diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index a7f42383e..80aebd22a 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const fs = std.fs;
 const Builder = std.build.Builder;
 const LibExeObjStep = std.build.LibExeObjStep;
+const apprt = @import("src/apprt.zig");
 const glfw = @import("vendor/mach/libs/glfw/build.zig");
 const fontconfig = @import("pkg/fontconfig/build.zig");
 const freetype = @import("pkg/freetype/build.zig");
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ comptime {
 var tracy: bool = false;
 var enable_coretext: bool = false;
 var enable_fontconfig: bool = false;
+var app_runtime: apprt.Runtime = .none;
 
 pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) !void {
     const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});
@@ -77,6 +79,12 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) !void {
         "Enable fontconfig for font discovery (default true on Linux)",
     ) orelse target.isLinux();
 
+    app_runtime = b.option(
+        apprt.Runtime,
+        "app-runtime",
+        "The app runtime to use. Not all values supported on all platforms.",
+    ) orelse apprt.Runtime.default(target);
+
     const static = b.option(
         bool,
         "static",
@@ -111,6 +119,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) !void {
     exe_options.addOption(bool, "tracy_enabled", tracy);
     exe_options.addOption(bool, "coretext", enable_coretext);
     exe_options.addOption(bool, "fontconfig", enable_fontconfig);
+    exe_options.addOption(apprt.Runtime, "app_runtime", app_runtime);
 
     // Exe
     {
@@ -120,7 +129,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) !void {
         }
 
         exe.addOptions("build_options", exe_options);
-        exe.install();
+        if (app_runtime != .none) exe.install();
 
         // Add the shared dependencies
         _ = try addDeps(b, exe, static);
@@ -134,7 +143,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) !void {
         b.installFile("dist/macos/Ghostty.icns", "Ghostty.app/Contents/Resources/Ghostty.icns");
     }
 
-    // On Mac we can build the app.
+    // On Mac we can build the embedding library.
     if (builtin.target.isDarwin()) {
         const static_lib_aarch64 = lib: {
             const lib = b.addStaticLibrary(.{
@@ -539,22 +548,30 @@ fn addDeps(
     }
 
     if (!lib) {
-        step.addModule("glfw", glfw.module(b));
-
         // We always statically compile glad
         step.addIncludePath("vendor/glad/include/");
         step.addCSourceFile("vendor/glad/src/gl.c", &.{});
 
-        // Glfw
-        const glfw_opts: glfw.Options = .{
-            .metal = step.target.isDarwin(),
-            .opengl = false,
-        };
-        try glfw.link(b, step, glfw_opts);
+        switch (app_runtime) {
+            .none => {},
 
-        // Imgui
-        const imgui_step = try imgui.link(b, step, imgui_opts);
-        try glfw.link(b, imgui_step, glfw_opts);
+            .glfw => {
+                step.addModule("glfw", glfw.module(b));
+                const glfw_opts: glfw.Options = .{
+                    .metal = step.target.isDarwin(),
+                    .opengl = false,
+                };
+                try glfw.link(b, step, glfw_opts);
+
+                // Must also link to imgui
+                const imgui_step = try imgui.link(b, step, imgui_opts);
+                try glfw.link(b, imgui_step, glfw_opts);
+            },
+
+            .gtk => {
+                step.linkSystemLibrary("gtk4");
+            },
+        }
     }
 
     return static_libs;
diff --git a/nix/devshell.nix b/nix/devshell.nix
index 343546312..e612f58fa 100644
--- a/nix/devshell.nix
+++ b/nix/devshell.nix
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 , expat
 , fontconfig
 , freetype
+, gtk4
 , harfbuzz
 , libpng
 , libGL
@@ -53,6 +54,8 @@ let
     libXcursor
     libXi
     libXrandr
+
+    gtk4
   ];
 in mkShell rec {
   name = "ghostty";
@@ -102,6 +105,9 @@ in mkShell rec {
     libXi
     libXinerama
     libXrandr
+
+    # Only needed for GTK builds
+    gtk4
   ];
 
   # This should be set onto the rpath of the ghostty binary if you want
diff --git a/src/apprt.zig b/src/apprt.zig
index 36e2a2571..7ec13d21b 100644
--- a/src/apprt.zig
+++ b/src/apprt.zig
@@ -8,21 +8,49 @@
 //! The goal is to have different implementations share as much of the core
 //! logic as possible, and to only reach out to platform-specific implementation
 //! code when absolutely necessary.
+const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const build_config = @import("build_config.zig");
 
 pub usingnamespace @import("apprt/structs.zig");
 pub const glfw = @import("apprt/glfw.zig");
+pub const gtk = @import("apprt/gtk.zig");
 pub const browser = @import("apprt/browser.zig");
 pub const embedded = @import("apprt/embedded.zig");
 pub const Window = @import("apprt/Window.zig");
 
