PuerTS — Lua for .NET

PuerTS is a scripting solution that brings Lua to your .NET applications. Built on Lua 5.4, it provides high-performance script execution with seamless C# interop — using the same unified ScriptEnv API as the JavaScript and Python backends.

Features

🚀 High Performance — Powered by Lua 5.4, one of the fastest embeddable scripting languages.
🔗 Seamless C# Interop — Call any .NET type directly from Lua, and invoke Lua functions from C#.
🌍 Cross-Platform — Supports Windows, macOS, and Linux.
🔄 Unified API — Same ScriptEnv architecture as JS and Python backends — easy to switch or mix languages.

Installation

Install via NuGet. The Complete package includes core + native assets for all desktop platforms:

shell

dotnet add package Puerts.Lua.Complete

Or install components separately for finer control:

shell

# Core library (required)
dotnet add package Puerts.Core


# Lua backend
dotnet add package Puerts.Lua


# Native assets per platform (choose what you need)
dotnet add package Puerts.Lua.NativeAssets.Win32
dotnet add package Puerts.Lua.NativeAssets.Linux
dotnet add package Puerts.Lua.NativeAssets.macOS

Supported Platforms

.net8.0+, .netstandard2.1

	Windows (x64)	Linux (x64)	macOS (Universal)
Lua	✔️	✔️	✔️

Note: AOT compilation is not currently supported.

Quick Start

csharp

using Puerts;

var env = new ScriptEnv(new BackendLua());

// Execute Lua code
env.Eval(@"
    local CS = require('csharp')
    local Console = CS.System.Console
    Console.WriteLine('Hello from Lua!')
");

// Eval with return value (Lua requires explicit 'return')
int result = env.Eval<int>("return 1 + 2");
Console.WriteLine($"Lua result: {result}"); // output: 3

env.Dispose();

Calling C# from Lua

Access .NET types via require('csharp'):

lua

local CS = require('csharp')
local Console = CS.System.Console
local DateTime = CS.System.DateTime
local List = CS.System.Collections.Generic.List(CS.System.String)

-- Create instances and call methods
local now = DateTime.Now
Console.WriteLine('Current time: ' .. now:ToString())

local list = List()
list:Add('hello')
list:Add('world')
Console.WriteLine('Count: ' .. tostring(list.Count))

Note: In Lua, instance methods use the colon syntax obj:Method(), while static methods use the dot syntax Class.Method().

Calling Lua from C#

csharp

using Puerts;
using System;

var env = new ScriptEnv(new BackendLua());

// Get a Lua function as a C# delegate
var add = env.Eval<Func<int, int, int>>("return function(a, b) return a + b end");
Console.WriteLine(add(10, 20)); // output: 30

// Get a Lua action
var greet = env.Eval<Action<string>>(@"
    return function(name)
        local CS = require('csharp')
        CS.System.Console.WriteLine('Hello, ' .. name .. '!')
    end
");
greet("PuerTS");

env.Dispose();

Key Differences from JS

Feature	JavaScript	Lua
Environment creation	`new ScriptEnv(new BackendV8())`	`new ScriptEnv(new BackendLua())`
Console output	`console.log(...)`	`print(...)`
Accessing C# types	`CS.Namespace.Class`	`require('csharp')` to get namespace entry
Instance method calls	`obj.Method()`	`obj:Method()` (colon syntax)
Null representation	`null` / `undefined`	`nil`
Return from Eval	Last expression auto-returned	Explicit `return` required

Documentation

For full documentation, tutorials and API reference, visit: https://puerts.github.io/en

License

BSD 3-Clause