EmmyLua Analyzer Rust

A high-performance Lua language server, code formatter, linter, and documentation generator — built with Rust.

Quick Start · Components · Features · Usage · Configuration · Documentation · Development

Why EmmyLua Analyzer Rust?

Fast — Incremental analysis powered by Rust; handles large codebases with ease
Complete — Supports Lua 5.1 – 5.5 and LuaJIT, with EmmyLua & Luacats annotations
Universal — Standard LSP protocol works with VS Code, Neovim, IntelliJ, and any LSP-compatible editor
All-in-one — Language server, code formatter, static analyzer, and doc generator in a single toolchain

Components

Crate	Binary	Description
`emmylua_ls`	`emmylua_ls`	Language server with completion, diagnostics, hover, rename, semantic tokens, and more
`emmylua_formatter`	`luafmt`	Deterministic, width-aware Lua & EmmyLua code formatter
`emmylua_check`	`emmylua_check`	Static analyzer / linter with 50+ diagnostics, CI friendly
`emmylua_doc_cli`	`emmylua_doc_cli`	Documentation generator from source code and annotations (HTML/Markdown/JSON)
`emmylua_parser`	—	Lua and EmmyLua parser library
`emmylua_code_analysis`	—	Code analysis library powering the language server
`emmylua_parser_desc`	—	Parser for markup within Lua comments
`schema_to_emmylua`	—	Tool to convert JSON Schema to EmmyLua annotations

Quick Start

Install

# Via Cargo
cargo install emmylua_ls          # Language server
cargo install emmylua_formatter   # Code formatter (binary: luafmt)
cargo install emmylua_check       # Static analyzer / linter
cargo install emmylua_doc_cli     # Documentation generator

Or download pre-built binaries from the Releases page.

Editor Setup

Before connecting your editor:

Install emmylua_ls and make sure it is available in PATH, or use an absolute binary path in your LSP client.
Add a project config file such as .emmyrc.json, .luarc.json, or .emmyrc.lua.
Restart the language server after changing global editor or workspace configuration.

See the Configuration Guide for all supported options.

VS Code

Recommended setup:

Install the EmmyLua Extension.
Open a Lua workspace.
Add .emmyrc.json at the project root if you need custom runtime, diagnostics, or library paths.

This is the easiest way to get completion, diagnostics, hover, formatting, semantic tokens, and project indexing with minimal manual setup.

Neovim

Neovim 0.11+ example:

vim.lsp.config("emmylua_ls", {
	cmd = { "emmylua_ls" },
	filetypes = { "lua" },
	root_markers = { ".emmyrc.json", ".luarc.json", ".git" },
})

vim.lsp.enable("emmylua_ls")

If you manage servers manually, replace cmd with the full path to your binary.

IntelliJ IDE

Install the EmmyLua2 Plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace.

For most projects, no extra setup is required beyond opening the workspace. Add .emmyrc.json if you need custom workspace roots, library paths, or stricter diagnostics.

Other editors

Any editor with LSP support can use emmylua_ls over stdio, which is the default and recommended mode.

Typical client command:

{
	"command": "emmylua_ls",
	"args": []
}

Use TCP only when you explicitly want a remote or debug-friendly setup:

emmylua_ls -c tcp --ip 127.0.0.1 --port 5007

Useful client root markers:

.emmyrc.json
.luarc.json
.emmyrc.lua
.git

Features

Language Support

Version	Status
Lua 5.1 – 5.5	✅ Full support
LuaJIT / LuaJIT2 / LuaJIT3	✅ Full support
EmmyLua / Luacats annotations	✅ Supported

LSP Capabilities

Area	Capabilities
Navigation	Go to Definition, Go to Implementation, Find References, Call Hierarchy, Document Highlights
Symbols	Document Symbols, Workspace Symbols, Selection Range
Editing	Completion, Rename, Code Actions, Document Formatting, Range Formatting, On-type Formatting
Insight	Hover, Signature Help, Diagnostics, Semantic Tokens, Inlay Hints, Code Lens, Document Color
Structure	Folding Range, Document Links

In practice, this gives you a full day-to-day Lua editing workflow: symbol navigation, annotation-aware type feedback, project-wide references, incremental diagnostics, and formatting support in editors that expose standard LSP features.

