attempt to index a nil value (global 'QBCore'): the GetCoreObject fix

Somewhere in your console:

SCRIPT ERROR: @my_script/client/main.lua:8: attempt to index a nil value (global 'QBCore')

QBCore is running, the script looks fine, and QBCore is still nil. Here is why, and how to fix it on QBCore and on QBox.

#Why QBCore is nil

Older QBCore scripts got the core object with an event:

QBCore = nil
TriggerEvent('QBCore:GetObject', function(obj) QBCore = obj end)

That event was removed from qb-core. Nobody answers it any more, so QBCore stays nil and the first QBCore.Functions… line crashes.

#The fix: GetCoreObject

Ask qb-core for its object with the export, at the top of the file:

local QBCore = exports['qb-core']:GetCoreObject()

It is the same line on the client and on the server. Put it in every file that uses QBCore, or once in a shared file that the manifest loads first:

-- fxmanifest.lua
shared_script 'shared/core.lua'
client_scripts { 'client/*.lua' }
server_scripts { 'server/*.lua' }

-- shared/core.lua
QBCore = exports['qb-core']:GetCoreObject()

Tip: if QBCore is local in one file, the other files cannot see it. A nil error in only one file of the script usually means exactly that.

#Still nil? qb-core is not running yet

The export only answers if qb-core started first. In server.cfg:

ensure oxmysql
ensure ox_lib
ensure qb-core
ensure [qb]

ensure my_script

Then:

• Check qb-core's own start at the top of the server console. A database error there means its exports never exist, and you get No such export GetCoreObject in resource qb-core.
• Add the dependency to the script's fxmanifest.lua, so FiveM starts qb-core first or refuses to start the script without it:

dependency 'qb-core'

#On QBox

QBox's core is qbx_core, and it keeps a compatibility layer for qb-core scripts: exports['qb-core']:GetCoreObject() still returns an object, so most QBCore scripts run as they are.

What changes is the order and the name in server.cfg:

ensure oxmysql
ensure ox_lib
ensure qbx_core

There is no separate qb-core folder on QBox. If you still have one, remove it, or the two cores fight.

For new code, QBox prefers its own exports over the big QBCore table, for example on the server:

local player = exports.qbx_core:GetPlayer(source)
if player then
    print(player.PlayerData.citizenid)
end

#Player data on the client

Reading the player too early is the other classic nil:

-- this runs before the player is loaded: job is nil
local job = QBCore.Functions.GetPlayerData().job

Wait for the player instead:

local QBCore = exports['qb-core']:GetCoreObject()
local PlayerData = {}

RegisterNetEvent('QBCore:Client:OnPlayerLoaded', function()
    PlayerData = QBCore.Functions.GetPlayerData()
end)

RegisterNetEvent('QBCore:Client:OnJobUpdate', function(job)
    PlayerData.job = job
end)

If the script can also be restarted while you are in game, read the data once when it starts as well, since OnPlayerLoaded has already fired by then.

#Checklist

Running ESX instead? The same problem there is ESX is nil: fixing esx:getSharedObject.