+/// Runtime is the runtime to use for Ghostty. All runtimes do not provide
+/// equivalent feature sets. For example, GTK offers tabbing and more features
+/// that glfw does not provide. However, glfw may require many less
+/// dependencies.
+pub const Runtime = enum {
+    /// Will not produce an executable at all when `zig build` is called.
+    /// This is only useful if you're only interested in the lib only (macOS).
+    none,
+
+    /// Glfw-backed. Very simple. Glfw is statically linked. Tabbing and
+    /// other rich windowing features are not supported.
+    glfw,
+
+    /// GTK-backed. Rich windowed application. GTK is dynamically linked.
+    gtk,
+
+    pub fn default(target: std.zig.CrossTarget) Runtime {
+        _ = target;
+        return .glfw;
+    }
+};
+
 /// The implementation to use for the app runtime. This is comptime chosen
 /// so that every build has exactly one application runtime implementation.
 /// Note: it is very rare to use Runtime directly; most usage will use
 /// Window or something.
 pub const runtime = switch (build_config.artifact) {
-    .exe => glfw,
+    .exe => switch (build_config.app_runtime) {
+        .none => @compileError("exe with no runtime not allowed"),
+        .glfw => glfw,
+        .gtk => gtk,
+    },
     .lib => embedded,
     .wasm_module => browser,
 };
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk.zig b/src/apprt/gtk.zig
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b678ba180
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+//! Application runtime that uses GTK4.
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const builtin = @import("builtin");
+const assert = std.debug.assert;
+const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
+
+pub const c = @cImport({
+    @cInclude("gtk/gtk.h");
+});
+
+const log = std.log.scoped(.gtk);
+
+pub const App = struct {
+    pub const Options = struct {
+        /// GTK app ID
+        id: [:0]const u8 = "com.mitchellh.ghostty",
+    };
+
+    pub fn init(opts: Options) !App {
+        const app = c.gtk_application_new(opts.id.ptr, c.G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS);
+        errdefer c.g_object_unref(app);
+        return .{};
+    }
+
+    pub fn terminate(self: App) void {
+        _ = self;
+    }
+
+    pub fn wakeup(self: App) !void {
+        _ = self;
+    }
+
+    pub fn wait(self: App) !void {
+        _ = self;
+    }
+};
+
+pub const Window = struct {
+    pub const Options = struct {};
+
+    pub fn deinit(self: *Window) void {
+        _ = self;
+    }
+};
diff --git a/src/build_config.zig b/src/build_config.zig
index 2baaa48b8..ddaf9c14c 100644
--- a/src/build_config.zig
+++ b/src/build_config.zig
@@ -4,15 +4,19 @@
 //! to shim logic and values into them later.
 const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
+const options = @import("build_options");
 const assert = std.debug.assert;
 
 /// The artifact we're producing. This can be used to determine if we're
 /// building a standalone exe, an embedded lib, etc.
 pub const artifact = Artifact.detect();
 
+/// The runtime to back exe artifacts with.
+pub const app_runtime = options.app_runtime;
+
 /// Whether our devmode UI is enabled or not. This requires imgui to be
 /// compiled.
-pub const devmode_enabled = artifact == .exe;
+pub const devmode_enabled = artifact == .exe and app_runtime == .glfw;
 
 pub const Artifact = enum {
     /// Standalone executable
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 48c4d2a71..ef75d1f74 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
+const build_config = @import("build_config.zig");
 const options = @import("build_options");
 const glfw = @import("glfw");
 const macos = @import("macos");
@@ -88,12 +89,19 @@ pub fn main() !void {
     try config.finalize();
     std.log.debug("config={}", .{config});
 
-    // We want to log all our errors
-    glfw.setErrorCallback(glfwErrorCallback);
+    switch (build_config.app_runtime) {
+        .none => {},
+        .glfw => {
+            // We want to log all our errors
+            glfw.setErrorCallback(glfwErrorCallback);
+        },
+        .gtk => {},
+    }
 
     // Run our app with a single initial window to start.
     var app = try App.create(alloc, .{}, &config);
     defer app.destroy();
+    if (build_config.app_runtime == .gtk) return;
     _ = try app.newWindow(.{});
     try app.run();
 }
diff --git a/src/renderer/OpenGL.zig b/src/renderer/OpenGL.zig
index c8cdf6a26..b3fa6b99d 100644
--- a/src/renderer/OpenGL.zig
+++ b/src/renderer/OpenGL.zig
@@ -420,6 +420,7 @@ pub fn deinitDevMode(self: *const OpenGL) void {
 /// Callback called by renderer.Thread when it begins.
 pub fn threadEnter(self: *const OpenGL, win: apprt.runtime.Window) !void {
     _ = self;
+    if (apprt.runtime == apprt.gtk) @panic("TODO");
 
     // We need to make the OpenGL context current. OpenGL requires
     // that a single thread own the a single OpenGL context (if any). This
@@ -1066,7 +1067,8 @@ pub fn setScreenSize(self: *OpenGL, dim: renderer.ScreenSize) !void {
     // Apply our padding
     const padding = self.padding.explicit.add(if (self.padding.balance)
         renderer.Padding.balanced(dim, grid_size, self.cell_size)
-    else .{});
+    else
+        .{});
     const padded_dim = dim.subPadding(padding);
 
     log.debug("screen size padded={} screen={} grid={} cell={} padding={}", .{