diff --git a/runtime/doc/news.txt b/runtime/doc/news.txt
index abba8fbd756539..112a76c0134ecb 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/news.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/news.txt
@@ -300,6 +300,7 @@ The following changes to existing APIs or features add new behavior.
 <
   • Enabled treesitter highlighting for treesitter query files.
   • Enabled treesitter highlighting for help files.
+  • Enabled treesitter highlighting for Lua files.
 
 • The `workspace/didChangeWatchedFiles` LSP client capability is now enabled
   by default.
diff --git a/runtime/ftplugin/lua.lua b/runtime/ftplugin/lua.lua
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..98f218e36e02cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/runtime/ftplugin/lua.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+-- use treesitter over syntax
+vim.treesitter.start()