diff --git a/example/c-vt-render/README.md b/example/c-vt-render/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..deb4db388
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/c-vt-render/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Example: `ghostty-vt` Render State
+
+This contains a simple example of how to use the `ghostty-vt` render-state API
+to create a render state, update it from terminal content, and clean it up.
+
+This uses a `build.zig` and `Zig` to build the C program so that we
+can reuse a lot of our build logic and depend directly on our source
+tree, but Ghostty emits a standard C library that can be used with any
+C tooling.
+
+## Usage
+
+Run the program:
+
+```shell-session
+zig build run
+```
diff --git a/example/c-vt-render/build.zig b/example/c-vt-render/build.zig
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..15e3e5405
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/c-vt-render/build.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+
+pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
+    const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
+    const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});
+
+    const run_step = b.step("run", "Run the app");
+
+    const exe_mod = b.createModule(.{
+        .target = target,
+        .optimize = optimize,
+    });
+    exe_mod.addCSourceFiles(.{
+        .root = b.path("src"),
+        .files = &.{"main.c"},
+    });
+
+    // You'll want to use a lazy dependency here so that ghostty is only
+    // downloaded if you actually need it.
+    if (b.lazyDependency("ghostty", .{
+        // Setting simd to false will force a pure static build that
+        // doesn't even require libc, but it has a significant performance
+        // penalty. If your embedding app requires libc anyway, you should
+        // always keep simd enabled.
+        // .simd = false,
+    })) |dep| {
+        exe_mod.linkLibrary(dep.artifact("ghostty-vt"));
+    }
+
+    // Exe
+    const exe = b.addExecutable(.{
+        .name = "c_vt_render",
+        .root_module = exe_mod,
+    });
+    b.installArtifact(exe);
+
+    // Run
+    const run_cmd = b.addRunArtifact(exe);
+    run_cmd.step.dependOn(b.getInstallStep());
+    if (b.args) |args| run_cmd.addArgs(args);
+    run_step.dependOn(&run_cmd.step);
+}
diff --git a/example/c-vt-render/build.zig.zon b/example/c-vt-render/build.zig.zon
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3919970f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/c-vt-render/build.zig.zon
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+.{
+    .name = .c_vt_render,
+    .version = "0.0.0",
+    .fingerprint = 0xb10e18b2fab773c9,
+    .minimum_zig_version = "0.15.1",
+    .dependencies = .{
+        // Ghostty dependency. In reality, you'd probably use a URL-based
+        // dependency like the one showed (and commented out) below this one.
+        // We use a path dependency here for simplicity and to ensure our
+        // examples always test against the source they're bundled with.
+        .ghostty = .{ .path = "../../" },
+
+        // Example of what a URL-based dependency looks like:
+        // .ghostty = .{
+        //     .url = "https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/archive/COMMIT.tar.gz",
+        //     .hash = "N-V-__8AAMVLTABmYkLqhZPLXnMl-KyN38R8UVYqGrxqO36s",
+        // },
+    },
+    .paths = .{
+        "build.zig",
+        "build.zig.zon",
+        "src",
+    },
+}
diff --git a/example/c-vt-render/src/main.c b/example/c-vt-render/src/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b5c22edf5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/c-vt-render/src/main.c
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <ghostty/vt.h>
+
+//! [render-state-update]
+int main(void) {
+  GhosttyResult result;
+
+  GhosttyTerminal terminal = NULL;
+  GhosttyTerminalOptions terminal_opts = {
+      .cols = 80,
+      .rows = 24,
+      .max_scrollback = 10000,
+  };
+  result = ghostty_terminal_new(NULL, &terminal, terminal_opts);
+  assert(result == GHOSTTY_SUCCESS);
+
+  GhosttyRenderState render_state = NULL;
+  result = ghostty_render_state_new(NULL, &render_state);
+  assert(result == GHOSTTY_SUCCESS);
+
+  const char* first_frame = "first frame\r\n";
+  ghostty_terminal_vt_write(
+      terminal,
+      (const uint8_t*)first_frame,
+      strlen(first_frame));
+  result = ghostty_render_state_update(render_state, terminal);
+  assert(result == GHOSTTY_SUCCESS);
+
+  const char* second_frame = "second frame\r\n";
+  ghostty_terminal_vt_write(
+      terminal,
+      (const uint8_t*)second_frame,
+      strlen(second_frame));
+  result = ghostty_render_state_update(render_state, terminal);
+  assert(result == GHOSTTY_SUCCESS);
+
+  printf("Render state was updated successfully.\n");
+
+  ghostty_render_state_free(render_state);
+  ghostty_terminal_free(terminal);
+  return 0;
+}
+//! [render-state-update]
diff --git a/include/ghostty/vt.h b/include/ghostty/vt.h
index a3d0ec57d..912d6e217 100644
--- a/include/ghostty/vt.h
+++ b/include/ghostty/vt.h
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
  *
  * The API is organized into the following groups:
  * - @ref terminal "Terminal" - Complete terminal emulator state and rendering
+ * - @ref render "Render State" - Incremental render state updates for custom renderers
  * - @ref formatter "Formatter" - Format terminal content as plain text, VT sequences, or HTML
  * - @ref osc "OSC Parser" - Parse OSC (Operating System Command) sequences
  * - @ref sgr "SGR Parser" - Parse SGR (Select Graphic Rendition) sequences
@@ -101,6 +102,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #include <ghostty/vt/allocator.h>
 #include <ghostty/vt/focus.h>
 #include <ghostty/vt/formatter.h>
+#include <ghostty/vt/render.h>
 #include <ghostty/vt/terminal.h>
 #include <ghostty/vt/grid_ref.h>
 #include <ghostty/vt/osc.h>
diff --git a/include/ghostty/vt/render.h b/include/ghostty/vt/render.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..898994a65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/ghostty/vt/render.h
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+/**
+ * @file render.h
+ *
+ * Render state for creating high performance renderers.
