CLI Reference

Project compilation

tslua -p tsconfig.json
tslua -p tsconfig.json --outdir dist
tslua -p tsconfig.json --watch

Flags

Flag	Description	Default
-p, --project	Path to tsconfig.json
--outdir	Output directory for Lua files	stdout
--luaTarget	Lua target version (JIT, 5.0-5.5, universal)	JIT
--emitMode	tstl (match TSTL output) or optimized	tstl
--luaLibImport	How lualib is included: require, inline, none	require
--luaBundle	Bundle all modules into a single Lua file
--luaBundleEntry	Entry point for bundle mode
--exportAsGlobal	Strip module wrapper, emit exports as globals	false
--noImplicitSelf	Default functions to no-self unless annotated	false
--sourceMap	Generate .lua.map source map files	false
-w, --watch	Watch for file changes and rebuild	false
--timing	Print phase timings to stderr	false
--verbose	Print each output file path	false
--diagnosticFormat	Diagnostic format: tstl or native	tstl
--cpuprofile	Write CPU profile to file

Commands

eval

Transpile TypeScript to Lua. Accepts source via -e flag, positional argument, or stdin.

tslua eval -e 'const greet = (name: string) => `Hello, ${name}!`'

greet = function(____, name) return ("Hello, " .. name) .. "!" end

Loops and standard library calls are translated idiomatically:

echo 'for (const x of [1, 2, 3]) { console.log(x) }' | tslua eval

for ____, x in ipairs({1, 2, 3}) do
    print(x)
end

Classes produce full Lua object setup:

tslua eval -e 'class Dog { name: string; constructor(n: string) { this.name = n } bark() { return this.name + " barks" } }'

local ____lualib = require("lualib_bundle")
local __TS__Class = ____lualib.__TS__Class
Dog = __TS__Class()
Dog.name = "Dog"
function Dog.prototype.____constructor(self, n)
    self.name = n
end
function Dog.prototype.bark(self)
    return self.name .. " barks"
end

The --trace flag annotates each statement with the TS AST node that produced it:

tslua eval --trace -e 'const x = 1 + 2'

--[[trace: KindVariableStatement]]
x = 1 + 2

Flag	Description
-e, --expr	TypeScript source to transpile
--trace	Emit --[[trace: ...]] comments on each statement

ast

Print the TypeScript AST tree. Useful for debugging transforms.

tslua ast -e 'const x = [1, 2, 3]'

SourceFile
  VariableStatement
    VariableDeclarationList  const
      VariableDeclaration  name="x"
        Identifier  text="x"
        ArrayLiteralExpression
          NumericLiteral  text="1"
          NumericLiteral  text="2"
          NumericLiteral  text="3"
  EndOfFile

Flag	Description
-e, --expr	TypeScript source to parse

completion

Generate shell autocompletion scripts.

# Bash
tslua completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/tslua

# Zsh
tslua completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_tslua"

# Fish
tslua completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/tslua.fish

server

Run as a JSON-over-stdin/stdout server. Used by the TSTL test suite (just tstl-test) to avoid re-launching the binary per test case.

tslua server
tslua server --socket /tmp/tslua.sock

Flag	Description
--socket	Unix socket path (default: stdin/stdout)