diff --git a/docs/content/docs/config-options.md b/docs/content/docs/config-options.md
index 7001f84..b3eedce 100644
--- a/docs/content/docs/config-options.md
+++ b/docs/content/docs/config-options.md
@@ -71,30 +71,6 @@ Note that currently Pagefind only supports lists of options via configuration fi
 |---------------------------|------------------------------|---------------------|
 | `--exclude-selectors <S>` | `PAGEFIND_EXCLUDE_SELECTORS` | `exclude_selectors` |
 
-### Rules
-Applies Pagefind attributes to the elements a selector matches, so a site can be configured with the same vocabulary its HTML would use. For example, in `pagefind.yml`:
-
-```yml
-rules:
-  - selector: "#my_navigation"
-    attributes:
-      data-pagefind-ignore: all
-  - selector: ".article-body"
-    attributes:
-      data-pagefind-body: ""
-      data-pagefind-meta: "title[data-title]"
-```
-
-Each rule behaves exactly as if the attributes had been written on the matching elements, so the documentation for [indexing attributes](/docs/indexing/) applies unchanged.
-
-An attribute written in the page always wins over a rule setting the same attribute, so rules never override markup you control. A selector Pagefind cannot parse is reported and skipped, and indexing continues without it.
-
-Rules are only available via configuration files, as a list of selectors with their attributes does not fit a CLI flag or an environment variable.
-
-| CLI Flag | ENV Variable | Config Key |
-|----------|--------------|------------|
-| n/a      | n/a          | `rules`    |
-
 ### Include characters
 Prevents Pagefind from stripping the provided characters when indexing content.
 Allows users to search for words including these characters.
diff --git a/docs/content/docs/node-api.md b/docs/content/docs/node-api.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1da3dd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/content/docs/node-api.md
@@ -0,0 +1,225 @@
+---
+title: "Indexing content using the NodeJS API"
+nav_title: "Using the NodeJS API"
+nav_section: References
+weight: 55
+---
+
+Pagefind provides an interface to the indexing binary as a NodeJS package you can import.
+
+There are situations where using this Node library is beneficial:
+- Authors integrating Pagefind into an existing project, e.g. integrating Pagefind into the dev mode of a static site generator, can pass in-memory HTML files to Pagefind. Pagefind can also return the search index in-memory, to be hosted via the dev mode alongside the files.
+- Users looking to index their site and augment that index with extra non-HTML pages can run a standard Pagefind crawl with [`addDirectory`](#indexadddirectory) and augment it with [`addCustomRecord`](#indexaddcustomrecord).
+- Users looking to use Pagefind's engine for searching miscellaneous content such as PDFs or subtitles, where [`addCustomRecord`](#indexaddcustomrecord) can be used to build the entire index from scratch.
+
+## Example usage
+
+```js
+import * as pagefind from "pagefind";
+
+// Create a Pagefind search index to work with
+const { index } = await pagefind.createIndex();
+
+// Index all HTML files in a directory
+await index.addDirectory({
+    path: "public"
+});
+
+// Add extra content
+await index.addCustomRecord({
+    url: "/resume.pdf",
+    content: "Aenean lacinia bibendum nulla sed consectetur",
+    language: "en",
+});
+
+// Get the index files in-memory
+const { files } = await index.getFiles();
+
+// Or, write the index to disk
+await index.writeFiles({
+    outputPath: "public/pagefind"
+});
+```
+
+All interactions with Pagefind are asynchronous, as they communicate with the native Pagefind binary in the background.
+
+## pagefind.createIndex
+
+Creates a Pagefind index that files can be added to.
+The index object returned is unique, and multiple calls to `pagefind.createIndex()` can be made without conflicts.
+
+```js
+import * as pagefind from "pagefind";
+
+const { index } = await pagefind.createIndex();
+
+// ... do things with `index`
+```
+
+`createIndex` optionally takes a configuration object that can apply parts of the [Pagefind CLI config](/docs/config-options/). The options available at this level are:
+
+```js
+const { index } = await pagefind.createIndex({
+    rootSelector: "html",
+    excludeSelectors: [".my-code-blocks"],
+    forceLanguage: "en",
+    includeCharacters: "._",
+    keepIndexUrl: false,
+    writePlayground: false,
+    verbose: false,
+    logfile: "debug.log"
+});
+```
+
+See the relevant documentation for these configuration options in the [Configuring the Pagefind CLI](/docs/config-options/) documentation.
+
+## index.addDirectory
+
+Indexes a directory from disk using the standard Pagefind indexing behaviour.
+This is equivalent to running the Pagefind binary with `--site <dir>`.
+
+```js
+// Index all HTML files in the public directory
+const { errors, page_count } = await index.addDirectory({
+    path: "public"
+});
+
+// Index files in the directory that match the given glob
+const { errors, page_count } = await index.addDirectory({
+    path: "public",
+    glob: "**/*.{html}"
+});
+```
+
+If the `path` provided is relative, it will be relative to the current working directory of your Node process.
+
+Optionally, a custom `glob` can be supplied which controls which files Pagefind will consume within the directory. The default is shown, and the `glob` option can be omitted entirely.
+See [Wax patterns documentation](https://github.com/olson-sean-k/wax#patterns) for more details.
+
+A response with an `errors` array containing error messages indicates that Pagefind failed to process this directory.
+If successful, `page_count` will be the number of pages that were added to the index.
+
+## index.addHTMLFile
+
+Adds a virtual HTML file to the Pagefind index. Useful for files that don't exist on disk, for example a static site generator that is serving files from memory.
