diff --git a/build.zig.zon b/build.zig.zon
index cc617cf51..053a2f6d8 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon
+++ b/build.zig.zon
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 
         .libxev = .{
             // mitchellh/libxev
-            .url = "https://deps.files.ghostty.org/libxev-1220ebf88622c4d502dc59e71347e4d28c47e033f11b59aff774ae5787565c40999c.tar.gz",
-            .hash = "1220ebf88622c4d502dc59e71347e4d28c47e033f11b59aff774ae5787565c40999c",
+            .url = "https://github.com/mitchellh/libxev/archive/8943932a668f338cb2c500f6e1a7396bacd8b55d.tar.gz",
+            .hash = "1220a67b584c9499154de8c96851ed8e92315452cb2027c06e2d7d07a39c6f900d1a",
         },
         .mach_glfw = .{
             // mitchellh/mach-glfw
diff --git a/build.zig.zon.nix b/build.zig.zon.nix
index e1eecdd3e..ecfab0900 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon.nix
+++ b/build.zig.zon.nix
@@ -84,11 +84,11 @@ with lib; let
 in
   linkFarm name [
     {
-      name = "1220ebf88622c4d502dc59e71347e4d28c47e033f11b59aff774ae5787565c40999c";
+      name = "1220a67b584c9499154de8c96851ed8e92315452cb2027c06e2d7d07a39c6f900d1a";
       path = fetchZigArtifact {
         name = "libxev";
-        url = "https://deps.files.ghostty.org/libxev-1220ebf88622c4d502dc59e71347e4d28c47e033f11b59aff774ae5787565c40999c.tar.gz";
-        hash = "sha256-VHP90NTytIZ8UZsYRKOOxN490/I6yv6ec40sP8y5MJ8=";
+        url = "https://github.com/mitchellh/libxev/archive/8943932a668f338cb2c500f6e1a7396bacd8b55d.tar.gz";
+        hash = "sha256-TGooUoby2J8PyzbdKHwdEXnu7f2g4T2/TUHj/ktBsN4=";
       };
     }
     {
diff --git a/build.zig.zon.txt b/build.zig.zon.txt
index 5eb530d76..2e5fbca92 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon.txt
+++ b/build.zig.zon.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ https://deps.files.ghostty.org/harfbuzz-1220b8588f106c996af10249bfa092c6fb2f35fb
 https://deps.files.ghostty.org/highway-12205c83b8311a24b1d5ae6d21640df04f4b0726e314337c043cde1432758cbe165b.tar.gz
 https://deps.files.ghostty.org/imgui-1220bc6b9daceaf7c8c60f3c3998058045ba0c5c5f48ae255ff97776d9cd8bfc6402.tar.gz
 https://deps.files.ghostty.org/libpng-1220aa013f0c83da3fb64ea6d327f9173fa008d10e28bc9349eac3463457723b1c66.tar.gz
-https://deps.files.ghostty.org/libxev-1220ebf88622c4d502dc59e71347e4d28c47e033f11b59aff774ae5787565c40999c.tar.gz
 https://deps.files.ghostty.org/mach_glfw-12206ed982e709e565d536ce930701a8c07edfd2cfdce428683f3f2a601d37696a62.tar.gz
 https://deps.files.ghostty.org/oniguruma-1220c15e72eadd0d9085a8af134904d9a0f5dfcbed5f606ad60edc60ebeccd9706bb.tar.gz
 https://deps.files.ghostty.org/pixels-12207ff340169c7d40c570b4b6a97db614fe47e0d83b5801a932dcd44917424c8806.tar.gz
@@ -32,6 +31,7 @@ https://github.com/getsentry/breakpad/archive/b99f444ba5f6b98cac261cbb391d8766b3
 https://github.com/GNOME/libxml2/archive/refs/tags/v2.11.5.tar.gz
 https://github.com/mbadolato/iTerm2-Color-Schemes/archive/efb1bb1843500a751eb30afa58fe48a6bec8952c.tar.gz
 https://github.com/mitchellh/glfw/archive/b552c6ec47326b94015feddb36058ea567b87159.tar.gz
+https://github.com/mitchellh/libxev/archive/8943932a668f338cb2c500f6e1a7396bacd8b55d.tar.gz
 https://github.com/mitchellh/vulkan-headers/archive/04c8a0389d5a0236a96312988017cd4ce27d8041.tar.gz
 https://github.com/mitchellh/wayland-headers/archive/5f991515a29f994d87b908115a2ab0b899474bd1.tar.gz
 https://github.com/mitchellh/x11-headers/archive/2ffbd62d82ff73ec929dd8de802bc95effa0ef88.tar.gz
diff --git a/build.zig.zon2json-lock b/build.zig.zon2json-lock
index 348a69193..03eae0882 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon2json-lock
+++ b/build.zig.zon2json-lock
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
-  "1220ebf88622c4d502dc59e71347e4d28c47e033f11b59aff774ae5787565c40999c": {
+  "1220a67b584c9499154de8c96851ed8e92315452cb2027c06e2d7d07a39c6f900d1a": {
     "name": "libxev",
-    "url": "https://deps.files.ghostty.org/libxev-1220ebf88622c4d502dc59e71347e4d28c47e033f11b59aff774ae5787565c40999c.tar.gz",
-    "hash": "sha256-VHP90NTytIZ8UZsYRKOOxN490/I6yv6ec40sP8y5MJ8="
+    "url": "https://github.com/mitchellh/libxev/archive/8943932a668f338cb2c500f6e1a7396bacd8b55d.tar.gz",
+    "hash": "sha256-TGooUoby2J8PyzbdKHwdEXnu7f2g4T2/TUHj/ktBsN4="
   },
   "12206ed982e709e565d536ce930701a8c07edfd2cfdce428683f3f2a601d37696a62": {
     "name": "mach_glfw",
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
index 227c36ec4..d8fcaa74c 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const build_config = @import("../../build_config.zig");
+const xev = @import("../../global.zig").xev;
 const build_options = @import("build_options");
 const apprt = @import("../../apprt.zig");
 const configpkg = @import("../../config.zig");
@@ -137,6 +138,27 @@ pub fn init(core_app: *CoreApp, opts: Options) !App {
         }
     }
 