Code Quality

Static analysis with 50+ diagnostic rules
Code formatting and style enforcement
EmmyLua / Luacats annotation support

Usage

Language Server

# Default stdio mode
emmylua_ls

# TCP mode for remote debugging
emmylua_ls -c tcp --port 5007 --log-level debug --log-path ./logs

# Specify editor for editor-specific optimizations
emmylua_ls --editor intellij

Parameter	Description
`-c, --communication`	`stdio` (default) or `tcp`
`--port`	TCP port (default: 5007)
`--log-level`	`debug` / `info` / `warn` / `error`
`--log-path`	Log output directory
`--editor`	`vscode` / `intellij` / `neovim`

Code Formatter

luafmt src --write                          # Format and write files in src
luafmt . --check --exclude "vendor/**"      # Verify formatting (git-diff style output)
luafmt --stdin < script.lua                 # Read from stdin
luafmt --dump-default-config                # Print the default configuration

Main options: --write, --check, --list-different, --config <FILE>, --include / --exclude glob filters, --level <Lua51|Lua52|Lua53|Lua54|Lua55|LuaJIT>, --color, --diff-style <marker|git>.

See the Formatter Guide for behavior, options, and profiles.

Static Analyzer

emmylua_check .                              # Analyze the current directory
emmylua_check ./src -c ./config/.emmyrc.json # Use a specific config file
emmylua_check . -i "vender/**,test/**"       # Ignore files/directories
emmylua_check . --severity warn              # Only show warnings and above
emmylua_check . -f json --output ./diag.json # Output diagnostics as JSON
emmylua_check . -f sarif                     # Output diagnostics as SARIF
emmylua_check . -f github                    # GitHub Actions inline annotations

Parameter	Description
`-c, --config`	Path to config file (`.emmyrc.json` / `.luarc.json` searched by default)
`-i, --ignore`	Comma-separated glob patterns to ignore
`-f, --output-format`	`text` (default), `json`, `sarif`, `github`
`--output`	Output target (stdout or file)
`--warnings-as-errors`	Treat warnings as errors
`--severity`	Minimum severity: `error` / `warn` / `info` / `hint`

Documentation Generator

emmylua_doc_cli ./src -o ./docs                     # Generate HTML docs from ./src
emmylua_doc_cli . -f markdown -o ./docs             # Generate Markdown docs
emmylua_doc_cli . -f json -o ./api.json             # Generate a JSON AST
emmylua_doc_cli . -o ./docs --site-name "My Project"
emmylua_doc_cli . -o ./docs --exclude "third_party/**,test/**"

Parameter	Description
`-f, --output-format`	`markdown` (default), `json`
`-o, --output`	Output destination
`--include` / `--exclude`	Comma-separated glob patterns
`--site-name`	Site name (default: `Docs`)
`--override-template`	Path to a custom template
`--mixin`	Path to a mixin Markdown file (guides, tutorials, etc.)

Configuration

The project reads configuration from the workspace root, in order of preference:

File	Notes
`.emmyrc.json`	Recommended, full feature support, JSON schema available
`.luarc.json`	Useful when migrating from LuaLS
`.emmyrc.lua`	Lua-based config, evaluated with the embedded `luars` runtime

Example .emmyrc.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EmmyLuaLs/emmylua-analyzer-rust/refs/heads/main/crates/emmylua_code_analysis/resources/schema.json",
  "runtime": {
    "version": "LuaLatest"
  },
  "workspace": {
    "workspaceRoots": ["./src"]
  },
  "diagnostics": {
    "disable": ["undefined-global"]
  }
}

See the Configuration Guide for all supported options.

Documentation

Features Guide — Comprehensive feature documentation
Configuration — Advanced configuration options
Formatter Guide — Formatter behavior, options, and usage guide
Annotations Reference — Detailed annotation documentation
External Formatter Integration — Using external formatters

Development

Build from Source

Requires a recent stable Rust toolchain (Rust Edition 2024).

git clone https://github.com/EmmyLuaLs/emmylua-analyzer-rust.git
cd emmylua-analyzer-rust

cargo build --release              # Build everything
cargo build --release -p emmylua_ls   # Build only the language server

Test

cargo test                      # Run all tests
cargo test -p emmylua_parser    # Run parser tests only

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

License

MIT

Thanks to all contributors and the Lua community.

Back to top

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 2,907 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.vscode		.vscode
crates		crates
docs		docs
nix		nix
tools		tools
.clippy.toml		.clippy.toml
.gitignore		.gitignore
.luafmt.toml		.luafmt.toml
.pre-commit-config.yaml		.pre-commit-config.yaml
.prettierignore		.prettierignore
.prettierrc		.prettierrc
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
Cargo.lock		Cargo.lock
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
flake.lock		flake.lock
flake.nix		flake.nix
rust-toolchain.toml		rust-toolchain.toml
rustfmt.toml		rustfmt.toml
typos.toml		typos.toml

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EmmyLua Analyzer Rust

Why EmmyLua Analyzer Rust?

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Quick Start

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EmmyLua Analyzer Rust

Why EmmyLua Analyzer Rust?

Components

Quick Start

Install

Editor Setup

Features

Language Support

LSP Capabilities

Code Quality

Usage

Language Server

Code Formatter

Static Analyzer

Documentation Generator

Configuration

Documentation

Development

Build from Source

Test

Contributing

License

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