+
+```js
+// Index a file as if Pagefind was indexing from disk
+const { errors, file } = await index.addHTMLFile({
+    sourcePath: "contact/index.html",
+    content: "<html lang='en'><body> <h1>A Full HTML Document</h1> <p> . . . </p> </body></html>"
+});
+
+// Index HTML content, giving it a specific URL
+const { errors, file } = await index.addHTMLFile({
+    url: "/contact/",
+    content: "<html lang='en'><body> <h1>A Full HTML Document</h1> <p> . . . </p> </body></html>"
+});
+```
+
+The `sourcePath` should represent the path of this HTML file if it were to exist on disk. Pagefind will use this path to generate the URL. It should be relative, or absolute to a path within the current working directory.
+
+Instead of `sourcePath`, a `url` may be supplied to explicitly set the URL of this search result.
+
+The `content` should be the full HTML source, including the outer `<html> </html>` tags. This will be run through Pagefind's standard HTML indexing process, and should contain any required Pagefind attributes to control behaviour.
+
+A response with an `errors` array containing error messages indicates that Pagefind failed to index this content.
+If successful, the `file` object is returned containing metadata about the completed indexing.
+
+## index.addCustomRecord
+
+Adds a direct record to the Pagefind index. Useful for adding non-HTML content to the search results.
+
+```js
+const { errors, file } = await index.addCustomRecord({
+    url: "/contact/",
+    content: "My raw content to be indexed for search. Will be lightly processed by Pagefind.",
+    language: "en",
+    meta: {
+        title: "Contact",
+        category: "Landing Page"
+    },
+    filters: {
+        tags: ["landing", "company"]
+    },
+    sort: {
+        weight: "20"
+    }
+});
+```
+
+The `url`, `content`, and `language` fields are all required. `language` should be an [ISO 639-1 code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes).
+
+`meta` is optional, and is strictly a flat object of keys to string values.
+See the [Metadata documentation](https://pagefind.app/docs/metadata/) for semantics.
+
+`filters` is optional, and is strictly a flat object of keys to arrays of string values.
+See the [Filters documentation](https://pagefind.app/docs/filtering/) for semantics.
+
+`sort` is optional, and is strictly a flat object of keys to string values.
+See the [Sort documentation](https://pagefind.app/docs/sorts/) for semantics.
+*When Pagefind is processing an index, number-like strings will be sorted numerically rather than alphabetically. As such, the value passed in should be `"20"` and not `20`*
+
+A response with an `errors` array containing error messages indicates that Pagefind failed to index this content.
+If successful, the `file` object is returned containing metadata about the completed indexing.
+
+## index.getFiles
+
+Get raw data of all files in the Pagefind index. Useful for integrating a Pagefind index into the development mode of a static site generator and hosting these files yourself.
+
+```js
+const { errors, files } = await index.getFiles();
+
+for (const file of files) {
+    const output_url = `/pagefind/${file.path}`;
+    // do something with the file.content Uint8Array
+}
+```
+
+A response with an `errors` array containing error messages indicates that Pagefind failed to action this request.
+
+If successful, `files` will be an array containing file objects. Each object contains a `content` key with the raw data as a Uint8Array, and a `path` key which is the relative URL this file should be served at within a bundle directory.
+
+## index.writeFiles
+
+Writes the index files to disk, as they would be written when running the standard Pagefind binary directly.
+
+```js
+const { errors } = await index.writeFiles({
+    outputPath: "./public/pagefind"
+});
+```
+
+The `outputPath` option should contain the path to the desired Pagefind bundle directory. If relative, is relative to the current working directory of your Node process.
+
+A response with an `errors` array containing error messages indicates that Pagefind failed to action this request.
+
+## index.deleteIndex
+
+Deletes the data for the given index from the Pagefind binary service. Doesn't affect any written files or data returned by `getFiles()`.
+
+```js
+await index.deleteIndex();
+```
+
+Calling `index.getFiles()` or `index.writeFiles()` doesn't consume the index, and further modifications can be made. In situations where many indexes are being created, the `deleteIndex` call helps clear out memory from the Pagefind binary service.
+
+Reusing an `index` object after calling `index.deleteIndex()` will cause errors to be returned.
+
+Not calling this method is fine — these indexes will be cleaned up when your Node process exits.
+
+## pagefind.close
+
+Closes the Pagefind service and errors out any pending tasks, stopping the linked binary altogether.
+Called on the top-level `pagefind` object.
+
+```js
+import * as pagefind from "pagefind";
+
+const { index } = await pagefind.createIndex();
+
+// ... do things with `index`
+
+// clean up once complete
+await pagefind.close();
+```
diff --git a/docs/content/docs/py-api.md b/docs/content/docs/py-api.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55954b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/content/docs/py-api.md
@@ -0,0 +1,333 @@
+---
+title: "Indexing content using the Python API"
+nav_title: "Using the Python API"
+nav_section: References
+weight: 54 # slightly less weight than the node API
+---
+
+Pagefind provides an interface to the indexing binary as a Python package you can install and import.
+
+There are situations where using this Python package is beneficial:
+- Integrating Pagefind into an existing Python project, e.g. writing a plugin for a static site generator that can pass in-memory HTML files to Pagefind.
+  Pagefind can also return the search index in-memory, to be hosted via the dev mode alongside the files.
+- Users looking to index their site and augment that index with extra non-HTML pages can run a standard Pagefind crawl with [`add_directory`](#indexadd_directory) and augment it with [`add_custom_record`](#indexadd_custom_record).
+- Users looking to use Pagefind's engine for searching miscellaneous content such as PDFs or subtitles, where [`add_custom_record`](#indexadd_custom_record) can be used to build the entire index from scratch.
