor}

Example

local actors = get_actors()
print("Active actors:", #actors)

for _, actor in pairs(actors) do
    print(actor:GetFullName())
end

run_on_actor

Schedules a script to execute on the specified Actor's Lua state.

Aliases: runonactor

run_on_actor(actor: Actor, script: string, comm_id: string?) -> void

Parameter	Type	Description
actor	Actor	The Actor to run the script on
script	string	The Lua source code to execute
comm_id	string?	Optional communication channel ID for cross-actor messaging

Example

local actors = get_actors()
if #actors > 0 then
    run_on_actor(actors[1], [[
        print("Hello from actor!")
    ]])
end

on_actor_added

Registers a callback that fires whenever a new Actor's Lua state is created.

Aliases: onactoradded

on_actor_added(callback: function) -> void

Parameter	Type	Description
callback	function	Called with the new Actor when its Lua state initializes

Example

on_actor_added(function(actor)
    print("New actor created:", actor:GetFullName())
end)

Communication Channels

Communication channels allow you to send data between the main thread and Actor Lua states.

create_comm_channel

Creates a new communication channel and returns both its ID and the channel object.

Aliases: createcommchannel

create_comm_channel() -> (string, CommChannel)

Returns:

• string — The unique channel ID
• CommChannel — The channel object

get_comm_channel

Returns a communication channel by its ID. Works both inside Actors and on the main thread.

Aliases: getcommchannel

get_comm_channel(comm_id: string) -> CommChannel

Parameter	Type	Description
comm_id	string	The communication channel ID

Example

-- On main thread
local comm_id, channel = create_comm_channel()

-- Schedule code on an actor with the channel ID
local actors = get_actors()
if #actors > 0 then
    run_on_actor(actors[1], [[
        local channel = get_comm_channel(...) -- ... varargs is comm_id
        -- Use channel to communicate back
    ]], comm_id)
end