---
id: lupa
version: "2.8"
license: MIT style
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# lupa — Python wrapper around Lua and LuaJIT

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Popularity: top 1,000 on PyPI

## Install

pip install lupa
uv add lupa
poetry add lupa

## Description

Lupa
====

.. image:: logo/logo-220x200.png

Lupa integrates the runtimes of Lua_ or LuaJIT2_ into CPython.
It is a partial rewrite of LunaticPython_ in Cython_ with some
additional features such as proper coroutine support.

.. _Lua: http://lua.org/
.. _LuaJIT2: http://luajit.org/
.. _LunaticPython: http://labix.org/lunatic-python
.. _Cython: http://cython.org

For questions not answered here, please contact the `Lupa mailing list`_.

.. _`Lupa mailing list`: http://www.freelists.org/list/lupa-dev

.. contents:: :local:


Major features
--------------

* separate Lua runtime states through a ``LuaRuntime`` class

* Python coroutine wrapper for Lua coroutines

* iteration support for Python objects in Lua and Lua objects in
  Python

* proper encoding and decoding of strings (configurable per runtime,
  UTF-8 by default)

* frees the GIL and supports threading in separate runtimes when
  calling into Lua

* tested with Python 3.8 and later

* ships with Lua 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5
  as well as LuaJIT 2.0 and 2.1 on systems that support it.

* easy to hack on and extend as it is written in Cython, not C


Why the...

## AI interpretation — verify before relying

Lupa integrates Lua or LuaJIT runtimes into CPython, allowing you to execute Lua code from Python and call Python functions from Lua with full bidirectional interoperability and proper coroutine support.

Verdict: Lupa is a mature, actively maintained bridge for embedding Lua/LuaJIT in Python applications. With permissive MIT licensing, no known vulnerabilities, and broad platform support via pre-built wheels, it is suitable for production use where you need Lua's speed for compute-intensive tasks alongside Python's ecosystem. Medium install friction is typical for compiled extensions and is mitigated by comprehensive wheel coverage.

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