+
+## Installation
+
+To install just the Python wrapper, and use a `pagefind` executable from your system:
+```bash
+python3 -m pip install 'pagefind'
+```
+
+To install the Python wrapper as well as the standard binary for your platform:
+```bash
+python3 -m pip install 'pagefind[bin]'
+```
+
+To install the Python wrapper as well as the extended binary for your platform:
+```bash
+python3 -m pip install 'pagefind[extended]'
+```
+
+## Example Usage
+
+<!-- this example is copied verbatim from wrappers/python/src/tests/integration.py -->
+
+```py
+import asyncio
+import json
+import logging
+import os
+from pagefind.index import PagefindIndex, IndexConfig
+
+logging.basicConfig(level=os.environ.get("LOG_LEVEL", "INFO"))
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+html_content = (
+    "<html>"
+    "  <body>"
+    "    <main>"
+    "      <h1>Example HTML</h1>"
+    "      <p>This is an example HTML page.</p>"
+    "    </main>"
+    "  </body>"
+    "</html>"
+)
+
+
+def prefix(pre: str, s: str) -> str:
+    return pre + s.replace("\n", f"\n{pre}")
+
+
+async def main():
+    config = IndexConfig(
+        root_selector="main", logfile="index.log", output_path="./output", verbose=True
+    )
+    async with PagefindIndex(config=config) as index:
+        log.debug("opened index")
+        new_file, new_record, new_dir = await asyncio.gather(
+            index.add_html_file(
+                content=html_content,
+                url="https://example.com",
+                source_path="other/example.html",
+            ),
+            index.add_custom_record(
+                url="/elephants/",
+                content="Some testing content regarding elephants",
+                language="en",
+                meta={"title": "Elephants"},
+            ),
+            index.add_directory("./public"),
+        )
+        print(prefix("new_file    ", json.dumps(new_file, indent=2)))
+        print(prefix("new_record  ", json.dumps(new_record, indent=2)))
+        print(prefix("new_dir     ", json.dumps(new_dir, indent=2)))
+
+        files = await index.get_files()
+        for file in files:
+            print(prefix("files", f"{len(file['content']):10}B {file['path']}"))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    asyncio.run(main())
+```
+
+All interactions with Pagefind are asynchronous, as they communicate with the native Pagefind binary in the background.
+
+## PagefindIndex
+
+`pagefind.index.PagefindIndex` manages a pagefind index.
+
+`PagefindIndex` operates as an async contextmanager.
+Entering the context starts a backing Pagefind service and creates an in-memory index in the backing service.
+Exiting the context writes the in-memory index to disk and then shuts down the backing Pagefind service.
+
+```py
+from pagefind.index import PagefindIndex
+
+async def main():
+    async with PagefindIndex() as index: # open the index
+        ... # update the index
+    # the index is closed here and files are written to disk.
+```
+
+Each method of `PagefindIndex` that talks to the backing Pagefind service can raise errors.
+If an error is thrown inside `PagefindIndex`'s context, the context closes without writing the index files to disk.
+
+```py
+async def main():
+    async with PagefindIndex() as index: # open the index
+        await index.add_directory("./public")
+        raise Exception("not today")
+    # the index closes without writing anything to disk
+```
+
+`PagefindIndex` optionally takes a configuration dictionary that can apply parts of the [Pagefind CLI config](/docs/config-options/). The options available at this level are:
+
+```py
+from pagefind.index import PagefindIndex, IndexConfig
+config = IndexConfig(
+    root_selector="main",
+    exclude_selectors=["nav"],
+    force_language="en",
+    include_characters="._",
+    verbose=True,
+    logfile="index.log",
+    keep_index_url=True,
+    write_playground=True,
+    output_path="./output",
+)
+
+async def main():
+    async with PagefindIndex(config=config) as index:
+        ...
+```
+
+See the relevant documentation for these configuration options in the [Configuring the Pagefind CLI](/docs/config-options/) documentation.
+
+## index.add_directory
+
+Indexes a directory from disk using the standard Pagefind indexing behaviour.
+This is equivalent to running the Pagefind binary with `--site <dir>`.
+
+```py
+# Index all the HTML files in the public directory
+indexed_dir = await index.add_directory("./public")
+page_count: int = new_dir["page_count"]
+```
+If the `path` provided is relative, it will be relative to the current working directory of your Python process.
+
+```py
+# Index files in a directory matching a given glob pattern.
+indexed_dir = await index.add_directory("./public", glob="**.{html}")
+```
+
+Optionally, a custom `glob` can be supplied which controls which files Pagefind will consume within the directory. The default is shown, and the `glob` option can be omitted entirely.
+See [Wax patterns documentation](https://github.com/olson-sean-k/wax#patterns) for more details.
+
+## index.add_html_file
+
+Adds a virtual HTML file to the Pagefind index. Useful for files that don't exist on disk, for example a static site generator that is serving files from memory.
+
+```py
+html_content = (
+    "<html lang='en'><body>"
+    "  <h1>A Full HTML Document</h1>"
+    "  <p> ... </p>"
+    "</body></html>"
+)
+
+# Index a file as if Pagefind was indexing from disk
+new_file = await index.add_html_file(
+    content=html_content,
+    source_path="other/example.html",
+)
+
+# Index HTML content, giving it a specific URL
+new_file = await index.add_html_file(
+    content=html_content,
+    url="https://example.com",
+)
+```
+
+The `source_path` should represent the path of this HTML file if it were to exist on disk. Pagefind will use this path to generate the URL. It should be relative, or absolute to a path within the current working directory.
+
+Instead of `source_path`, a `url` may be supplied to explicitly set the URL of this search result.
+
+The `content` should be the full HTML source, including the outer `<html> </html>` tags. This will be run through Pagefind's standard HTML indexing process, and should contain any required Pagefind attributes to control behaviour.
+
+If successful, the `file` object is returned containing metadata about the completed indexing.
+
+## index.add_custom_record
+Adds a direct record to the Pagefind index.
+Useful for adding non-HTML content to the search results.