+    // Setup our event loop backend
+    if (config.@"async-backend" != .auto) {
+        const result: bool = switch (config.@"async-backend") {
+            .auto => unreachable,
+            .epoll => xev.prefer(.epoll),
+            .io_uring => xev.prefer(.io_uring),
+        };
+
+        if (result) {
+            log.info(
+                "libxev manual backend={s}",
+                .{@tagName(xev.backend)},
+            );
+        } else {
+            log.warn(
+                "libxev manual backend failed, using default={s}",
+                .{@tagName(xev.backend)},
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
     var gdk_debug: struct {
         /// output OpenGL debug information
         opengl: bool = false,
diff --git a/src/cli/version.zig b/src/cli/version.zig
index f6d2ea9df..235cfe40b 100644
--- a/src/cli/version.zig
+++ b/src/cli/version.zig
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const build_config = @import("../build_config.zig");
 const internal_os = @import("../os/main.zig");
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const renderer = @import("../renderer.zig");
 const gtk = if (build_config.app_runtime == .gtk) @import("../apprt/gtk/c.zig").c else void;
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ pub fn run(alloc: Allocator) !u8 {
     try stdout.print("  - app runtime: {}\n", .{build_config.app_runtime});
     try stdout.print("  - font engine: {}\n", .{build_config.font_backend});
     try stdout.print("  - renderer   : {}\n", .{renderer.Renderer});
-    try stdout.print("  - libxev     : {}\n", .{xev.backend});
+    try stdout.print("  - libxev     : {s}\n", .{@tagName(xev.backend)});
     if (comptime build_config.app_runtime == .gtk) {
         try stdout.print("  - desktop env: {s}\n", .{@tagName(internal_os.desktopEnvironment())});
         try stdout.print("  - GTK version:\n", .{});
diff --git a/src/config/Config.zig b/src/config/Config.zig
index 60a95f33b..a5f5b56b3 100644
--- a/src/config/Config.zig
+++ b/src/config/Config.zig
@@ -2235,6 +2235,34 @@ term: []const u8 = "xterm-ghostty",
 /// running. Defaults to an empty string if not set.
 @"enquiry-response": []const u8 = "",
 
+/// Configures the low-level API to use for async IO, eventing, etc.
+///
+/// Most users should leave this set to `auto`. This will automatically detect
+/// scenarios where APIs may not be available (for example `io_uring` on
+/// certain hardened kernels) and fall back to a different API. However, if
+/// you want to force a specific backend for any reason, you can set this
+/// here.
+///
+/// Based on various benchmarks, we haven't found a statistically significant
+/// difference between the backends with regards to memory, CPU, or latency.
+/// The choice of backend is more about compatibility and features.
+///
+/// Available options:
+///
+///   * `auto` - Automatically choose the best backend for the platform
+///     based on available options.
+///   * `epoll` - Use the `epoll` API
+///   * `io_uring` - Use the `io_uring` API
+///
+/// If the selected backend is not available on the platform, Ghostty will
+/// fall back to an automatically chosen backend that is available.
+///
+/// Changing this value requires a full application restart to take effect.
+///
+/// This is only supported on Linux, since this is the only platform
+/// where we have multiple options. On macOS, we always use `kqueue`.
+@"async-backend": AsyncBackend = .auto,
+
 /// Control the auto-update functionality of Ghostty. This is only supported
 /// on macOS currently, since Linux builds are distributed via package
 /// managers that are not centrally controlled by Ghostty.
@@ -5912,6 +5940,13 @@ pub const LinuxCgroup = enum {
     @"single-instance",
 };
 
