XTLS_Xray-docs-next/docs/en/development/lua/environment.md

Runtime Environment and Script Loading

Lua Environment

Xray currently uses GopherLua, which supports Lua 5.1 syntax, Lua 5.2's goto statement, and its own channel.

Xray loads Lua scripts according to the configuration file. The configuration location determines the script's purpose and the available Hooks. See the Hook reference for each entry point's Hooks and calling conventions.

Module Loading

API modules are organized by functionality and loaded with require:

local geodata = require("xray.geodata")
local log = require("xray.log")

See Module API for the module list, and each API reference for function usage.

See Instances and Lifecycle for when top-level initialization, such as loading Lua modules and creating objects, runs.

Script File Paths

The script field in the configuration file specifies the path to a Lua script. An empty string or an omitted field disables the script; an absolute path locates the file directly.

Relative paths are searched in the following order. If a path does not exist, the search continues; if it exists but is not a regular file, an error is raised immediately:

1. The directory specified by the XRAY_LOCATION_CONFDIR environment variable;
2. The directory specified by the XRAY_LOCATION_CONFIG environment variable;
3. The Xray process's current working directory;
4. The directory containing the Xray executable.

See Environment Variables for these directory settings. Relative paths are not automatically resolved against the directory containing the configuration file.

For example, when the script path is routing.lua, Xray searches for the file in the order above. A Windows absolute path can be written as C:/Xray/routing.lua; if you use backslashes, escape them as required by your configuration format.