+
+```py
+custom_record = await index.add_custom_record(
+    url="/contact/",
+    content=(
+      "My raw content to be indexed for search. "
+      "Will be lightly processed by Pagefind."
+    ),
+    language="en",
+    meta={
+        "title": "Contact",
+        "category": "Landing Page"
+    },
+    filters={"tags": ["landing", "company"]},
+    sort={"weight": "20"},
+)
+
+page_word_count: int = custom_record["page_word_count"]
+page_url: str = custom_record["page_url"]
+page_meta: dict[str, str] = custom_record["page_meta"]
+```
+
+The `url`, `content`, and `language` fields are all required. `language` should be an [ISO 639-1 code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes).
+
+`meta` is optional, and is strictly a flat object of keys to string values.
+See the [Metadata documentation](https://pagefind.app/docs/metadata/) for semantics.
+
+`filters` is optional, and is strictly a flat object of keys to arrays of string values.
+See the [Filters documentation](https://pagefind.app/docs/filtering/) for semantics.
+
+`sort` is optional, and is strictly a flat object of keys to string values.
+See the [Sort documentation](https://pagefind.app/docs/sorts/) for semantics.
+*When Pagefind is processing an index, number-like strings will be sorted numerically rather than alphabetically. As such, the value passed in should be `"20"` and not `20`*
+
+If successful, the `file` object is returned containing metadata about the completed indexing.
+
+## index.get_files
+
+Get raw data of all files in the Pagefind index.
+Useful for integrating a Pagefind index into the development mode of a static site generator and hosting these files yourself.
+
+**WATCH OUT**: these files can be large enough to clog the pipe reading from the `pagefind` binary's subprocess, causing a deadlock.
+
+```py
+for file in (await index.get_files()):
+    path: str = file["path"]
+    content: str = file["content"]
+    ...
+```
+
+## index.write_files
+
+Calling `index.write_files()` writes the index files to disk, as they would be written when running the standard Pagefind binary directly.
+
+Closing the `PagefindIndex`'s context automatically calls `index.write_files`, so calling this function is not necessary in normal operation.
+
+Calling this function won't prevent files being written when the context closes, which may cause duplicate files to be written.
+If calling this function manually, you probably want to also call `index.delete_index()`.
+
+```py
+config = IndexConfig(
+    output_path="./public/pagefind",
+)
+async with PagefindIndex(config=config) as index:
+    # ... add content to index
+
+    # write files to the configured output path for the index:
+    await index.write_files()
+
+    # write files to a different output path:
+    await index.write_files(output_path="./custom/pagefind")
+
+    # prevent also writing files when closing the `PagefindIndex`:
+    await index.delete_index()
+```
+
+The `output_path` option should contain the path to the desired Pagefind bundle directory. If relative, is relative to the current working directory of your Python process.
+
+## index.delete_index
+
+Deletes the data for the given index from its backing Pagefind service.
+Doesn't affect any written files or data returned by `get_files()`.
+
+```python
+await index.delete_index()
+```
+
+Calling `index.get_files()` or `index.write_files()` doesn't consume the index, and further modifications can be made. In situations where many indexes are being created, the `delete_index` call helps clear out memory from a shared Pagefind binary service.
+
+Reusing an `PagefindIndex` object after calling `index.delete_index()` will cause errors to be returned.
+
+Not calling this method is fine — these indexes will be cleaned up when your `PagefindIndex`'s context closes, its backing Pagefind service closes, or your Python process exits.
+
+## PagefindService
+
+`PagefindService` manages a pagefind service running in a subprocess.
+
+`PagefindService` operates as an async context manager: when the context is entered, the backing service starts, and when the context exits, the backing service shuts down.
+
+```py
+from pagefind.service import PagefindService
+
+async def main():
+    # or you can write
+    service = await PagefindService().launch()
+    ...
+    await service.close()
+
+    async with PagefindService() as service: # the service launches
+        ...
+    # the service closes
+```
+
+You should invoke `PagefindService` directly when you want to use the same backing service for many indexes:
+
+```py
+async with PagefindService() as service:
+    default_index = await service.create_index()
+    other_index = await service.create_index(
+        config=IndexConfig(output_path="./search/nonstandard"),
+    )
+    await asyncio.gather(
+        default_index.add_directory("./a"),
+        other_index.add_directory("./b"),
+    )
+    await asyncio.gather(
+        default_index.write_files(),
+        other_index.write_files(),
+    )
+```
diff --git a/pagefind/src/fossick/mod.rs b/pagefind/src/fossick/mod.rs
index 4a8ee16..9373047 100644
--- a/pagefind/src/fossick/mod.rs
+++ b/pagefind/src/fossick/mod.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ use hashbrown::HashMap;
 use lazy_static::lazy_static;
 use pagefind_stem::{Algorithm, Stemmer};
 use path_slash::PathExt as _;
-use percent_encoding::{utf8_percent_encode, AsciiSet, CONTROLS};
 use regex::Regex;
 use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use std::io::BufRead;
@@ -590,20 +589,6 @@ impl Fossicker {
 
 }
 
-/// The URL spec's path percent-encode set, minus `/` so that the separators
-/// between the path segments survive. `%` is deliberately left alone, so a file
-/// that is already named in encoded form keeps the URL it has today.
-const PATH_ENCODE_SET: &AsciiSet = &CONTROLS
-    .add(b' ')
-    .add(b'"')
-    .add(b'#')
-    .add(b'<')
-    .add(b'>')
-    .add(b'?')