+ */
+
+#ifndef GHOSTTY_VT_RENDER_H
+#define GHOSTTY_VT_RENDER_H
+
+#include <ghostty/vt/allocator.h>
+#include <ghostty/vt/terminal.h>
+#include <ghostty/vt/types.h>
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+/** @defgroup render Render State
+ *
+ * Represents the state required to render a visible screen (a viewport)
+ * of a terminal instance. This is stateful and optimized for repeated
+ * updates from a single terminal instance and only updating dirty regions
+ * of the screen.
+ *
+ * The key design principle of this API is that it only needs read/write
+ * access to the terminal instance during the update call. This allows
+ * the render state to minimally impact terminal IO performance and also
+ * allows the renderer to be safely multi-threaded (as long as a lock is 
+ * held during the update call to ensure exclusive access to the terminal 
+ * instance).
+ *
+ * The basic usage of this API is:
+ *
+ *   1. Create an empty render state
+ *   2. Update it from a terminal instance whenever you need.
+ *   3. Read from the render state to get the data needed to draw your frame.
+ *
+ * ## Example
+ *
+ * @snippet c-vt-render/src/main.c render-state-update
+ *
+ * @{
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Opaque handle to a render state instance.
+ *
+ * @ingroup render
+ */
+typedef struct GhosttyRenderState* GhosttyRenderState;
+
+/**
+ * Create a new render state instance.
+ *
+ * @param allocator Pointer to allocator, or NULL to use the default allocator
+ * @param state Pointer to store the created render state handle
+ * @return GHOSTTY_SUCCESS on success, GHOSTTY_OUT_OF_MEMORY on allocation
+ * failure
+ *
+ * @ingroup render
+ */
+GhosttyResult ghostty_render_state_new(const GhosttyAllocator* allocator,
+                                       GhosttyRenderState* state);
+
+/**
+ * Update a render state instance from a terminal.
+ *
+ * This consumes terminal/screen dirty state in the same way as the internal
+ * render state update path.
+ *
+ * @param state The render state handle (NULL returns GHOSTTY_INVALID_VALUE)
+ * @param terminal The terminal handle to read from (NULL returns GHOSTTY_INVALID_VALUE)
+ * @return GHOSTTY_SUCCESS on success, GHOSTTY_INVALID_VALUE if `state` or
+ * `terminal` is NULL, GHOSTTY_OUT_OF_MEMORY if updating the state requires
+ * allocation and that allocation fails
+ *
+ * @ingroup render
+ */
+GhosttyResult ghostty_render_state_update(GhosttyRenderState state,
+                                          GhosttyTerminal terminal);
+
+/**
+ * Free a render state instance.
+ *
+ * Releases all resources associated with the render state. After this call,
+ * the render state handle becomes invalid.