+/// See async-backend
+pub const AsyncBackend = enum {
+    auto,
+    epoll,
+    io_uring,
+};
+
 /// See auto-updates
 pub const AutoUpdate = enum {
     off,
diff --git a/src/global.zig b/src/global.zig
index d5a7af630..b9af5983d 100644
--- a/src/global.zig
+++ b/src/global.zig
@@ -9,7 +9,11 @@ const harfbuzz = @import("harfbuzz");
 const oni = @import("oniguruma");
 const crash = @import("crash/main.zig");
 const renderer = @import("renderer.zig");
-const xev = @import("xev");
+
+/// We export the xev backend we want to use so that the rest of
+/// Ghostty can import this once and have access to the proper
+/// backend.
+pub const xev = @import("xev").Dynamic;
 
 /// Global process state. This is initialized in main() for exe artifacts
 /// and by ghostty_init() for lib artifacts. This should ONLY be used by
@@ -114,6 +118,12 @@ pub const GlobalState = struct {
         // Setup our signal handlers before logging
         initSignals();
 
+        // Setup our Xev backend if we're dynamic
+        if (comptime xev.dynamic) xev.detect() catch |err| {
+            std.log.warn("failed to detect xev backend, falling back to " ++
+                "most compatible backend err={}", .{err});
+        };
+
         // Output some debug information right away
         std.log.info("ghostty version={s}", .{build_config.version_string});
         std.log.info("ghostty build optimize={s}", .{build_config.mode_string});
@@ -126,7 +136,7 @@ pub const GlobalState = struct {
             std.log.info("dependency fontconfig={d}", .{fontconfig.version()});
         }
         std.log.info("renderer={}", .{renderer.Renderer});
-        std.log.info("libxev backend={}", .{xev.backend});
+        std.log.info("libxev default backend={s}", .{@tagName(xev.backend)});
 
         // As early as possible, initialize our resource limits.
         self.rlimits = ResourceLimits.init();
diff --git a/src/main_ghostty.zig b/src/main_ghostty.zig
index 9efe8d9b0..0e57fbc43 100644
--- a/src/main_ghostty.zig
+++ b/src/main_ghostty.zig
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ const macos = @import("macos");
 const oni = @import("oniguruma");
 const cli = @import("cli.zig");
 const internal_os = @import("os/main.zig");
-const xev = @import("xev");
 const fontconfig = @import("fontconfig");
 const harfbuzz = @import("harfbuzz");
 const renderer = @import("renderer.zig");
diff --git a/src/os/cf_release_thread.zig b/src/os/cf_release_thread.zig
index 5001441e0..dbf8e6592 100644
--- a/src/os/cf_release_thread.zig
+++ b/src/os/cf_release_thread.zig
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ pub const Thread = @This();
 
 const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
-const xev = @import("xev");
 const macos = @import("macos");
 
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const BlockingQueue = @import("../datastruct/main.zig").BlockingQueue;
 
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ pub fn threadMain(self: *Thread) void {
     // If our loop is not stopped, then we need to keep running so that
     // messages are drained and we can wait for the surface to send a stop
     // message.
-    if (!self.loop.flags.stopped) {
+    if (!self.loop.stopped()) {
         log.warn("abrupt cf release thread exit detected, starting xev to drain mailbox", .{});
         defer log.debug("cf release thread fully exiting after abnormal failure", .{});
         self.flags.drain = true;
diff --git a/src/renderer/Metal.zig b/src/renderer/Metal.zig
index ca13f87de..e90963c75 100644
--- a/src/renderer/Metal.zig
+++ b/src/renderer/Metal.zig
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ const objc = @import("objc");
 const macos = @import("macos");
 const imgui = @import("imgui");
 const glslang = @import("glslang");
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const apprt = @import("../apprt.zig");
 const configpkg = @import("../config.zig");
 const font = @import("../font/main.zig");
diff --git a/src/renderer/Thread.zig b/src/renderer/Thread.zig
index cc63889fa..03b41ab30 100644
--- a/src/renderer/Thread.zig
+++ b/src/renderer/Thread.zig
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ pub const Thread = @This();
 const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const assert = std.debug.assert;
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const crash = @import("../crash/main.zig");
 const internal_os = @import("../os/main.zig");
 const renderer = @import("../renderer.zig");
diff --git a/src/termio/Exec.zig b/src/termio/Exec.zig
index 5a2d2a507..4f63076de 100644
--- a/src/termio/Exec.zig
+++ b/src/termio/Exec.zig
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
 const ArenaAllocator = std.heap.ArenaAllocator;
 const posix = std.posix;
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const build_config = @import("../build_config.zig");
 const configpkg = @import("../config.zig");
 const crash = @import("../crash/main.zig");
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ fn ttyWrite(
     _: *xev.Completion,
     _: xev.Stream,
     _: xev.WriteBuffer,
-    r: xev.Stream.WriteError!usize,
+    r: xev.WriteError!usize,
 ) xev.CallbackAction {
     const td = td_.?;
     td.write_req_pool.put();
@@ -634,13 +634,13 @@ pub const ThreadData = struct {
 