-    .add(b'`')
-    .add(b'{')
-    .add(b'}');
-
 fn strip_index_html(url: &str) -> &str {
     if url.ends_with("/index.html") {
         &url[..url.len() - 10]
@@ -636,7 +621,13 @@ fn build_url(page_url: &Path, relative_to: Option<&Path>, options: &SearchOption
         url.to_slash_lossy().to_owned().to_string()
     };
 
-    format!("/{}", utf8_percent_encode(&final_url, PATH_ENCODE_SET))
+    format!(
+        "/{}",
+        final_url
+            .replace('%', "%25")
+            .replace('#', "%23")
+            .replace('?', "%3F")
+    )
 }
 
 fn normalize_content(content: &str) -> String {
@@ -1260,29 +1251,9 @@ mod tests {
         let p: PathBuf = cwd.join::<PathBuf>("hello/world/index.html".into());
         let root: PathBuf = cwd.join::<PathBuf>("hello".into());
         assert_eq!(&build_url(&p, Some(&root), &opts), "/world/");
-    }
 
-    #[cfg(not(target_os = "windows"))]
-    #[test]
-    fn building_urls_with_characters_that_need_encoding() {
-        std::env::set_var("PAGEFIND_SITE", "hello/world");
-        let config =
-            PagefindInboundConfig::with_layers(&[Layer::Env(Some("PAGEFIND_".into()))]).unwrap();
-        let opts = SearchOptions::load(config).unwrap();
-
-        let cwd = std::env::current_dir().unwrap();
-
-        let p: PathBuf = cwd.join::<PathBuf>("hello/world/Müsli.html".into());
-        assert_eq!(&build_url(&p, None, &opts), "/M%C3%BCsli.html");
-
-        let p: PathBuf = cwd.join::<PathBuf>("hello/world/Müsli/index.html".into());
-        assert_eq!(&build_url(&p, None, &opts), "/M%C3%BCsli/");
-
-        let p: PathBuf = cwd.join::<PathBuf>("hello/world/a b/c#d?e.html".into());
-        assert_eq!(&build_url(&p, None, &opts), "/a%20b/c%23d%3Fe.html");
-
-        let p: PathBuf = cwd.join::<PathBuf>("hello/world/M%C3%BCsli.html".into());
-        assert_eq!(&build_url(&p, None, &opts), "/M%C3%BCsli.html");
+        let p: PathBuf = cwd.join::<PathBuf>("hello/world/100%/C#/why?.html".into());
+        assert_eq!(&build_url(&p, None, &opts), "/100%25/C%23/why%3F.html");
     }
 
     #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
diff --git a/pagefind/src/options.rs b/pagefind/src/options.rs
index d9fc68b..2de8d3a 100644
--- a/pagefind/src/options.rs
+++ b/pagefind/src/options.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use anyhow::{bail, Result};
 use clap::Parser;
 use rust_patch::Patch;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
-use std::{collections::BTreeMap, env, path::PathBuf};
+use std::{env, path::PathBuf};
 use twelf::config;
 use typed_builder::TypedBuilder;
 
@@ -22,15 +22,6 @@ use crate::{
 // No options should be added that are required.
 //
 
-/// A selector paired with the Pagefind attributes to set on the elements it matches,
-/// so a site can be configured with the same vocabulary its HTML would use.
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, Default)]
-pub(crate) struct PagefindRule {
-    pub(crate) selector: String,
-    #[serde(default)]
-    pub(crate) attributes: BTreeMap<String, String>,
-}
-
 #[config]
 #[derive(Parser, Debug, Clone)]
 #[clap(author, version, about, long_about = None)]
@@ -83,11 +74,6 @@ pub(crate) struct PagefindInboundConfig {
     #[serde(default)]
     pub(crate) exclude_selectors: Vec<String>,
 
-    /// Not a CLI flag: a list of selectors with attribute maps does not fit an argument.
-    #[clap(skip)]
-    #[serde(default)]
-    pub(crate) rules: Vec<PagefindRule>,
-
     #[clap(
         long,
         help = "The file glob Pagefind uses to find HTML files. Defaults to \"**/*.{html}\""
@@ -241,7 +227,6 @@ pub(crate) struct SearchOptions {
     pub(crate) bundle_output: PathBuf,
     pub(crate) root_selector: String,
     pub(crate) exclude_selectors: Vec<String>,
-    pub(crate) rules: Vec<PagefindRule>,
     pub(crate) glob: String,
     pub(crate) force_language: Option<String>,
     pub(crate) include_characters: Vec<char>,
@@ -323,7 +308,6 @@ impl SearchOptions {
                 bundle_output,
                 root_selector: config.root_selector,
                 exclude_selectors: config.exclude_selectors,
-                rules: config.rules,
                 glob: config.glob,
                 force_language: config.force_language,
                 include_characters,
diff --git a/wrappers/node/lib/index.js b/wrappers/node/lib/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df28eb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wrappers/node/lib/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,303 @@
+import { PagefindService } from "./service.js";
+import { decode } from "./encoding.js";
+
+/**
+ * @typedef {import('pagefindInternal').InternalResponseCallback} InternalResponseCallback
+ * @typedef {import('pagefindInternal').InternalResponsePayload} InternalResponsePayload
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @type {PagefindService?}
+ */
+let persistentService;
+const launch = () => {
+    if (!persistentService) {
+        persistentService = new PagefindService();
+    }
+    return persistentService;
+}
+
+/**
+ * @template T
+ * @param {function(any): void} resolve 
+ * @param {function(any): void} reject 
+ * @param {InternalResponseCallback} response_callback 
+ * @param {function(InternalResponsePayload): T} resultFn 
+ */
+const handleApiResponse = (resolve, reject, { exception, err, result }, resultFn) => {
+    if (exception) {
+        reject(exception);
+    } else {
+        resolve({
+            errors: err ? [err.message] : [],
+            ...(result ? resultFn(result) : {})
+        });
+    }
+}
+
+/** 
+ * @typedef {import('pagefindService').NewIndexResponse} NewIndexResponse
+ * 
+ * @param {import('pagefindService').PagefindServiceConfig=} config
+ * @type {import('pagefindService').createIndex} 
+ * */
+export const createIndex = (config) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+
+    // TODO: Validate `config` here, instead of waiting for the backend to throw an error.
