diff --git a/src/font/SharedGrid.zig b/src/font/SharedGrid.zig
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bfb8f411f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/font/SharedGrid.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+//! This structure represents the state required to render a terminal
+//! grid using the font subsystem. It is "shared" because it is able to
+//! be shared across multiple surfaces.
+//!
+//! It is desirable for the grid state to be shared because the font
+//! configuration for a set of surfaces is almost always the same and
+//! font data is relatively memory intensive. Further, the font subsystem
+//! should be read-heavy compared to write-heavy, so it handles concurrent
+//! reads well. Going even further, the font subsystem should be very rarely
+//! read at all since it should only be necessary when the grid actively
+//! changes.
+const SharedGrid = @This();
+
+// TODO(fontmem):
+// - consider config changes and how they affect the shared grid.
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const assert = std.debug.assert;
+const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
+const font = @import("main.zig");
+const Atlas = font.Atlas;
+const CodepointResolver = font.CodepointResolver;
+const Collection = font.Collection;
+const Glyph = font.Glyph;
+const Metrics = font.face.Metrics;
+const Presentation = font.Presentation;
+const Style = font.Style;
+const RenderOptions = font.face.RenderOptions;
+
+const log = std.log.scoped(.font_shared_grid);
+
+/// Cache for codepoints to font indexes in a group.
+codepoints: std.AutoHashMapUnmanaged(CodepointKey, ?Collection.Index) = .{},
+
+/// Cache for glyph renders into the atlas.
+glyphs: std.AutoHashMapUnmanaged(GlyphKey, Glyph) = .{},
+
+/// The texture atlas to store renders in. The Glyph data in the glyphs
+/// cache is dependent on the atlas matching.
+atlas_greyscale: Atlas,
+atlas_color: Atlas,
+
+/// The underlying resolver for font data, fallbacks, etc. The shared
+/// grid takes ownership of the resolver and will free it.
+resolver: CodepointResolver,
+
+/// The currently active grid metrics dictating the layout of the grid.
+/// This is calculated based on the resolver and current fonts.
+metrics: Metrics,
+
+pub fn init(
+    alloc: Allocator,
+    resolver: CodepointResolver,
+    thicken: bool,
+) !SharedGrid {
+    // We need to support loading options since we use the size data
+    assert(resolver.collection.load_options != null);
+
+    var atlas_greyscale = try Atlas.init(alloc, 512, .greyscale);
+    errdefer atlas_greyscale.deinit(alloc);
+    var atlas_color = try Atlas.init(alloc, 512, .rgba);
+    errdefer atlas_color.deinit(alloc);
+
+    var result: SharedGrid = .{
+        .resolver = resolver,
+        .atlas_greyscale = atlas_greyscale,
+        .atlas_color = atlas_color,
+    };
+
+    // We set an initial capacity that can fit a good number of characters.
+    // This number was picked empirically based on my own terminal usage.
+    try result.codepoints.ensureTotalCapacity(alloc, 128);
+    try result.glyphs.ensureTotalCapacity(alloc, 128);
+
+    // Initialize our metrics.
+    try result.reloadMetrics(thicken);
+
+    return result;
+}
+
+pub fn deinit(self: *SharedGrid, alloc: Allocator) void {
+    self.codepoints.deinit(alloc);
+    self.glyphs.deinit(alloc);
+    self.atlas_greyscale.deinit(alloc);
+    self.atlas_color.deinit(alloc);
+    self.resolver.deinit(alloc);
+}
+
+fn reloadMetrics(self: *SharedGrid, thicken: bool) !void {
+    // Get our cell metrics based on a regular font ascii 'M'. Why 'M'?
+    // Doesn't matter, any normal ASCII will do we're just trying to make
+    // sure we use the regular font.
+    // We don't go through our caching layer because we want to minimize
+    // possible failures.
+    const collection = &self.resolver.collection;
+    const index = collection.getIndex('M', .regular, .{ .any = {} }).?;
+    const face = try collection.getFace(index);
+    self.metrics = face.metrics;
+
+    // Setup our sprite font.
+    self.resolver.sprite = .{
+        .width = self.metrics.cell_width,
+        .height = self.metrics.cell_height,
+        .thickness = self.metrics.underline_thickness *
+            @as(u32, if (thicken) 2 else 1),
+        .underline_position = self.metrics.underline_position,
+    };
+}
+
+const CodepointKey = struct {
+    style: Style,
+    codepoint: u32,
+    presentation: ?Presentation,
+};
+
+const GlyphKey = struct {
+    index: Collection.Index,
+    glyph: u32,
+    opts: RenderOptions,
+};
diff --git a/src/font/main.zig b/src/font/main.zig
index 0798bae05..0932ad4e3 100644
--- a/src/font/main.zig
+++ b/src/font/main.zig
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ pub const GroupCacheSet = @import("GroupCacheSet.zig");
 pub const Glyph = @import("Glyph.zig");
 pub const shape = @import("shape.zig");
 pub const Shaper = shape.Shaper;
+pub const SharedGrid = @import("SharedGrid.zig");
 pub const sprite = @import("sprite.zig");
 pub const Sprite = sprite.Sprite;
 pub const SpriteFace = sprite.Face;