diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index ff3406c..08100be 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -19,11 +19,16 @@ pub fn build(b: *Build) void {
     const library_name = b.option([]const u8, "library_name", "Library name for lua linking, default is `lua`") orelse "lua";
     const shared = b.option(bool, "shared", "Build shared library instead of static") orelse false;
     const luau_use_4_vector = b.option(bool, "luau_use_4_vector", "Build Luau to use 4-vectors instead of the default 3-vector.") orelse false;
+    const lua_user_h = b.option(Build.LazyPath, "lua_user_h", "Lazy path to user supplied c header file") orelse null;
 
     if (lang == .luau and shared) {
         std.debug.panic("Luau does not support compiling or loading shared modules", .{});
     }
 
+    if (lua_user_h != null and (lang == .luajit or lang == .luau)) {
+        std.debug.panic("Only basic lua supports a user provided header file", .{});
+    }
+
     // Zig module
     const zlua = b.addModule("zlua", .{
         .root_source_file = b.path("src/lib.zig"),
@@ -44,7 +49,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *Build) void {
         const lib = switch (lang) {
             .luajit => luajit_setup.configure(b, target, optimize, upstream, shared),
             .luau => luau_setup.configure(b, target, optimize, upstream, luau_use_4_vector),
-            else => lua_setup.configure(b, target, optimize, upstream, lang, shared, library_name),
+            else => lua_setup.configure(b, target, optimize, upstream, lang, shared, library_name, lua_user_h),
         };
 
         // Expose the Lua artifact, and get an install step that header translation can refer to
@@ -103,6 +108,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *Build) void {
     var common_examples = [_]struct { []const u8, []const u8 }{
         .{ "interpreter", "examples/interpreter.zig" },
         .{ "zig-function", "examples/zig-fn.zig" },
+        .{ "multithreaded", "examples/multithreaded.zig" },
     };
     const luau_examples = [_]struct { []const u8, []const u8 }{
         .{ "luau-bytecode", "examples/luau-bytecode.zig" },
diff --git a/build/lua.zig b/build/lua.zig
index 1131553..3df9dcd 100644
--- a/build/lua.zig
+++ b/build/lua.zig
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ pub const Language = enum {
     luau,
 };
 
-pub fn configure(b: *Build, target: Build.ResolvedTarget, optimize: std.builtin.OptimizeMode, upstream: *Build.Dependency, lang: Language, shared: bool, library_name: []const u8) *Step.Compile {
+pub fn configure(b: *Build, target: Build.ResolvedTarget, optimize: std.builtin.OptimizeMode, upstream: *Build.Dependency, lang: Language, shared: bool, library_name: []const u8, lua_user_h: ?Build.LazyPath) *Step.Compile {
     const version: std.SemanticVersion = switch (lang) {
         .lua51 => .{ .major = 5, .minor = 1, .patch = 5 },
         .lua52 => .{ .major = 5, .minor = 2, .patch = 4 },
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ pub fn configure(b: *Build, target: Build.ResolvedTarget, optimize: std.builtin.
 
     lib.addIncludePath(upstream.path("src"));
 
+    const user_header = "user.h";
+
     const flags = [_][]const u8{
         // Standard version used in Lua Makefile
         "-std=gnu99",
@@ -55,6 +57,8 @@ pub fn configure(b: *Build, target: Build.ResolvedTarget, optimize: std.builtin.
 
         // Build as DLL for windows if shared
         if (target.result.os.tag == .windows and shared) "-DLUA_BUILD_AS_DLL" else "",
+
+        if (lua_user_h) |_| b.fmt("-DLUA_USER_H=\"{s}\"", .{user_header}) else "",
     };
 
     const lua_source_files = switch (lang) {
@@ -87,6 +91,11 @@ pub fn configure(b: *Build, target: Build.ResolvedTarget, optimize: std.builtin.
     lib.installHeader(upstream.path("src/lauxlib.h"), "lauxlib.h");
     lib.installHeader(upstream.path("src/luaconf.h"), "luaconf.h");
 
