@meta

Overview

@meta marks a file as a type-only declaration file. GLuaLS reads it for type information. Your addon does not run it. Use this for meta libraries, including the wiki-generated Garry’s Mod annotations downloaded by the VS Code extension (stable, pre-release).

Syntax

---@meta
---@meta library_name

Usage

Use meta files to define types for:

External libraries
Built-in APIs
Code without implementation source

---@meta

---@class JSONLib
local json = {}

---@param str string
---@return table
function json.decode(str) end

---@param value table
---@return string
function json.encode(value) end

return json

Named meta files

Add a name after @meta to connect the file to a library name for documentation and tooling:

---@meta mylib

Common uses

Downloaded Garry’s Mod annotations: the VS Code extension loads wiki-generated API annotations as meta files
Third-party library stubs: declare types for libraries loaded at runtime
Custom type files: define extra types used across your workspace

Meta files in workspace configuration

Add meta files or directories to workspace.library so GLuaLS analyzes them without treating them as project code:

Use the settings menu instead of editing the JSON file directly. This helps you avoid config mistakes.

.gluarc.json

{
  "workspace": {
    "library": ["./types", "./vendor/stubs"]
  }
}

Overview

Type system

Functions

Garry's Mod Lua

Utilities

Overview

Syntax

Usage

Named meta files

Common uses

Meta files in workspace configuration

See also

​Overview

​Syntax

​Usage

​Named meta files

​Common uses

​Meta files in workspace configuration

​See also

Overview

Syntax

Usage

Named meta files

Common uses

Meta files in workspace configuration

See also