diff --git a/src/App.zig b/src/App.zig
index fceab0275..02089ae5b 100644
--- a/src/App.zig
+++ b/src/App.zig
@@ -76,6 +76,15 @@ first: bool = true,
 
 pub const CreateError = Allocator.Error || font.SharedGridSet.InitError;
 
+/// Create a new app instance. This returns a stable pointer to the app
+/// instance which is required for callbacks.
+pub fn create(alloc: Allocator) CreateError!*App {
+    var app = try alloc.create(App);
+    errdefer alloc.destroy(app);
+    try app.init(alloc);
+    return app;
+}
+
 /// Initialize the main app instance. This creates the main window, sets
 /// up the renderer state, compiles the shaders, etc. This is the primary
 /// "startup" logic.
@@ -111,6 +120,14 @@ pub fn deinit(self: *App) void {
     self.font_grid_set.deinit();
 }
 
+pub fn destroy(self: *App) void {
+    // Deinitialize the app
+    self.deinit();
+
+    // Free the app memory
+    self.alloc.destroy(self);
+}
+
 /// Tick ticks the app loop. This will drain our mailbox and process those
 /// events. This should be called by the application runtime on every loop
 /// tick.
diff --git a/src/apprt/embedded.zig b/src/apprt/embedded.zig
index 307efd26a..dec1e4135 100644
--- a/src/apprt/embedded.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/embedded.zig
@@ -1317,12 +1317,8 @@ pub const CAPI = struct {
         opts: *const apprt.runtime.App.Options,
         config: *const Config,
     ) !*App {
-        var core_app = try global.alloc.create(CoreApp);
-        try core_app.init(global.alloc);
-        errdefer {
-            core_app.deinit();
-            global.alloc.destroy(core_app);
-        }
+        const core_app = try CoreApp.create(global.alloc);
+        errdefer core_app.destroy();
 
         // Create our runtime app
         var app = try global.alloc.create(App);
@@ -1350,8 +1346,7 @@ pub const CAPI = struct {
         const core_app = v.core_app;
         v.terminate();
         global.alloc.destroy(v);
-        core_app.deinit();
-        global.alloc.destroy(core_app);
+        core_app.destroy();
     }
 
     /// Update the focused state of the app.
diff --git a/src/main_ghostty.zig b/src/main_ghostty.zig
index ca63c8195..b75d8397c 100644
--- a/src/main_ghostty.zig
+++ b/src/main_ghostty.zig
@@ -98,9 +98,8 @@ pub fn main() !MainReturn {
     }
 
     // Create our app state
-    var app: App = undefined;
-    try app.init(alloc);
-    defer app.deinit();
+    const app: *App = try App.create(alloc);
+    defer app.destroy();
 
     // Create our runtime app
     var app_runtime: apprt.App = undefined;