https://github.com/launchdarkly/lua-server-sdk
LaunchDarkly Server-Side SDK for Lua
https://github.com/launchdarkly/lua-server-sdk
feature-flags feature-toggles launchdarkly launchdarkly-sdk lua managed-by-terraform sdk sdk-examples
Last synced: 2 days ago
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LaunchDarkly Server-Side SDK for Lua
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/launchdarkly/lua-server-sdk
- Owner: launchdarkly
- License: other
- Created: 2020-03-24T06:32:50.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-05-07T17:26:08.000Z (3 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-07T19:29:59.239Z (3 months ago)
- Topics: feature-flags, feature-toggles, launchdarkly, launchdarkly-sdk, lua, managed-by-terraform, sdk, sdk-examples
- Language: Lua
- Homepage:
- Size: 326 KB
- Stars: 5
- Watchers: 34
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE
- Codeowners: CODEOWNERS
- Security: SECURITY.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
LaunchDarkly Server-Side SDK for Lua
===========================
[](https://github.com/launchdarkly/lua-server-sdk/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://launchdarkly.github.io/lua-server-sdk)
[](https://luarocks.org/modules/launchdarkly/launchdarkly-server-sdk)
LaunchDarkly overview
-------------------------
[LaunchDarkly](https://www.launchdarkly.com) is a feature management platform that serves trillions of feature flags daily to help teams build better software, faster. [Get started](https://docs.launchdarkly.com/home/getting-started) using LaunchDarkly today!
[](https://twitter.com/intent/follow?screen_name=launchdarkly)
Supported Lua versions
-----------
This version of the LaunchDarkly SDK is known to be compatible with the Lua 5.1-5.3 interpreter, and LuaJIT 2.0.5.
Supported C++ server-side SDK versions
-----------
This version of the Lua server-side SDK depends on the LaunchDarkly C++ Server-side SDK.
If Redis support is desired, then it optionally depends on the C++ server-side SDK's Redis Source.
| Dependency | Minimum Version | Notes |
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| C++ Server-Side SDK | [3.9.0](https://github.com/launchdarkly/cpp-sdks/releases/tag/launchdarkly-cpp-server-v3.9.0) | Required dependency. |
| C++ Server-Side SDK with Redis | [2.1.19](https://github.com/launchdarkly/cpp-sdks/releases/tag/launchdarkly-cpp-server-redis-source-v2.1.19) | Optional, if using Redis as a data source. |
3rd Party Dependencies
------------
Depending on how the C++ server-side SDK was built, the Lua SDK may require additional runtime dependencies to work properly.
| Dependency | If C++ SDK compiled with.. | Notes |
|------------|------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| OpenSSL | `LD_DYNAMIC_LINK_OPENSSL=ON` | If linking OpenSSL dynamically, it must be present on target system. |
| Boost | `LD_DYNAMIC_LINK_BOOST=ON` | If linking Boost dynamically, it must be present on the target system. |
_Note: The CI process builds against the C++ Server-side SDK's Linux shared libraries, which were compiled with `LD_DYNAMIC_LINK_BOOST=ON` so
Boost is fetched as part of the build process._
Getting started
-----------
Refer to the [SDK documentation](https://docs.launchdarkly.com/sdk/server-side/lua#getting-started) for instructions on
getting started with using the SDK.
The following examples are available in addition to the usage guide linked above:
| Example | Purpose |
|-------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [hello-lua-server](./examples/hello-lua-server) | Demonstrates basic example of Lua SDK usage from the command line. |
| [hello-haproxy](./examples/hello-haproxy) | Demonstrates usage of the Lua SDK as a [HAproxy](https://www.haproxy.org/) module via Docker. |
| [hello-nginx](./examples/hello-nginx) | Demonstrates usage of the Lua SDK as a [nginx OpenResty](https://github.com/openresty/openresty) module via Docker. |
| [hello-debian](./examples/hello-debian) | Demonstrates usage of the Lua SDK on a [Debian Bookworm](https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/) host. | |
Before you start using the SDK, you'll need to install it.
