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This guide covers the recommended setup for developing, testing, and maintaining Dietrich Development RedM scripts.
A well-prepared development environment reduces bugs, speeds up deployment, and improves collaboration.

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1. Local Development Setup

Code Editor

Visual Studio Code with Lua, SQL, and Git extensions is our preferred setup.

Version Control

Use Git for tracking changes and collaborating with others.

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2. Local Server Environment

  • Install a local RedM server instance to test changes without affecting your live server.
  • Keep configurations separate for dev/staging and production.
  • Use a minimal player count for quicker load times.
Always test on staging before pushing changes to production.

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3. Hot Reload & Debugging

  • Use refresh and restart commands in the console for quick reloads.
  • Enable debug modes in config.lua during development.
  • Use console logs (print) and structured logging for better traceability.

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4. Database Management

  • Install MySQL locally with a dedicated dev database.
  • Use migration tools or SQL dump/restore for schema changes.
  • Keep a versioned database.sql file in your repository.

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5. Collaboration

  • Use GitHub or GitLab for shared repositories.
  • Write clear commit messages.
  • Keep feature branches small and focused.
  • Postman or Insomnia for API testing
  • TablePlus or HeidiSQL for database management
  • Discord webhooks for in-game event logging

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Next steps

Update Process

Learn how to safely update scripts without downtime.

Support

How to request help and share logs effectively.
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