lune: A standalone Luau runtime
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2026 3:44 pm
Lune is a standalone Luau runtime, meaning you can run Luau scripts outside Roblox entirely: build scripts, CI jobs, asset pipelines, Discord bots, whatever you need. One language for your game and your tooling.
What is lune?
A standalone Luau runtime
Write and run programs, similar to runtimes for other languages such as Node, Deno, Bun, or Luvit for vanilla Lua. Lune provides fully asynchronous APIs wherever possible, and is built in Rust
for speed, safety and correctness. - 
Strictly minimal but powerful interface that is easy to read and remember, just like Luau itself - 
Fully featured APIs for the filesystem, networking, stdio, all included in the small (~5mb zipped) executable - 
World-class documentation, on the web or directly in your editor, no network connection necessary - 
Familiar runtime environment for Roblox developers, with an included 1-to-1 task scheduler port - 
Optional built-in library for manipulating Roblox place & model files, and their instances - Making programs short and terse - proper autocomplete / intellisense make using Lune just as quick, and readability is important - Running full Roblox games outside of Roblox - there is some compatibility, but Lune is meant for different purposes Head over to the Installation page to get started using Lune!The facts, straight from GitHub
- Repository: lune-org/lune
- 917 stars and 127 forks, with 61 open issues
- Written mainly in Rust
- Licensed under MPL-2.0
- Started in 2023, last updated 2026-07-03
Grab it with: git clone https://github.com/lune-org/lune.git
You need the Rust toolchain (rustup). Clone the repository and run cargo build --release.
Frequently asked questions
Is lune free to use?
It is released under the MPL-2.0 license, so it is free to use. Read the license text for the exact terms before you ship anything based on it.
Is the project still maintained?
Yes, the last update was pushed on 2026-07-03, so the project is alive and moving.
What do I need to know before diving in?
The project is written mainly in Rust, so some familiarity there helps a lot. Start with the README, then browse the open issues to see what the rough edges are. That is usually the fastest way to understand the real state of any repository.
Where do I get help if I am stuck?
Open an issue on the GitHub issue tracker, check existing discussions, and of course post right here in this topic. Someone in the Roblox community has probably hit the same wall before you.
Over to you
Have you tried lune? Are you running it, forking it, or did you rage quit halfway through the setup? Reply below with your experience, your questions or your own favorite alternative. If there is enough interest we can put together a community guide for it.