+    // Ideally we create a global Pagefind config JSON schema that (a subset of) can be used here.
+
+    const action = 'NewIndex';
+    launch().sendMessage(
+        {
+            type: action,
+            config: {
+                root_selector: config?.rootSelector,
+                exclude_selectors: config?.excludeSelectors,
+                force_language: config?.forceLanguage,
+                verbose: config?.verbose,
+                logfile: config?.logfile,
+                keep_index_url: config?.keepIndexUrl,
+                write_playground: config?.writePlayground,
+                include_characters: config?.includeCharacters,
+            }
+        }, (response) => {
+            /** @type {function(InternalResponsePayload): Omit<NewIndexResponse, 'errors'>?} */
+            const successCallback = (success) => {
+                if (success.type !== action) {
+                    reject(`Message returned from backend should have been ${action}, but was ${success.type}`);
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                return {
+                    index: indexFns(success.index_id),
+                }
+            };
+            handleApiResponse(resolve, reject, response, successCallback);
+        }
+    );
+});
+
+/**
+ * @type {import('pagefindService').close} 
+ */
+export const close = () => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    persistentService?.close(null);
+    persistentService = null;
+    resolve(null);
+});
+
+/**
+ * @param {number} indexId 
+ * @returns {import ('pagefindService').PagefindIndex}
+ */
+const indexFns = (indexId) => {
+    return {
+        addHTMLFile: (file) => addHTMLFile(indexId, file),
+        addCustomRecord: (record) => addCustomRecord(indexId, record),
+        addDirectory: (dir) => addDirectory(indexId, dir),
+        writeFiles: (options) => writeFiles(indexId, options),
+        getFiles: () => getFiles(indexId),
+        deleteIndex: () => deleteIndex(indexId)
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * @typedef {import('pagefindService').NewFileResponse} NewFileResponse
+ * 
+ * @param {number} indexId 
+ * @param {import('pagefindService').HTMLFile} file
+ * @returns {Promise<NewFileResponse>}
+ */
+const addHTMLFile = (indexId, file) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const action = 'AddFile';
+    const responseAction = 'IndexedFile';
+    launch().sendMessage(
+        {
+            type: action,
+            index_id: indexId,
+            file_path: file.sourcePath,
+            url: file.url,
+            file_contents: file.content
+        }, (response) => {
+            /** @type {function(InternalResponsePayload): Omit<NewFileResponse, 'errors'>?} */
+            const successCallback = (success) => {
+                if (success.type !== responseAction) {
+                    reject(`Message returned from backend should have been ${action}, but was ${success.type}`);
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                return {
+                    file: {
+                        uniqueWords: success.page_word_count,
+                        url: success.page_url,
+                        meta: success.page_meta,
+                    }
+                }
+            };
+            handleApiResponse(resolve, reject, response, successCallback);
+        }
+    );
+});
+
+/**
+ * @param {number} indexId 
+ * @param {import('pagefindService').CustomRecord} record
+ * @returns {Promise<NewFileResponse>}
+ */
+const addCustomRecord = (indexId, record) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const action = 'AddRecord';
+    const responseAction = 'IndexedFile';
+    launch().sendMessage(
+        {
+            type: action,
+            index_id: indexId,
+            url: record.url,
+            content: record.content,
+            language: record.language,
+            meta: record.meta,
+            filters: record.filters,
+            sort: record.sort,
+        }, (response) => {
+            /** @type {function(InternalResponsePayload): Omit<NewFileResponse, 'errors'>?} */
+            const successCallback = (success) => {
+                if (success.type !== responseAction) {
+                    reject(`Message returned from backend should have been ${action}, but was ${success.type}`);
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                return {
+                    file: {
+                        uniqueWords: success.page_word_count,
+                        url: success.page_url,
+                        meta: success.page_meta,
+                    }
+                }
+            };
+            handleApiResponse(resolve, reject, response, successCallback);
+        }
+    );
+});
+
+
+/**
+ * @typedef {import('pagefindService').IndexingResponse} IndexingResponse
+ * 
+ * @param {number} indexId 
+ * @param {import('pagefindService').SiteDirectory} dir
+ * @returns {Promise<IndexingResponse>}
+ */
+const addDirectory = (indexId, dir) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const action = 'AddDir';
+    const responseAction = 'IndexedDir';
+    launch().sendMessage(
+        {
+            type: action,
+            index_id: indexId,
+            path: dir.path,
+            glob: dir.glob
+        }, (response) => {
+            /** @type {function(InternalResponsePayload): Omit<IndexingResponse, 'errors'>?} */
+            const successCallback = (success) => {
+                if (success.type !== responseAction) {
+                    reject(`Message returned from backend should have been ${action}, but was ${success.type}`);
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                return {
+                    page_count: success.page_count
+                }
+            };
+            handleApiResponse(resolve, reject, response, successCallback);
+        }
+    );
+});
+
+/**
+ * @typedef {import ('pagefindService').WriteFilesResponse} WriteFilesResponse
+ * 
+ * @param {number} indexId 
+ * @param {import('pagefindService').WriteOptions=} options
+ * @returns {Promise<WriteFilesResponse>}
+ */
+const writeFiles = (indexId, options) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const action = 'WriteFiles';
+    launch().sendMessage(
+        {
+            type: action,
+            index_id: indexId,
+            output_path: options?.outputPath
+        }, (response) => {
+            /** @type {function(InternalResponsePayload): Omit<WriteFilesResponse, 'errors'>?} */
+            const successCallback = (success) => {
