---
id: tree-sitter-lua
version: "0.5.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# tree-sitter-lua — Lua grammar for tree-sitter

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 1.7M/mo

## What it is and what it does

tree-sitter-lua is a language grammar binding that provides Lua syntax support for the tree-sitter incremental parser framework. It parses Lua 5.x and LuaJIT 2.x code into syntax trees, enabling tools to analyze, transform, or lint Lua programs. The package ships as precompiled wheels for common platforms (macOS, Linux, Windows, ARM), so installation is straightforward across architectures.

The grammar is maintained as part of the tree-sitter-grammars organization and includes an external scanner for handling Lua's string and comment syntax. It's a low-level tool: you use it when building linters, code formatters, static analyzers, or IDE features that need to understand Lua syntax. You'll need to install the tree-sitter library separately to actually parse code with this grammar.

Use it for:

- Build a Lua linter or code formatter that understands the full syntax tree.
- Implement IDE features like symbol navigation or refactoring for Lua code.
- Analyze Lua codebases for style violations or architectural patterns.
- Generate documentation or metrics from Lua source files.
- Create a Lua-aware code search or transformation tool.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides a tree-sitter grammar for parsing Lua 5.x and LuaJIT 2.x code, enabling incremental syntax analysis and AST generation.

Yes, if you are building developer tools for Lua and need accurate incremental parsing. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and ships on multiple platforms. Install friction is moderate but manageable. Not necessary for end-user Lua applications—only for tooling that must analyze Lua code.

## Install

pip install tree-sitter-lua
uv add tree-sitter-lua
poetry add tree-sitter-lua

## Installing tree-sitter-lua

Before you install: Medium install friction due to precompiled wheels for multiple platforms (x86_64, ARM, Windows, macOS, Linux), but requires Python 3.10+. No runtime dependencies. Repository is actively maintained with recent commits.

License in practice: MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and proprietary projects.

Quickstart:

pip install tree-sitter-lua

import tree_sitter_lua

Requires Python 3.10 or later; tree-sitter library must be installed separately to use the grammar.

Verify before relying:

- How to instantiate and use the grammar object returned by tree_sitter_lua after import.
- Whether the package includes query API bindings or only the grammar/language object.
- Performance characteristics for large Lua codebases or real-time parsing scenarios.
- Compatibility with specific tree-sitter versions.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: medium
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 1.7M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

lua parser tree-sitter, incremental lua parsing, lua ast generation, lua syntax analysis, tree-sitter grammar lua, lua code parsing, luajit parser, parsing, lua, ast

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/tree-sitter-lua) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/tree-sitter-lua/)