EmmyLua Analyzer Rust

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

Quick Start · Features · Documentation · Development

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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

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Quick Start

Install

# Via Cargo
cargo install emmylua_ls          # Language server
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:

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

See the Configuration Guide for all supported options.

VS Code

Recommended setup:

1. Install the EmmyLua Extension.
2. Open a Lua workspace.
3. 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

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Features

Language Support

Version	Status
Lua 5.1	✅ Full support
Lua 5.2	✅ Full support
Lua 5.3	✅ Integer types, UTF-8
Lua 5.4	✅ Attributes, generational GC
Lua 5.5	✅ New global syntax
LuaJIT	✅ FFI, bit operations

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 40+ diagnostic rules
• Code formatting and style enforcement
• EmmyLua / Luacats annotation support

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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

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

Static Analyzer

emmylua_check .                           # Analyze current directory
emmylua_check ./src --verbose --format json  # Detailed JSON output

Documentation Generator

emmylua_doc_cli ./src --output ./docs

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Documentation

• Features Guide - Comprehensive feature documentation
• Configuration - Advanced configuration options
• Formatter Guide - Formatter behavior, options, and usage guide
• Annotations Reference - Detailed annotation documentation
• Old Formatter - Formatting and style guidelines
• External Formatter Integration - Using external formatters

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Development

Build from Source

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.

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License

MIT

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Thanks to all contributors and the Lua community.

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