LiteLua

Simple library to wrap multiple Lua runtimes (Lua, LuaJIT, Luau). Mainly created for LiteFX. Written in C11, mordern C code.

Features

• Multiple Lua dialects are supported, included runtime: Lua, LuaJIT, Luau.
• Prebuilt Lua runtimes to help faster integrate to existing C/C++ projects. Merge multi library files to single one.
• Thin layer API to support working with multiple Lua runtimes.
• Easy add extensions. This library also have Lua52, Lua53 extensions already for LuaJIT.
• Quality of tools: Debugging, Profiler.
• Controlling JIT (if supported).
• One place of all runtime docs to work with Lua runtime.
• No changes in the Lua C API code.
• Easy bindings to other languages.
• Out of scope features: OOP/C++ class bindings. But you can use existing project like Sol with LiteLua.
• Using Luau with C without compile C code in .cpp files.

Design philosophy

• One simple API to work lua bindings. Easy embedding to exist projects.
• Focused on simplicity, low files.
• Written in C11, modern C code, good and easy custom io/memory management.
• Focused on the runtime parts, not the C API.
• Focused on simple, well-docs functions, clear names. And keep its low.
• Only functions that need wrapper are made, otherwise use common functions (Luau and Lua have many common C API).
• Focus on Lua52 compat (Lua 5.2, LuaJIT 2.1 + lua52compat, Luau + handwritten extensions)

Extensions & experiments

Check lua_programming for more details.

• How to management memory with Lua (Memory allocator and GC)
• Sandboxing Lua scripts, some poorman security tricks to make Lua scripts safer
• Lua for pure scripting purpose, using flat data, and procedural programming only
• Lua script performance
• High performance VM tips & tricks (maybe just a collection of articles from internet + examples)
• Hot reloading & development cycles for productivity

Building

When building completed, result contains in output folder, the library file have already packed with runtime. No need to build your application with Lua runtime library.

• Build LuaJIT: scripts/build_litelua_luajit.bat/scripts/build_litelua_luajit.sh
• Build Luau: scripts/build_litelua_luau.bat/scripts/build_litelua_luau.sh

Supported host platforms:

• Windows
• MacOS & Linux (shell scripts)

Supported target platforms (no mobile and embedded):

• Windows
• MacOS
• Linux

Showcases (imagination projects)

• LiteFX (Backbone of Mai Lite Editor)
• Raylib Luau bindings
• BeefyMoon library for working with Lua on Beef applications

Library licenses

Find in libs folders.

Meta

• Version: v0.0.5-dev
• License: Unlicense
• Copyright: MaiHD @ 2025-2026