How to Add Items to ox_inventory (with Images and Usable Items)

Many scripts need you to add their items to your inventory before they work: a fishing rod, drugs to sell, a gift box. In ox_inventory every item is defined in one file, and adding one takes a few lines.

1. Open items.lua

The file lives at:

resources/[ox]/ox_inventory/data/items.lua

It returns one big table where every key is an item name.

2. Add the item

Add a new entry anywhere inside the table:

['fishing_rod'] = {
    label = 'Fishing Rod',
    weight = 1500,
    stack = false,
    close = true,
    description = 'A sturdy rod for the lake by Sandy Shores',
},

Watch the commas: a missing , after the closing } breaks the whole file and ox_inventory will not start.

3. Add the item image

Put a PNG named exactly like the item into:

resources/[ox]/ox_inventory/web/images/fishing_rod.png

A square transparent PNG around 100 × 100 px looks right in the grid. Script packs often include their images in an images or inventory_images folder. Copy them all here.

4. Restart the server

ox_inventory loads items when it starts. Restarting only ox_inventory while players are online is not recommended, so do a full server restart.

5. Give yourself the item

In-game or in the server console, as an admin:

/giveitem 1 fishing_rod 1

The arguments are player server ID, item name and count. If the command is refused, see how to give yourself admin on FiveM.

Make the item usable

An item does nothing when used until something listens for it. With ox_inventory you can point the item at an export:

['gift_box'] = {
    label = 'Gift Box',
    weight = 300,
    stack = true,
    close = true,
    server = {
        export = 'my_script.useGiftBox',
    },
},

and in my_script/server.lua:

exports('useGiftBox', function(event, item, inventory, slot, data)
    if event == 'usingItem' then
        local playerId = inventory.id
        exports.ox_inventory:AddItem(playerId, 'money', 500)
        return true
    end
end)

Returning true on usingItem lets ox_inventory remove one from the stack. On ESX, scripts that use ESX.RegisterUsableItem keep working through ox_inventory's bridge, so you only need the export method for your own items.

Client effects: animations and props

For eat/drink style items you can make ox_inventory play an animation and progress bar without any extra script:

['burger'] = {
    label = 'Burger',
    weight = 220,
    client = {
        status = { hunger = 200000 },
        anim = 'eating',
        prop = 'burger',
        usetime = 2500,
        notification = 'You ate a delicious burger',
    },
},

Common problems

Scripts that come with their items ready

SleepyCode Fishing ships ready-made items.lua entries for all 43 of its items plus the matching images, so setup is copy-paste. Browse all FiveM scripts.