+                if (success.type !== action) {
+                    reject(`Message returned from backend should have been ${action}, but was ${success.type}`);
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                return {
+                    outputPath: success.output_path
+                }
+            };
+            handleApiResponse(resolve, reject, response, successCallback);
+        }
+    );
+});
+
+/**
+ * @typedef {import ('pagefindService').GetFilesResponse} GetFilesResponse
+ * 
+ * @param {number} indexId 
+ * @returns {Promise<GetFilesResponse>}
+ */
+const getFiles = (indexId) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const action = 'GetFiles';
+    launch().sendMessage(
+        {
+            type: action,
+            index_id: indexId,
+        }, (response) => {
+            /** @type {function(InternalResponsePayload): Omit<GetFilesResponse, 'errors'>?} */
+            const successCallback = (success) => {
+                if (success.type !== action) {
+                    reject(`Message returned from backend should have been ${action}, but was ${success.type}`);
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                return {
+                    files: success.files.map(file => {
+                        return {
+                            path: file.path,
+                            content: decode(file.content)
+                        }
+                    })
+                }
+            };
+            handleApiResponse(resolve, reject, response, successCallback);
+        }
+    );
+});
+
+/**
+ * @param {number} indexId 
+ * @returns {Promise<null>}
+ */
+const deleteIndex = (indexId) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const action = 'DeleteIndex';
+    launch().sendMessage(
+        {
+            type: action,
+            index_id: indexId,
+        }, (response) => {
+            /** @type {function(InternalResponsePayload): Omit<GetFilesResponse, 'errors'>?} */
+            const successCallback = (success) => {
+                if (success.type !== action) {
+                    reject(`Message returned from backend should have been ${action}, but was ${success.type}`);
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                return null;
+            };
+            handleApiResponse(resolve, reject, response, successCallback);
+        }
+    );
+});
diff --git a/wrappers/node/types/index.d.ts b/wrappers/node/types/index.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74dbaff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wrappers/node/types/index.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
+/**
+ * Create a new Pagefind index that files can be added to
+ */
+export function createIndex(config?: PagefindServiceConfig): Promise<NewIndexResponse>;
+
+/**
+ * Close the Pagefind service and clean up, stopping the binary altogether.
+ * 
+ * Service _will_ be restarted if any new calls are made to any other function.
+ * 
+ * Calling functions on an existing index after calling close() is undefined behavior,
+ * as that index may map to a new index after the service has restarted.
+ */
+export function close(): Promise<null>;
+
+export interface PagefindServiceConfig {
+    /** 
+     * The element Pagefind should treat as the root of the document, defaults to `html`.
+     * Usually you will want to use the data-pagefind-body attribute instead.
+     * @example ".my-html-outer"
+     */
+    rootSelector?: string,
+    /** 
+     * Custom selectors that Pagefind should ignore when indexing.
+     * Usually you will want to use the data-pagefind-ignore attribute instead.
+     * @example ["svg", ".my-code-blocks"]
+     */
+    excludeSelectors?: string[],
+    /**
+     * Ignore any detected languages and index the whole site as a single language.
+     * Expects an ISO 639-1 code.
+     */
+    forceLanguage?: string,
+    /**
+     * Print verbose logging while indexing the site. Does not impact the web-facing search.
+     * When running as a service, only impacts the logfile (if present).
+     */
+    verbose?: boolean,
+    /**
+     * Path to a logfile to write to. Will replace the file on each run.
+     */
+    logfile?: string,
+    /**
+     * Keep `index.html` at the end of search result paths.
+     * Defaults to false, stripping `index.html`.
+     */
+    keepIndexUrl?: boolean,
+    /**
+     * When writing or outputting files, also write the Pagefind playground to /pagefind/playground/.
+     * Defaults to false, ensuring the playground isn't available on a live site.
+     */
+    writePlayground?: boolean,
+    /**
+     * Include these characters when indexing and searching words.
+     * Useful for sites documenting technical topics such as programming languages.
+     * @example "<>$"
+     */
+    includeCharacters?: string,
+}
+
+
+export interface NewIndexResponse {
+    errors: string[],
+    index?: PagefindIndex
+}
+
+/**
+ * A Pagefind index that exists in the backend service before being built
+ */
+export interface PagefindIndex {
+    addHTMLFile: typeof addHTMLFile,
+    addCustomRecord: typeof addCustomRecord,
+    addDirectory: typeof addDirectory,
+    writeFiles: typeof writeFiles,
+    getFiles: typeof getFiles,
+    deleteIndex: typeof deleteIndex,
+}
+
+/**
+ * Index an HTML file that isn't on disk
+ */
+declare function addHTMLFile(file: HTMLFile): Promise<NewFileResponse>;
+/**
+ * Index a custom record that isn't backed by an HTML file
+ */
+declare function addCustomRecord(record: CustomRecord): Promise<NewFileResponse>;
+/**
+ * Index a directory of HTML files from disk
+ */
+declare function addDirectory(path: SiteDirectory): Promise<IndexingResponse>;
+
+/**
+ * The data required for Pagefind to index an HTML file that isn't on disk
+ * @example
+ * {
+ *   sourcePath: "about/index.html",
+ *   content: "<html lang='en'><body><h1>Meet the team</h1></body></html>"
+ * }
+ */
+export interface HTMLFile {
+    /** 
+     * The source path of the HTML file if it were to exist on disk.
+     * Must be a relative path, or an absolute path within the current working directory.
+     * Pagefind will compute the result URL from this path.
+     * 
+     * If not supplied, url must be supplied.
+     * 
+     * @example "about/index.html"
+     * @example "/Users/user/Documents/site/about/index.html"
+     */
+    sourcePath?: string,
+    /** 
+     * An explicit URL to use, instead of having Pagefind
+     * compute the URL based on the sourcePath.
+     * 
+     * If not supplied, sourcePath must be supplied.