     /// This is the pool of available (unused) write requests. If you grab
     /// one from the pool, you must put it back when you're done!
-    write_req_pool: SegmentedPool(xev.Stream.WriteRequest, WRITE_REQ_PREALLOC) = .{},
+    write_req_pool: SegmentedPool(xev.WriteRequest, WRITE_REQ_PREALLOC) = .{},
 
     /// The pool of available buffers for writing to the pty.
     write_buf_pool: SegmentedPool([64]u8, WRITE_REQ_PREALLOC) = .{},
 
     /// The write queue for the data stream.
-    write_queue: xev.Stream.WriteQueue = .{},
+    write_queue: xev.WriteQueue = .{},
 
     /// This is used for both waiting for the process to exit and then
     /// subsequently to wait for the data_stream to close.
diff --git a/src/termio/Options.zig b/src/termio/Options.zig
index 023423c95..7484fd087 100644
--- a/src/termio/Options.zig
+++ b/src/termio/Options.zig
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 //! The options that are used to configure a terminal IO implementation.
 
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const apprt = @import("../apprt.zig");
 const renderer = @import("../renderer.zig");
 const Command = @import("../Command.zig");
diff --git a/src/termio/Termio.zig b/src/termio/Termio.zig
index 8a2e6cc7a..1d125f049 100644
--- a/src/termio/Termio.zig
+++ b/src/termio/Termio.zig
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ const Pty = @import("../pty.zig").Pty;
 const StreamHandler = @import("stream_handler.zig").StreamHandler;
 const terminal = @import("../terminal/main.zig");
 const terminfo = @import("../terminfo/main.zig");
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const renderer = @import("../renderer.zig");
 const apprt = @import("../apprt.zig");
 const fastmem = @import("../fastmem.zig");
diff --git a/src/termio/Thread.zig b/src/termio/Thread.zig
index d80046737..d8018341d 100644
--- a/src/termio/Thread.zig
+++ b/src/termio/Thread.zig
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pub const Thread = @This();
 const std = @import("std");
 const ArenaAllocator = std.heap.ArenaAllocator;
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const crash = @import("../crash/main.zig");
 const termio = @import("../termio.zig");
 const renderer = @import("../renderer.zig");
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ pub fn threadMain(self: *Thread, io: *termio.Termio) void {
     // If our loop is not stopped, then we need to keep running so that
     // messages are drained and we can wait for the surface to send a stop
     // message.
-    if (!self.loop.flags.stopped) {
+    if (!self.loop.stopped()) {
         log.warn("abrupt io thread exit detected, starting xev to drain mailbox", .{});
         defer log.debug("io thread fully exiting after abnormal failure", .{});
         self.flags.drain = true;
diff --git a/src/termio/backend.zig b/src/termio/backend.zig
index 68b283a00..46ed3431c 100644
--- a/src/termio/backend.zig
+++ b/src/termio/backend.zig
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
 const posix = std.posix;
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const build_config = @import("../build_config.zig");
 const configpkg = @import("../config.zig");
 const internal_os = @import("../os/main.zig");
diff --git a/src/termio/mailbox.zig b/src/termio/mailbox.zig
index cac453a1c..b144b512a 100644
--- a/src/termio/mailbox.zig
+++ b/src/termio/mailbox.zig
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const renderer = @import("../renderer.zig");
 const termio = @import("../termio.zig");
 const BlockingQueue = @import("../datastruct/main.zig").BlockingQueue;
diff --git a/src/termio/stream_handler.zig b/src/termio/stream_handler.zig
index e9bb353fb..43d2888d2 100644
--- a/src/termio/stream_handler.zig
+++ b/src/termio/stream_handler.zig
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const std = @import("std");
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
-const xev = @import("xev");
+const xev = @import("../global.zig").xev;
 const apprt = @import("../apprt.zig");
 const build_config = @import("../build_config.zig");
 const configpkg = @import("../config.zig");