Lde is an open-source project providing easy accessibility to a Lua runtime alongside intuitive package management for dependencies.
curl -fsSL https://lde.sh/install | shEverything you need to write, test, and ship Lua.
LuaJIT built-in, works cross-platform including Windows. Interactive REPL inside your project context.
$ lde ./file.lua
LuaRocks compatible. build.lua scripts for preprocessing. Works with LÖVE and other runtimes.
$ lde add <package>
Simple and minimal. Ships as lde-test built-in to the lde runtime. Just require("lde-test").
$ lde test Bundle into a single Lua file or compile to a standalone binary under 1mB. No Lua required on the target machine.
$ lde compile Corrections welcome via pull request.
| lux | luarocks | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Written in | Lua | Rust | Teal |
| Project format | JSON | TOML/Lua | Lua |
| Add/remove deps | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Built-in test runner | ✓ (lde-test) | ✓ (busted) | ✗ |
| Ships with LuaJIT | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Compile to executable | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Git deps | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Registry deps | ✓ (lde) | ✓ (luarocks) | ✓ (luarocks) |
| Custom Registry | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Lockfile | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LuaRocks support | ⚠ | ⚠ | ✓ |
| Lua build scripts | build.lua | rockspec | rockspec |
Averages over 5 runs on Linux x86-64. Lower is better.
Dive into the docs or read the latest from the blog.