> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bluejutzu.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# GLua for Garry's Mod: GMod Lua IDE Support

> GLua adds IntelliSense, realm checks, net message analysis, and a formatter to VS Code for Garry's Mod Lua development.

A VS Code extension for GMod Lua. The Garry's Mod wiki is bundled — 5,586 entries — so completion, type tracking and diagnostics work offline, and cover the things generic Lua tooling has no idea about: server, client and shared realms, net message payloads, and hook signatures.

<Info>
  This is an unofficial, community-maintained project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Facepunch Studios.
</Info>

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Installation" icon="download" href="/glua/installation">
    Install from a `.vsix`, from a registry, or build from source.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="play" href="/glua/quickstart">
    A five-minute tour of completion, realms and net messages.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" icon="gear" href="/glua/configuration/overview">
    Committed config files, editor settings, and inline suppressions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Rules Reference" icon="book-open" href="/glua/reference/rules">
    Every diagnostic the linter reports, what it catches, and why.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What it does

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="IntelliSense and type tracking" icon="sparkles">
    Types propagate through calls, string literals, loops and metatables, so the completion list on any variable is the methods that variable actually has. The dataset behind it: 331 globals, 1,257 library functions, 2,376 class methods, 1,069 panel methods, 100 enums and 72 structures.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Realm awareness" icon="globe">
    A file's realm is read from its path and narrowed inside `if SERVER then` blocks. Calling `Player:Kick` from a clientside file is reported where you write it, not left for someone to find in-game.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Net message analysis" icon="server">
    Each `net.Start` is paired with its `net.Receive` across files and their write/read sequences compared. Writing an `Entity` and reading a `UInt` on the other end is caught before the message runs.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Hook intelligence" icon="zap">
    551 hook signatures. Names complete, typos are flagged with a quick-fix suggestion, and callback parameters take their types from the signature without you annotating anything.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Formatter" icon="align-left">
    Reprints from the syntax tree. It refuses to touch a file that does not parse, never drops a comment, and leaves idiomatic one-liners like `if not IsValid(ent) then return end` alone. Configured with `.gluafmtrc.json`, `.editorconfig` or `.prettierrc`.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Performance

Measured on a 932-file, 232,000-line gamemode:

| Metric                     | Result |
| -------------------------- | ------ |
| Cold index                 | 4.8 s  |
| Retained heap              | 59 MB  |
| Re-analyse 3,200-line file | 31 ms  |
| Member completion          | 1.2 ms |
| Global completion          | 4.1 ms |
| Diagnostics                | 3.5 ms |

## Activation

GLua does not claim every `.lua` file on your machine. It attaches to Garry's Mod workspaces, and to anything else only when you ask it to. The status bar shows the current mode:

* `GLua · Server`
* `GLua · Client`
* `GLua · Shared`
* `Plain Lua`

If you see `Plain Lua` in a GMod project, click the status bar item or set `glua.activation` to `always`.

## A note on how this was built

<Note>
  AI assistance was used throughout this project, from the parser to these docs. It isn't meant to be a big, load-bearing tool — it's a project built to understand how language servers and CLIs actually work, from the inside.
</Note>