diff --git a/src/glua.gleam b/src/glua.gleam
index cc5ae51..6c875c5 100644
--- a/src/glua.gleam
+++ b/src/glua.gleam
@@ -147,6 +147,92 @@ fn wrap_function(
   fun: fn(Lua, List(dynamic.Dynamic)) -> #(Lua, List(Value)),
 ) -> Value
 
+/// Allocates memory in the Lua state for an encoded value.
+///
+/// Whenever you try to set an encoded value in the Lua state or pass it as an argument to a Lua function,
+/// `glua` allocates memory in the Lua state for that value automatically. This means that the same value
+/// can be allocated multiple times depending on how you use it and that multiple, distinct versions
+/// of that value could exist at runtime.
+///
+/// Consider this example:
+///
+/// ```gleam
+/// let proxy =
+///   fn(state, _) {
+///     let assert Ok(#(state, _)) =
+///       glua.ref_call_function_by_name(state:, keys: ["error"], args: [
+///         glua.string("attempt to update a read-only table"),
+///       ])
+///
+///     #(state, [])
+///   }
+///   |> glua.function
+///
+/// let state = glua.new()
+/// let table = glua.table([])
+/// let metatable = glua.table([#(glua.string("__newindex"), proxy)])
+/// let assert Ok(#(state, _)) =
+///   glua.ref_call_function_by_name(state:, keys: ["setmetatable"], args: [
+///     table,
+///     metatable,
+///   ])
+/// let assert Ok(state) = glua.set(state:, keys: ["my_table"], value: table)
+///
+/// let code =
+///   "my_table.my_key = 'this should not be the value'; return my_table.my_key"
+///
+/// glua.eval(state:, code:, using: decode.string)
+/// // -> Ok(#(_, ["this should not be the key"]))
+/// ```
+///
+/// Here we expect that a Lua exception will be raised whenever we try to set a new key in `table`,
+/// but we can still set new keys as usual. This happens because `table` is allocated twice, making the table
+/// you pass as an argument to `setmetatable` and the table you set at `my_table` two different tables at runtime.
+///
+/// There are situations where you want to allocate memory only once for a value and make sure that
+/// at runtime there is only one copy of that value. This function does exactly that.
+///
+/// We can fix our example by using `glua.alloc`:
+///
+/// ```gleam
+/// let proxy =
+///   fn(state, _) {
+///     let assert Ok(#(state, _)) =
+///       glua.ref_call_function_by_name(state:, keys: ["error"], args: [
+///         glua.string("attempt to update a read-only table"),
+///       ])
+///
+///     #(state, [])
+///   }
+///   |> glua.function
+///
+/// // we use `glua.alloc` here to avoid `table` to be allocated multiple times
+/// let #(state, table) = glua.alloc(glua.new(), glua.table([]))
+///
+/// // we can keep `metatable` as it because it is only used once
+/// let metatable = glua.table([#(glua.string("__newindex"), proxy)])
+///
+/// let assert Ok(#(state, _)) = glua.ref_call_function_by_name(
+///   state:,
+///   keys: ["setmetatable"],
+///   args: [table, metatable]
+/// )
+/// let assert Ok(state) = glua.set(state:, keys: ["my_table"], value: table)
+///
+/// let code =
+///   "my_table.my_key = 'this should not be the value'; return my_table.my_key"
+///
+/// glua.eval(state:, code:, using: decode.string)
+/// // -> Error(glua.LuaRuntimeException(glua.ErrorCall([
+///           "attempt to update a read-only table"
+///       ]), _)
+/// ```
+///
+/// > **Note**: This function should only be used to allocate memory for tables or userdata values.
+/// > For the rest of types that can be encoded, like strings, integers, floats or booleans, this function does nothing.
+@external(erlang, "glua_ffi", "alloc")
+pub fn alloc(lua: Lua, v: Value) -> #(Lua, Value)
+
 /// Creates a new Lua VM instance
 @external(erlang, "luerl", "init")
 pub fn new() -> Lua
@@ -333,7 +419,7 @@ pub fn set(
       Ok(_) -> Ok(#(keys, lua))
 
       Error(KeyNotFound) -> {
-        let #(tbl, lua) = alloc_table([], lua)
+        let #(lua, tbl) = alloc(lua, table([]))
         do_set(lua, keys, tbl)
         |> result.map(fn(lua) { #(keys, lua) })
       }
@@ -400,9 +486,6 @@ pub fn set_lua_paths(
   set(lua, ["package", "path"], paths)
 }
 
-@external(erlang, "luerl_emul", "alloc_table")
-fn alloc_table(content: List(a), lua: Lua) -> #(a, Lua)
-
 @external(erlang, "glua_ffi", "get_table_keys_dec")
 fn do_get(lua: Lua, keys: List(String)) -> Result(dynamic.Dynamic, LuaError)
 
diff --git a/src/glua_ffi.erl b/src/glua_ffi.erl
index 1edf9e7..d9cd476 100644
--- a/src/glua_ffi.erl
+++ b/src/glua_ffi.erl
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 -import(luerl_lib, [lua_error/2]).
 