There are two paths to installing the SDK. In both cases, you must first install the native
[LaunchDarkly C++ Server-side SDK](https://github.com/launchdarkly/cpp-sdks).
You may build the C++ SDK from source using [CMake](https://cmake.org/), or obtain pre-built artifacts from the
[releases page](https://github.com/launchdarkly/cpp-sdks/releases?q=%22launchdarkly-cpp-server%22). Ensure you install
the correct variant (with or without Redis support) as defined by your requirements.
Please note that the Lua SDK uses the C++ server-side SDK's C bindings, so if you're using prebuilt artifacts
then only a C99 compiler is necessary. See the [Build Requirements](https://github.com/launchdarkly/cpp-sdks#build-requirements).
Once the C++ SDK is available, install the [LuaRocks](https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/wiki/Download) package manager.
### Install via `luarocks install`
The [LuaRocks project](https://luarocks.org) maintains a registry of Lua modules. You may install the SDK from
the registry using `luarocks install`.
**Install the base SDK only**
```bash
luarocks install launchdarkly-server-sdk \
LD_DIR=./path-to-cpp-sdk-installation
```
**Install the base SDK with Redis support**
```bash
luarocks install launchdarkly-server-sdk-redis \
LDREDIS_DIR=./path-to-cpp-sdk-with-redis-support-installation
```
### Install via `luarocks make`
If you don't want to install from LuaRocks, it's possible to compile the modules locally in this git repo by using `luarocks make`.
**Install the base SDK only**
```bash
luarocks make launchdarkly-server-sdk-2.1.3-0.rockspec \
LD_DIR=./path-to-installed-cpp-sdk
```
**Install the base SDK with Redis support**
```bash
luarocks make launchdarkly-server-sdk-redis-2.1.3-0.rockspec \
LDREDIS_DIR=./path-to-cpp-sdk-with-redis-support-installation
```
Learn more
-----------
Read our [documentation](https://docs.launchdarkly.com) for in-depth instructions on configuring and using LaunchDarkly. You can also head straight to the [complete reference guide for this SDK](https://docs.launchdarkly.com/sdk/server-side/lua).
Testing
-------
We run integration tests for all our SDKs using a centralized test harness. This approach gives us the ability to test for consistency across SDKs. These tests cover each method in the SDK, and verify that event sending, flag evaluation, stream reconnection, and other aspects of the SDK all behave correctly.
Contributing
------------
We encourage pull requests and other contributions from the community. Check out our [contributing guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md) for instructions on how to contribute to this SDK.
About LaunchDarkly
-----------
* LaunchDarkly is a continuous delivery platform that provides feature flags as a service and allows developers to iterate quickly and safely. We allow you to easily flag your features and manage them from the LaunchDarkly dashboard. With LaunchDarkly, you can:
* Roll out a new feature to a subset of your users (like a group of users who opt-in to a beta tester group), gathering feedback and bug reports from real-world use cases.
* Gradually roll out a feature to an increasing percentage of users, and track the effect that the feature has on key metrics (for instance, how likely is a user to complete a purchase if they have feature A versus feature B?).
* Turn off a feature that you realize is causing performance problems in production, without needing to re-deploy, or even restart the application with a changed configuration file.
* Grant access to certain features based on user attributes, like payment plan (eg: users on the ‘gold’ plan get access to more features than users in the ‘silver’ plan). Disable parts of your application to facilitate maintenance, without taking everything offline.
* LaunchDarkly provides feature flag SDKs for a wide variety of languages and technologies. Read [our documentation](https://docs.launchdarkly.com/sdk) for a complete list.
* Explore LaunchDarkly
* [launchdarkly.com](https://www.launchdarkly.com/ "LaunchDarkly Main Website") for more information
* [docs.launchdarkly.com](https://docs.launchdarkly.com/ "LaunchDarkly Documentation") for our documentation and SDK reference guides
* [apidocs.launchdarkly.com](https://apidocs.launchdarkly.com/ "LaunchDarkly API Documentation") for our API documentation
* [launchdarkly.com/blog](https://launchdarkly.com/blog/ "LaunchDarkly Blog Documentation") for the latest product updates