Connection Problems

When Roflow can't reach your Roblox Studio session, or the connection drops mid-task, this page walks you through restoring the link through the Studio Bridge.

Roflow connects to Studio through the Studio Bridge, a small companion plugin that runs inside Roblox Studio. When that link is healthy, Roflow can sync your changes into your place, run playtests, and read the results. When it can't connect, Roflow can still write and change your files and run local commands — but it can't run a live playtest or check how the game looks, and it will flag the missing connection as a blocker rather than pretend the game was tested. Getting reconnected is usually quick.

For the full picture of what the Bridge is and how to set it up, see Studio Bridge.

How to tell you're disconnected

Roflow shows the connection state in a few places, so you don't have to guess:

• Status bar — a Studio indicator at the bottom of the Roflow window. It turns green once Studio is linked. When it isn't connected, hovering it shows "Roblox Studio not connected — open your game in Studio to resume sync."
• Projects page — a Studio Bridge status pill near the top reads Connected, Checking, or Disconnected.
• Game Dashboard > Test tab — shows a disconnected state with a Connect action; you must connect Studio before you can run a playtest.
• The Bridge panel in Studio — click the Bridge's toolbar button in Studio to see a red Disconnected / OFFLINE dot, a yellow Connecting state, or a green Connected / ONLINE status. The toolbar button's icon changes color to match.

The quick checklist

Most connection problems come down to a handful of things. Run through these in order — one of them fixes it the large majority of the time.

1. Is your game open in Studio? Roflow can only connect to a place that's actually open in Roblox Studio. Open the game you want to work on.
2. Is Allow HTTP Requests on? The Bridge needs HTTP requests enabled for the place. Check File > Game Settings > Security > Allow HTTP Requests and turn it on if it's off (see below).
3. Did you restart Studio after installing or updating the plugin? A full close-and-reopen is required for the plugin to load.
4. Is the plugin connected? Open the Bridge panel in Studio and, if it isn't green, press Connect.
5. Is the right place open? If the open place doesn't match your Roflow project — or several places are open — leave only the matching game open.

The sections below expand on each step.

1. Open your game in Studio

The Bridge connects Roflow to a Studio session that's already running. If Studio is closed, or you have Studio open but no place loaded, there's nothing for Roflow to connect to.

Open Roblox Studio and load the specific game you want Roflow to work on. If you're starting from a project you imported into Roflow, opening that place in Studio is enough — when a place you've already imported connects, Roflow can reopen the matching project for you automatically.

2. Turn on Allow HTTP Requests

For the Bridge to talk to Roflow, Roblox Studio needs HTTP requests enabled for your place:

1. In Roblox Studio, open File > Game Settings.
2. Go to the Security tab.
3. Turn Allow HTTP Requests on.
4. Click Save.

3. Restart Studio (and Roflow)

If you've just installed or updated the Studio Bridge plugin, Studio needs a full restart to load it. This is the most common reason a fresh setup won't connect.

1. Fully close Roblox Studio — not just the place, the whole app.
2. Reopen Studio and load your game again.
3. Once it's running, the plugin connects to Roflow on its own — you don't normally have to click anything.

If it still won't link, restart the Roflow app too, then reopen your project. A clean restart of both sides clears most stuck connections.

4. Connect the plugin manually

The Bridge usually connects by itself once Studio is running, but you can also connect it by hand:

1. In Studio, click the Roflow Studio Bridge toolbar button to open its panel.
2. If the status isn't green, click Connect.
3. Watch for the status to move to green Connected / ONLINE. Roflow's status bar turns green at the same time.

If you don't see the Bridge button in Studio's toolbar at all, the plugin isn't active yet. The plugin appears in Studio's Plugins tab as Roflow Studio Bridge. Re-run the setup steps in Studio Bridge, and if you need to add it manually, the command palette entry Open Roflow Plugin Page opens the plugin's page on the Roblox Creator Hub.

5. Make sure the right place is open

If the place open in Studio doesn't match your Roflow project, or you have several places open at once, Roflow deliberately holds off syncing to avoid writing changes into the wrong game. A push in that situation is refused rather than sent to the wrong place.

Close the other places and leave only the game that matches your current Roflow project open. Roflow then targets that one place.

Re-run onboarding if you're not sure

If you've worked through the checklist and still can't connect, it's worth stepping through the original setup again — it re-checks each requirement and confirms the connection at the end.

Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P) and run Roflow: Open Setup Wizard. The wizard walks through signing in, enabling Allow HTTP Requests, activating the Roflow Studio Bridge plugin, and a final step that verifies the Studio connection. See First Launch for a full walkthrough of onboarding.

The connection dropped mid-task

If Studio was connected and then dropped — for example after Studio was closed, restarted, or a place was swapped — Roflow stops syncing and shows the disconnected state described above.

• Reopen your game in Studio. Once the place is loaded again, the Bridge reconnects on its own. If it doesn't, open the Bridge panel and press Connect.
• Retry a failed sync. If a sync fails, the status bar shows a highlighted Studio badge with the tooltip "Studio sync error: … — Click to retry a full push." Click the badge to push the whole project again.
• Check that sync isn't paused. If the status bar reads "Studio sync off," live syncing is paused for this project. Click it to resume, or run Toggle Studio Sync from the command palette. This setting is remembered per project.

If the plugin needs updating

If the Studio Bridge plugin falls out of date relative to your Roflow app, it stays connected but shows a yellow banner in the panel prompting you to update. Update the plugin, then fully close and reopen Studio so the new version loads.

Screenshots or playtests won't work, but sync does

If Roflow is connected and syncing, but can't take a screenshot of your game, that's usually a separate setting rather than a broken connection. For screenshots, the Studio window must be visible (not minimized), and Allow Mesh / Image APIs must be enabled under Game Settings > Security. See Playtesting for details.

"Roflow could not reach its agent service"

This is a different message from the Studio one above. If the Game Dashboard shows "Roflow could not reach its agent service," the app hasn't finished starting up its own components rather than failing to reach Studio. This usually clears once startup finishes — give it a moment, then use the Refresh or retry action. If it persists, restart the Roflow app.

Still stuck?

If none of the above restores the connection:

• Double-check each item in the quick checklist — the game open in Studio, Allow HTTP Requests on, a full Studio restart after installing the plugin, the plugin connected, and only the matching place open.
• Review the full Studio Bridge setup guide.
• Reach out on the Roflow Discord community, linked from the Downloads page and throughout the docs.

Once the status bar is green again, you're back to the full build-test-fix loop — see Playtesting and Fixing Issues.