diff --git a/lualib/skynet.lua b/lualib/skynet.lua
index 295696a7..08a3fa13 100644
--- a/lualib/skynet.lua
+++ b/lualib/skynet.lua
@@ -656,6 +656,11 @@ function skynet.term(service)
 	return _error_dispatch(0, service)
 end
 
+function skynet.memlimit(bytes)
+	debug.getregistry().memlimit = bytes
+	skynet.memlimit = nil	-- set only once
+end
+
 local function clear_pool()
 	coroutine_pool = {}
 end
diff --git a/lualib/skynet/manager.lua b/lualib/skynet/manager.lua
index 627d1e12..4365d2e2 100644
--- a/lualib/skynet/manager.lua
+++ b/lualib/skynet/manager.lua
@@ -20,10 +20,6 @@ function skynet.abort()
 	c.command("ABORT")
 end
 
-function skynet.memlimit(bytes)
-	debug.getregistry().memlimit = bytes
-end
-
 local function globalname(name, handle)
 	local c = string.sub(name,1,1)
 	assert(c ~= ':')
diff --git a/service-src/service_snlua.c b/service-src/service_snlua.c
index 4870baa9..6f2ea6c5 100644
--- a/service-src/service_snlua.c
+++ b/service-src/service_snlua.c
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ init_cb(struct snlua *l, struct skynet_context *ctx, const char * args, size_t s
 		size_t limit = lua_tointeger(L, -1);
 		l->mem_limit = limit;
 		skynet_error(ctx, "Set memory limit to %.2f M", (float)limit / (1024 * 1024));
+		lua_pushnil(L);
+		lua_setfield(L, LUA_REGISTRYINDEX, "memlimit");
 	}
 	lua_pop(L, 1);
 
diff --git a/test/testmemlimit.lua b/test/testmemlimit.lua
index 532df727..41072dcc 100644
--- a/test/testmemlimit.lua
+++ b/test/testmemlimit.lua
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 local skynet = require "skynet"
-require "skynet.manager"
 
 -- set sandbox memory limit to 1M, must set here (at start, out of skynet.start)
 skynet.memlimit(1 * 1024 * 1024)