# starwing/lua-protobuf

A Lua module to work with Google protobuf

Repository: https://github.com/starwing/lua-protobuf
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/lua-protobuf
Language: Lua
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: lua, protobuf, single-header-lib
Last push: 2026-07-02T15:54:19+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 63/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 90, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4140, "days_push": 62, "days_rel": 462, "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 1909, forks 401 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:53.038012+00:00)

## What it is
A C module for Lua (5.1-5.4 and LuaJIT) that encodes and decodes Google protobuf data, supporting both proto2 and proto3 syntax. It includes a pure-Lua schema parser (protoc.lua) and low-level wire-format modules for streaming and binary manipulation.

## Use cases
- encode and decode protobuf messages in Lua
- parse .proto schema files without protoc
- stream-decode protobuf wire format
- integrate protobuf into a game or embedded Lua runtime
- convert between Lua tables and binary protobuf data

## When to choose
- you need protobuf support in Lua or LuaJIT
- you want to avoid a dependency on Google's protoc binary
- you need low-level access to protobuf wire format

## When to avoid
- your project is not Lua-based
- you need protobuf support in another language with official libraries

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: serialization, parser
- domain: developer-tools, apis, programming-languages
- platform: lua, cross-platform, cpp
- tags: protobuf, luajit, wire-format, single-header, schema-compiler

## Member repositories
- starwing/lua-protobuf (main) score 63

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:53.038012+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 2026-08-30T03:11:10.082716+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/starwing/lua-protobuf (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:53.038012+00:00, sha 5dbf5374bc15)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.