diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli.rs b/packages/cli/src/cli.rs
index 9d26e06..8639995 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/cli.rs
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cli.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ use tokio::{
 use crate::{
     setup::run_setup,
     utils::{
-        files::{discover_script_file_path_including_lune_dirs, strip_shebang},
+        files::discover_script_file_path_including_lune_dirs,
         listing::{find_lune_scripts, sort_lune_scripts, write_lune_scripts_list},
     },
 };
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ impl Cli {
         // Create a new lune object with all globals & run the script
         let result = Lune::new()
             .with_args(self.script_args)
-            .run(&script_display_name, strip_shebang(script_contents))
+            .run(&script_display_name, script_contents)
             .await;
         Ok(match result {
             Err(err) => {
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/files.rs b/packages/cli/src/utils/files.rs
index 5be816a..f8614af 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/utils/files.rs
+++ b/packages/cli/src/utils/files.rs
@@ -185,21 +185,3 @@ pub fn parse_lune_description_from_file(contents: &str) -> Option<String> {
         Some(unindented_lines)
     }
 }
-
-pub fn strip_shebang(mut contents: Vec<u8>) -> Vec<u8> {
-    if contents.starts_with(b"#!") {
-        if let Some(first_newline_idx) =
-            contents
-                .iter()
-                .enumerate()
-                .find_map(|(idx, c)| if *c == b'\n' { Some(idx) } else { None })
-        {
-            // NOTE: We keep the newline here on purpose to preserve
-            // correct line numbers in stack traces, the only reason
-            // we strip the shebang is to get the lua script to parse
-            // and the extra newline is not really a problem for that
-            contents.drain(..first_newline_idx);
-        }
-    }
-    contents
-}
diff --git a/packages/lib/src/lib.rs b/packages/lib/src/lib.rs
index 60f6821..bfb3c0a 100644
--- a/packages/lib/src/lib.rs
+++ b/packages/lib/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use std::process::ExitCode;
 
 use lua::task::{TaskScheduler, TaskSchedulerResumeExt, TaskSchedulerScheduleExt};
 use mlua::prelude::*;
+use mlua::Compiler as LuaCompiler;
 use tokio::task::LocalSet;
 
 pub(crate) mod builtins;
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ impl Lune {
     ) -> Result<ExitCode, LuaError> {
         // Create our special lune-flavored Lua object with extra registry values
         let lua = lua::create_lune_lua()?;
+        let script_bytecode = LuaCompiler::default().compile(script_contents);
         // Create our task scheduler and all globals
         // NOTE: Some globals require the task scheduler to exist on startup
         let sched = TaskScheduler::new(lua)?.into_static();
@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ impl Lune {
         importer::create(lua, self.args.clone())?;
         // Create the main thread and schedule it
         let main_chunk = lua
-            .load(script_contents.as_ref())
+            .load(script_bytecode)
             .set_name(script_name.as_ref())
             .into_function()?;
         let main_thread = lua.create_thread(main_chunk)?;