+    if (lua_user_h) |user_h| {
+        lib.addIncludePath(user_h.dirname());
+        lib.installHeader(user_h, user_header);
+    }
+
     return lib;
 }
 
diff --git a/examples/multithreaded.zig b/examples/multithreaded.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..271b96a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multithreaded.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+//! Multi threaded lua program
+//! The additional header must be passed to the build using `-Dlua_user_h=examples/user.h`
+//! Checkout http://lua-users.org/wiki/ThreadsTutorial for more info
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const zlua = @import("zlua");
+
+var mutex = std.Thread.Mutex{};
+
+export fn lua_zlock(L: *zlua.LuaState) callconv(.C) void {
+    _ = L;
+    mutex.lock();
+}
+
+export fn lua_zunlock(L: *zlua.LuaState) callconv(.C) void {
+    _ = L;
+    mutex.unlock();
+}
+
+fn add_to_x(lua: *zlua.Lua, num: usize) void {
+    for (0..num) |_| {
+        // omit error handling for brevity
+        lua.loadString("x = x + 1\n") catch return;
+        lua.protectedCall(.{}) catch return;
+    }
+
+    const size = 256;
+    var buf = [_:0]u8{0} ** size;
+    _ = std.fmt.bufPrint(&buf, "print(\"{}: \", x)", .{std.Thread.getCurrentId()}) catch return;
+
+    // The printing from different threads does not always work nicely
+    // There seems to be a separate sterr lock on each argument to print
+    lua.loadString(&buf) catch return;
+    lua.protectedCall(.{}) catch return;
+}
+
+pub fn main() anyerror!void {
+    var gpa = std.heap.GeneralPurposeAllocator(.{}){};
+    const allocator = gpa.allocator();
+    defer _ = gpa.deinit();
+
+    // Initialize The Lua vm and get a reference to the main thread
+    var lua = try zlua.Lua.init(allocator);
+    defer lua.deinit();
+
+    lua.openLibs();
+
+    // create a global variable accessible by all threads
+    // omit error handling for brevity
+    try lua.loadString("_G.x = 0\n");
+    try lua.protectedCall(.{});
+
+    const num = 1_000;
+    const n_jobs = 5;
+    var subs: [n_jobs]*zlua.Lua = undefined;
+
+    // create a thread pool to run all the functions
+    var pool: std.Thread.Pool = undefined;
+    try pool.init(.{ .allocator = allocator, .n_jobs = n_jobs });
+    defer pool.deinit();
+
+    var wg: std.Thread.WaitGroup = .{};
+
+    for (0..n_jobs) |i| {
+        subs[i] = lua.newThread();
+        pool.spawnWg(&wg, add_to_x, .{ subs[i], num });
+    }
+
+    // also do the thing from the main thread
+    add_to_x(lua, num);
+
+    wg.wait();
+
+    for (subs) |sub| {
+        try lua.closeThread(sub);
+    }
+
+    // print the final value
+    try lua.loadString("print(x)\n");
+    try lua.protectedCall(.{});
+}
diff --git a/examples/user.h b/examples/user.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59d89a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/user.h
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#define lua_lock(L) lua_zlock(L)
+#define lua_unlock(L) lua_zunlock(L)
+
+void lua_zlock(lua_State* L);
+void lua_zunlock(lua_State* L);
+
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 5a2e810..a4199ad 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ There are currently three additional options that can be passed to `b.dependency
 * `.lang`: Set the Lua language to build and embed. Defaults to `.lua54`. Possible values are `.lua51`, `.lua52`, `.lua53`, `.lua54`, and `luau`.
 * `.shared`: Defaults to `false` for embedding in a Zig program. Set to `true` to dynamically link the Lua source code (useful for creating shared modules).
 * `luau_use_4_vector`: defaults to false. Set to true to use 4-vectors instead of the default 3-vector in Luau.
+* `lua_user_h`: defaults to null. Provide a path to an additional header file for the Lua compilation. Must be set to to `examples/user.h` in order to run the multithreaded example.
 
 For example, here is a `b.dependency()` call that and links against a shared Lua 5.2 library: