LuaRocks Documentation

Manifests

Manifests are index files that list all available modules, their versions, and download locations. The LuaRocks CLI uses manifests to discover and install packages.

Using Manifests with LuaRocks

Use the --server option to specify which manifest root path to install from:

luarocks install --server=<root-path> <module-name>

Manifest Root Paths

LuaRocks.org provides several manifest root paths, each serving a different subset of modules:

Root Path	Description
https://luarocks.org	All stable modules (default)
https://luarocks.org/dev	Development versions only
https://luarocks.org/manifests/:username	All modules by a specific user
https://luarocks.org/m/:name	Custom manifest (stable versions)
https://luarocks.org/m/:name/dev	Custom manifest (dev versions)

Available Paths Under Each Root

Each manifest root path serves the following manifest files:

Path	Description
/manifest	All modules (all Lua versions)
/manifest-5.1	Modules compatible with Lua 5.1
/manifest-5.2	Modules compatible with Lua 5.2
/manifest-5.3	Modules compatible with Lua 5.3
/manifest-5.4	Modules compatible with Lua 5.4

For example, https://luarocks.org/dev/manifest-5.4 returns development versions compatible with Lua 5.4.

Manifest File Structure

Manifest files are Lua tables with the following structure:

{
  repository = {
    ["module_name"] = {
      ["version"] = {
        { arch = "rockspec" },
        { arch = "linux-x86_64" },
        -- additional architectures...
      }
    }
  },
  commands = {},
  modules = {}
}

The repository table maps module names to versions to available architectures. Each version entry lists the available architectures, which always includes "rockspec" for the source specification. Binary rocks are listed with their platform architecture (e.g., "linux-x86_64", "macosx-arm64").

The commands and modules tables are always empty for the remote module repository.

Accessing Module Files

The manifest root path also serves the actual module files (rockspecs and rocks). Files are accessed relative to the manifest root using these patterns:

File Type	Path Pattern	Example
Rockspec	/{module}-{version}.rockspec	/lpeg-1.0.2-1.rockspec
Rock (source)	/{module}-{version}.src.rock	/lpeg-1.0.2-1.src.rock
Rock (binary)	/{module}-{version}.{arch}.rock	/lpeg-1.0.2-1.linux-x86_64.rock

For example, using --server=https://luarocks.org/manifests/luarocks, the rockspec for lpeg would be available at https://luarocks.org/manifests/luarocks/lpeg-1.0.2-1.rockspec.

Output Formats

All manifest URLs return a Lua table by default. Append .json for JSON format or .zip for compressed format. For example: /manifest.json or /manifest-5.4.zip.

Custom Manifests

Users can create curated manifests at /m/:name. Custom manifests can be:

• Open: Anyone can add their modules
• Closed: Only manifest admins can add modules

Usage Examples

Install from the root manifest (default):

luarocks install lpeg

Install a development version:

luarocks install --server=https://luarocks.org/dev lpeg

Install from a user manifest:

luarocks install --server=https://luarocks.org/manifests/luarocks lpeg

Install from a custom manifest:

luarocks install --server=https://luarocks.org/m/mymanifest mymodule

Mirrors

Alternative servers are available for accessing LuaRocks packages:

HTTP Mirror

• https://mirror.luarocks.org/ - An alternative server for accessing LuaRocks packages

GitHub Repository Mirrors

Daily git backups of the manifest data:

• moonrocks-mirror - Root manifest backup
• moonrocks-dev-mirror - Dev manifest backup

These GitHub mirrors can be used directly as a LuaRocks server via raw.githubusercontent.com:

luarocks install --server=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rocks-moonscript-org/moonrocks-mirror/master lpeg

For dev versions:

luarocks install --server=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rocks-moonscript-org/moonrocks-dev-mirror/master lpeg

This can be useful as a fallback if the main LuaRocks.org server is unavailable.