+ *
+ * @param state The render state handle to free (may be NULL)
+ *
+ * @ingroup render
+ */
+void ghostty_render_state_free(GhosttyRenderState state);
+
+/** @} */
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif /* GHOSTTY_VT_RENDER_H */
diff --git a/src/lib_vt.zig b/src/lib_vt.zig
index d6cfe49ea..8abad5fcf 100644
--- a/src/lib_vt.zig
+++ b/src/lib_vt.zig
@@ -187,6 +187,9 @@ comptime {
         @export(&c.formatter_format_buf, .{ .name = "ghostty_formatter_format_buf" });
         @export(&c.formatter_format_alloc, .{ .name = "ghostty_formatter_format_alloc" });
         @export(&c.formatter_free, .{ .name = "ghostty_formatter_free" });
+        @export(&c.render_state_new, .{ .name = "ghostty_render_state_new" });
+        @export(&c.render_state_update, .{ .name = "ghostty_render_state_update" });
+        @export(&c.render_state_free, .{ .name = "ghostty_render_state_free" });
         @export(&c.terminal_new, .{ .name = "ghostty_terminal_new" });
         @export(&c.terminal_free, .{ .name = "ghostty_terminal_free" });
         @export(&c.terminal_reset, .{ .name = "ghostty_terminal_reset" });
diff --git a/src/terminal/c/main.zig b/src/terminal/c/main.zig
index 8964610df..f909260a8 100644
--- a/src/terminal/c/main.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/c/main.zig
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ pub const focus = @import("focus.zig");
 pub const formatter = @import("formatter.zig");
 pub const modes = @import("modes.zig");
 pub const osc = @import("osc.zig");
+pub const render = @import("render.zig");
 pub const key_event = @import("key_event.zig");
 pub const key_encode = @import("key_encode.zig");
 pub const mouse_event = @import("mouse_event.zig");
@@ -35,6 +36,10 @@ pub const formatter_format_buf = formatter.format_buf;
 pub const formatter_format_alloc = formatter.format_alloc;
 pub const formatter_free = formatter.free;
 
+pub const render_state_new = render.new;
+pub const render_state_free = render.free;
+pub const render_state_update = render.update;
+
 pub const sgr_new = sgr.new;
 pub const sgr_free = sgr.free;
 pub const sgr_reset = sgr.reset;
@@ -126,6 +131,7 @@ test {
     _ = formatter;
     _ = modes;
     _ = osc;
+    _ = render;
     _ = key_event;
     _ = key_encode;
     _ = mouse_event;
diff --git a/src/terminal/c/render.zig b/src/terminal/c/render.zig
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..76d884032
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/terminal/c/render.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const testing = std.testing;
+const lib_alloc = @import("../../lib/allocator.zig");
+const CAllocator = lib_alloc.Allocator;
+const terminal_c = @import("terminal.zig");
+const renderpkg = @import("../render.zig");
+const Result = @import("result.zig").Result;
+
+const RenderStateWrapper = struct {
+    alloc: std.mem.Allocator,
+    state: renderpkg.RenderState = .empty,
+};
+
+/// C: GhosttyRenderState
+pub const RenderState = ?*RenderStateWrapper;
+
+pub fn new(
+    alloc_: ?*const CAllocator,
+    result: *RenderState,
+) callconv(.c) Result {
+    result.* = new_(alloc_) catch |err| {
+        result.* = null;
+        return switch (err) {
+            error.OutOfMemory => .out_of_memory,
+        };
+    };
+
+    return .success;
+}
+
+fn new_(alloc_: ?*const CAllocator) error{OutOfMemory}!*RenderStateWrapper {
+    const alloc = lib_alloc.default(alloc_);
+    const ptr = alloc.create(RenderStateWrapper) catch
+        return error.OutOfMemory;
+    ptr.* = .{ .alloc = alloc };
+    return ptr;
+}
+
+pub fn update(
+    state_: RenderState,
+    terminal_: terminal_c.Terminal,
+) callconv(.c) Result {
+    const state = state_ orelse return .invalid_value;
+    const t = terminal_ orelse return .invalid_value;
+
+    state.state.update(state.alloc, t) catch return .out_of_memory;
+    return .success;
+}
+
+pub fn free(state_: RenderState) callconv(.c) void {
+    const state = state_ orelse return;
+    const alloc = state.alloc;
+    state.state.deinit(alloc);
+    alloc.destroy(state);
+}
+
+test "render: new/free" {
+    var state: RenderState = null;
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.success, new(
+        &lib_alloc.test_allocator,
+        &state,
+    ));
+    try testing.expect(state != null);
+    free(state);
+}
+
+test "render: free null" {
+    free(null);
+}
+
+test "render: update invalid value" {
+    var state: RenderState = null;
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.success, new(
+        &lib_alloc.test_allocator,
+        &state,
+    ));
+    defer free(state);
+
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.invalid_value, update(null, null));
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.invalid_value, update(state, null));
+}
+
+test "render: update" {
+    var terminal: terminal_c.Terminal = null;
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.success, terminal_c.new(
+        &lib_alloc.test_allocator,
+        &terminal,
+        .{
+            .cols = 80,
+            .rows = 24,
+            .max_scrollback = 10_000,
+        },
+    ));
+    defer terminal_c.free(terminal);
+
+    var state: RenderState = null;
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.success, new(
+        &lib_alloc.test_allocator,
+        &state,
+    ));
+    defer free(state);
+
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.success, update(state, terminal));
+
+    terminal_c.vt_write(terminal, "hello", 5);
+    try testing.expectEqual(Result.success, update(state, terminal));
+}