diff --git a/examples/data.lua b/examples/data.lua
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4051e9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/data.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+return {
+	["country"] = "Australia"; -- this place
+	["cities"] = {
+		"Sydney",
+		"Melbourne",
+		"Brisbane",
+		"Perth",
+	};
+};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_lua.go b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_lua.go
index 5db879f4..efc04eac 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_lua.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_lua.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nolua
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/encoder_lua.go b/pkg/yqlib/encoder_lua.go
index a74c68cb..d1bb81aa 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/encoder_lua.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/encoder_lua.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nolua
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/lua_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/lua_test.go
index 4089308f..ddcbd023 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/lua_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/lua_test.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nolua
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (
@@ -54,6 +56,7 @@ cities:
 		description:  "Basic roundtrip",
 		skipDoc:      true,
 		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+		expression:   `.cities[0] = "Adelaide"`,
 		input: `return {
 	["country"] = "Australia"; -- this place
 	["cities"] = {
@@ -67,7 +70,7 @@ cities:
 		expected: `return {
 	["country"] = "Australia";
 	["cities"] = {
-		"Sydney",
+		"Adelaide",
 		"Melbourne",
 		"Brisbane",
 		"Perth",
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/no_lua.go b/pkg/yqlib/no_lua.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..05368eff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/no_lua.go
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//go:build yq_nolua
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewLuaEncoder(prefs LuaPreferences) Encoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewLuaDecoder(prefs LuaPreferences) Decoder {
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/project-words.txt b/project-words.txt
index cbea0767..ab50a416 100644
--- a/project-words.txt
+++ b/project-words.txt
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ Nonquoting
 nosec
 notoml
 noxml
+nolua
 nullinput
 onea
 Oneshot
diff --git a/scripts/build-small-yq.sh b/scripts/build-small-yq.sh
index 81c78c11..9ecfddab 100755
--- a/scripts/build-small-yq.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-small-yq.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-go build -tags yq_notoml -tags yq_noxml -tags yq_nojson -ldflags "-s -w" .
\ No newline at end of file
+go build -tags "yq_nolua yq_notoml yq_noxml yq_nojson" -ldflags "-s -w" .
\ No newline at end of file