--export([coerce/1, coerce_nil/0, coerce_userdata/1, wrap_fun/1, sandbox_fun/1, get_table_keys/2, get_table_keys_dec/2,
+-export([coerce/1, coerce_nil/0, coerce_userdata/1, alloc/2, wrap_fun/1, sandbox_fun/1, get_table_keys/2, get_table_keys_dec/2,
          get_private/2, set_table_keys/3, load/2, load_file/2, eval/2, eval_dec/2, eval_file/2,
          eval_file_dec/2, eval_chunk/2, eval_chunk_dec/2, call_function/3, call_function_dec/3]).
 
@@ -58,6 +58,20 @@ is_encoded({erl_mfa,_,_,_}) ->
 is_encoded(_) ->
     false.
 
+encode(X, St0) ->
+    case is_encoded(X) of
+        true -> {X, St0};
+        false -> luerl:encode(X, St0)
+    end.
+
+encode_list(L, St0) when is_list(L) ->
+    Enc = fun(X, {L1, St}) ->
+                  {Enc, St1} = encode(X, St),
+                  {[Enc | L1], St1}
+          end,
+    {L1, St1} = lists:foldl(Enc, {[], St0}, L),
+    {lists:reverse(L1), St1}.
+
 %% TODO: Improve compiler errors handling and try to detect more errors
 map_error({error, [{_, luerl_parse, Errors} | _], _}) ->
     FormattedErrors = lists:map(fun(E) -> list_to_binary(E) end, Errors),
@@ -97,6 +111,15 @@ coerce_nil() ->
 coerce_userdata(X) ->
     {userdata, X}.
 
+alloc(St0, Value) when is_list(Value) ->
+    {Enc, St1} = luerl_heap:alloc_table(Value, St0),
+    {St1, Enc};
+alloc(St0, {usrdef,_}=Value) ->
+    {Enc, St1} = luerl_heap:alloc_userdata(Value, St0),
+    {St1, Enc};
+alloc(St0, Other) ->
+    {St0, Other}.
+
 wrap_fun(Fun) ->
     fun(Args, State) ->
             Decoded = luerl:decode_list(Args, State),
@@ -165,11 +188,11 @@ eval_file_dec(Lua, Path) ->
                  unicode:characters_to_list(Path), Lua)).
 
 call_function(Lua, Fun, Args) ->
-    {EncodedArgs, State} = luerl:encode_list(Args, Lua),
+    {EncodedArgs, State} = encode_list(Args, Lua),
     to_gleam(luerl:call(Fun, EncodedArgs, State)).
 
 call_function_dec(Lua, Fun, Args) ->
-    {EncodedArgs, St1} = luerl:encode_list(Args, Lua),
+    {EncodedArgs, St1} = encode_list(Args, Lua),
     case luerl:call(Fun, EncodedArgs, St1) of
         {ok, Ret, St2} ->
             Values = luerl:decode_list(Ret, St2),
diff --git a/test/glua_test.gleam b/test/glua_test.gleam
index 184baa2..1232c28 100644
--- a/test/glua_test.gleam
+++ b/test/glua_test.gleam
@@ -551,3 +551,22 @@ pub fn nested_function_references_test() {
     glua.call_function(state: lua, ref:, args: [arg], using: decode.float)
   assert result == 20.0
 }
+
+pub fn alloc_test() {
+  let #(lua, table) = glua.alloc(glua.new(), glua.table([]))
+  let proxy =
+    glua.function(fn(lua, _args) { #(lua, [glua.string("constant")]) })
+  let metatable = glua.table([#(glua.string("__index"), proxy)])
+  let assert Ok(#(lua, _)) =
+    glua.ref_call_function_by_name(lua, ["setmetatable"], [table, metatable])
+  let assert Ok(lua) = glua.set(lua, ["test_table"], table)
+
+  let assert Ok(#(_lua, [ret1])) =
+    glua.eval(lua, "return test_table.any_key", decode.string)
+
+  let assert Ok(#(_lua, [ret2])) =
+    glua.eval(lua, "return test_table.other_key", decode.string)
+
+  assert ret1 == "constant"
+  assert ret2 == "constant"
+}