diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
index 2420e42dc..38c019b3e 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
@@ -111,12 +111,12 @@ pub fn init(core_app: *CoreApp, opts: Options) !App {
     // Disabling Vulkan can improve startup times by hundreds of
     // milliseconds on some systems. We don't use Vulkan so we can just
     // disable it.
-    if (version.atLeast(4, 16, 0)) {
+    if (version.runtimeAtLeast(4, 16, 0)) {
         // From gtk 4.16, GDK_DEBUG is split into GDK_DEBUG and GDK_DISABLE.
         // For the remainder of "why" see the 4.14 comment below.
         _ = internal_os.setenv("GDK_DISABLE", "gles-api,vulkan");
         _ = internal_os.setenv("GDK_DEBUG", "opengl,gl-no-fractional");
-    } else if (version.atLeast(4, 14, 0)) {
+    } else if (version.runtimeAtLeast(4, 14, 0)) {
         // We need to export GDK_DEBUG to run on Wayland after GTK 4.14.
         // Older versions of GTK do not support these values so it is safe
         // to always set this. Forwards versions are uncertain so we'll have to
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ pub fn init(core_app: *CoreApp, opts: Options) !App {
         _ = internal_os.setenv("GDK_DEBUG", "vulkan-disable");
     }
 
-    if (version.atLeast(4, 14, 0)) {
+    if (version.runtimeAtLeast(4, 14, 0)) {
         // We need to export GSK_RENDERER to opengl because GTK uses ngl by
         // default after 4.14
         _ = internal_os.setenv("GSK_RENDERER", "opengl");
@@ -1028,7 +1028,7 @@ fn loadRuntimeCss(
         , .{ .font_family = font_family });
     }
 
-    if (version.atLeast(4, 16, 0)) {
+    if (version.runtimeAtLeast(4, 16, 0)) {
         switch (window_theme) {
             .ghostty => try writer.print(
                 \\:root {{
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/version.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/version.zig
index af7ad12ea..d8686fa28 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/version.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/version.zig
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ const c = @import("c.zig").c;
 /// in the headers. If it is run in a runtime context, it will
 /// check the actual version of the library we are linked against.
 ///
+/// This function should be used in cases where the version check
+/// would affect code generation, such as using symbols that are
+/// only available beyond a certain version. For checks which only
+/// depend on GTK's runtime behavior, use `runtimeAtLeast`.
+///
 /// This is inlined so that the comptime checks will disable the
 /// runtime checks if the comptime checks fail.
 pub inline fn atLeast(
@@ -26,6 +31,20 @@ pub inline fn atLeast(
     // If we're in comptime then we can't check the runtime version.
     if (@inComptime()) return true;
 
+    return runtimeAtLeast(major, minor, micro);
+}
+
+/// Verifies that the GTK version at runtime is at least the given
+/// version.
+///
+/// This function should be used in cases where the only the runtime
+/// behavior is affected by the version check. For checks which would
+/// affect code generation, use `atLeast`.
+pub inline fn runtimeAtLeast(
+    comptime major: u16,
+    comptime minor: u16,
+    comptime micro: u16,
+) bool {
     // We use the functions instead of the constants such as
     // c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION because the function gets the actual
     // runtime version.
@@ -44,15 +63,18 @@ test "atLeast" {
     const std = @import("std");
     const testing = std.testing;
 
-    try testing.expect(atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
+    const funs = &.{ atLeast, runtimeAtLeast };
+    inline for (funs) |fun| {
+        try testing.expect(fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
 
-    try testing.expect(!atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION + 1));
-    try testing.expect(!atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION + 1, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
-    try testing.expect(!atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION + 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
+        try testing.expect(!fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION + 1));
+        try testing.expect(!fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION + 1, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
+        try testing.expect(!fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION + 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
 
-    try testing.expect(atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
-    try testing.expect(atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION + 1, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
-    try testing.expect(atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION + 1));
+        try testing.expect(fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
+        try testing.expect(fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION + 1, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION));
+        try testing.expect(fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION + 1));
 
-    try testing.expect(atLeast(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION + 1));
+        try testing.expect(fun(c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION, c.GTK_MINOR_VERSION - 1, c.GTK_MICRO_VERSION + 1));
+    }
 }