What Can You Do With Lua?

Knowing what Lua is used for makes it easier to stay motivated while learning the basics:

• Make games — 2D games with LÖVE, experiences on Roblox, or game logic in engines that embed Lua.
• Customize your editor — Neovim configuration, key mappings, and plugins.
• Script servers — custom request handling in Nginx/OpenResty, atomic operations in Redis, traffic rules in HAProxy.
• Automate applications — plugins for Wireshark, Lightroom, OBS, mpv, and many others that embed Lua.
• Configure systems — Lua is often used as a configuration language, because config files can then contain logic.
• Embedded devices — NodeMCU runs Lua on microcontrollers; OpenWrt routers use it for their web interface.

You'll build smaller versions of several of these in the project lessons at the end of each level.