# yuin/gopher-lua

GopherLua: VM and compiler for Lua in Go

Repository: https://github.com/yuin/gopher-lua
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gopher-lua
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: go, lua, gopher-lua
Last push: 2026-04-01T00:54:16+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 70/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 75, release rhythm 45, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4217, "days_push": 155, "days_rel": 155, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6974, forks 705 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:51.837207+00:00)

## What it is
GopherLua is a Lua 5.1 (plus Lua 5.2 goto) virtual machine and compiler implemented in pure Go. It provides user-friendly Go APIs for embedding a Lua scripting engine into Go host programs.

## Use cases
- embed a scripting language in a Go application
- run Lua scripts from Go code
- add user-configurable scripting to a Go program
- evaluate Lua expressions at runtime in Go
- build a standalone Lua interpreter in Go

## When to choose
- you need a pure-Go Lua implementation with no cgo dependencies
- you want to expose Go functions and types to embedded Lua scripts
- you prioritize a friendly Go API over maximum interpreter speed

## When to avoid
- you need maximum Lua execution performance comparable to the C Lua VM
- you require full Lua 5.2+ or 5.3/5.4 language features
- you need the complete standard library of native Lua

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: interpreter, compiler, programming-language, sdk
- domain: programming-languages, developer-tools
- platform: go, cross-platform
- tags: lua-vm, scripting, embedding, lua5.1, automation

## Member repositories
- yuin/gopher-lua (main) score 70

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:51.837207+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:41:09.823571+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/yuin/gopher-lua (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:51.837207+00:00, sha f7c36b99989c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.