diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index fb432cf8..1fc14c05 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ luau = ["ffi/luau", "dep:libloading"]
 luau-jit = ["luau", "ffi/luau-codegen"]
 luau-vector4 = ["luau", "ffi/luau-vector4"]
 vendored = ["ffi/vendored"]
+external = ["ffi/external"]
 module = ["dep:mlua_derive", "ffi/module"]
 async = ["dep:futures-util"]
 send = ["parking_lot/send_guard", "error-send"]
diff --git a/mlua-sys/Cargo.toml b/mlua-sys/Cargo.toml
index f4171a15..39b6f276 100644
--- a/mlua-sys/Cargo.toml
+++ b/mlua-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ luau = ["luau0-src"]
 luau-codegen = ["luau"]
 luau-vector4 = ["luau"]
 vendored = ["lua-src", "luajit-src"]
+external = []
 module = []
 
 [dependencies]
diff --git a/mlua-sys/build/main_inner.rs b/mlua-sys/build/main_inner.rs
index 05ac53b5..dc97f38d 100644
--- a/mlua-sys/build/main_inner.rs
+++ b/mlua-sys/build/main_inner.rs
@@ -14,22 +14,29 @@ fn main() {
     #[cfg(all(feature = "luau", feature = "module", windows))]
     compile_error!("Luau does not support `module` mode on Windows");
 
-    #[cfg(all(feature = "module", feature = "vendored"))]
-    compile_error!("`vendored` and `module` features are mutually exclusive");
+    #[cfg(any(
+        all(feature = "vendored", any(feature = "external", feature = "module")),
+        all(feature = "external", any(feature = "vendored", feature = "module")),
+        all(feature = "module", any(feature = "vendored", feature = "external"))
+    ))]
+    compile_error!("`vendored`, `external` and `module` features are mutually exclusive");
 
     println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build");
 
-    let target_os = env::var("CARGO_CFG_TARGET_OS").unwrap();
-    if target_os == "windows" && cfg!(feature = "module") {
-        if !std::env::var("LUA_LIB_NAME").unwrap_or_default().is_empty() {
-            // Don't use raw-dylib linking
-            find::probe_lua();
-            return;
+    // Check if compilation and linking is handled by external crate
+    if !cfg!(feature = "external") {
+        let target_os = env::var("CARGO_CFG_TARGET_OS").unwrap();
+        if target_os == "windows" && cfg!(feature = "module") {
+            if !std::env::var("LUA_LIB_NAME").unwrap_or_default().is_empty() {
+                // Don't use raw-dylib linking
+                find::probe_lua();
+                return;
+            }
+
+            println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=raw_dylib");
         }
 
-        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=raw_dylib");
+        #[cfg(not(feature = "module"))]
+        find::probe_lua();
     }
-
-    #[cfg(not(feature = "module"))]
-    find::probe_lua();
 }