+     * 
+     * @example "/about/"
+     */
+    url?: string,
+    /** The source HTML content of the file to be parsed */
+    content: string
+}
+
+/**
+ * The data required for Pagefind to index a custom record that isn't backed by an HTML file
+ * @example
+ * {
+ *   url: "/about/",
+ *   content: "Meet the team",
+ *   language: "en"
+ * }
+ */
+export interface CustomRecord {
+    /** The output URL of this record. Pagefind will not alter this */
+    url: string,
+    /** The raw content of this record */
+    content: string,
+    /** What language is this record written in. Multiple languages will be split into separate indexes. Expects an ISO 639-1 code. */
+    language: string,
+    /** The metadata to attach to this record. Supplying a `title` is highly recommended */
+    meta?: Record<string, string>,
+    /** The filters to attach to this record */
+    filters?: Record<string, string[]>,
+    /** The sort keys to attach to this record */
+    sort?: Record<string, string>
+}
+
+/**
+ * The data required for Pagefind to index the files in a directory
+ * @example
+ * {
+ *   path: "public",
+ *   glob: "**\/*.{html}"
+ * }
+ */
+export interface SiteDirectory {
+    /**
+     * The path to the directory to index.
+     * If relative, is relative to the cwd.
+     */
+    path: string,
+    /** Optionally, a custom glob to evaluate for finding files. Default to all HTML files. */
+    glob?: string
+}
+
+export interface IndexingResponse {
+    errors: string[],
+    page_count: number
+}
+
+export interface NewFileResponse {
+    errors: string[],
+    file: NewFile
+}
+
+/**
+ * Details about a new file that has been successfully added to the Pagefind index
+ */
+export interface NewFile {
+    uniqueWords: number,
+    url: string,
+    meta: Record<string, string>
+}
+
+/**
+ * Write the index files to disk
+ */
+declare function writeFiles(options?: WriteOptions): Promise<WriteFilesResponse>;
+
+/**
+ * Options for writing a Pagefind index to disk
+ */
+export interface WriteOptions {
+    /** 
+     * The path of the pagefind bundle directory to write to disk.
+     * If relative, is relative to the cwd.
+     * @example "./public/pagefind"
+     */
+    outputPath: string
+}
+
+
+export interface WriteFilesResponse {
+    errors: string[],
+    outputPath: string
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get an in-memory copy of the built index files
+ */
+declare function getFiles(): Promise<GetFilesResponse>;
+
+export interface GetFilesResponse {
+    errors: string[],
+    files: IndexFile[]
+}
+
+export interface IndexFile {
+    path: string,
+    content: Uint8Array
+}
+
+/**
+ * Delete this index and clear it from memory
+ */
+declare function deleteIndex(): Promise<null>;
diff --git a/wrappers/node/types/internal.d.ts b/wrappers/node/types/internal.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2cccb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wrappers/node/types/internal.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+// Requests to the backend.
+
+/**
+ * The raw object passed to the backend binary
+ */
+export interface InternalServiceRequest {
+    message_id?: number,
+    payload: InternalRequestPayload
+}
+
+/**
+ * The payload describing an action to the backend binary
+ */
+export type InternalRequestPayload =
+  | InternalNewIndexRequest
+  | InternalAddFileRequest
+  | InternalAddRecordRequest
+  | InternalAddDirRequest
+  | InternalWriteFilesRequest
+  | InternalGetFilesRequest
+  | InternalDeleteIndexRequest;
+
+export interface InternalNewIndexRequest {
+    type: 'NewIndex',
+    config?: InternalPagefindServiceConfig
+}
+
+export interface InternalPagefindServiceConfig {
+    root_selector?: string,
+    exclude_selectors?: string[],
+    force_language?: string,
+    verbose?: boolean,
+    logfile?: string,
+    keep_index_url?: boolean,
+    write_playground?: boolean,
+    include_characters?: string,
+}
+
+export interface InternalAddFileRequest {
+    type: 'AddFile',
+    index_id: number,
+    file_path?: string,
+    url?: string,
+    file_contents: string
+}
+
+export interface InternalAddRecordRequest {
+    type: 'AddRecord',
+    index_id: number,
+    url: string,
+    content: string,
+    language: string,
+    meta?: Record<string, string>,
+    filters?: Record<string, string[]>,
+    sort?: Record<string, string>
+}
+
+export interface InternalAddDirRequest {
+    type: 'AddDir',
+    index_id: number,
+    path: string,
+    glob?: string
+}
+
+export interface InternalWriteFilesRequest {
+    type: 'WriteFiles',
+    index_id: number,
+    output_path?: string
+}
+
+export interface InternalGetFilesRequest {
+    type: 'GetFiles',
+    index_id: number
+}
+
+export interface InternalDeleteIndexRequest {
+    type: 'DeleteIndex',
+    index_id: number
+}
+
+// Responses from the backend.
+
+/**
+ * The raw object returned from the backend binary
+ */
+export interface InternalServiceResponse {
+    message_id: number,
+    payload: InternalResponsePayload | InternalResponseError
+}
+
+/**
+ * The response payload in the case of an error
+ */
+export interface InternalResponseError {
+    type: 'Error',
+    original_message?: string,
+    message: string
+}
+
+/**
+ * The response payload in the case of a success
+ */
+export type InternalResponsePayload = 
+  | InternalNewIndexResponse
+  | InternalIndexedFileResponse
+  | InternalIndexedDirResponse
+  | InternalWriteFilesResponse
+  | InternalGetFilesResponse
+  | InternalDeleteIndexResponse;
+
+export interface InternalNewIndexResponse {
+    type: 'NewIndex',
+    index_id: number
+}
+
+export interface InternalIndexedFileResponse {
+    type: 'IndexedFile',
+    page_word_count: number,
+    page_url: string,
+    page_meta: Record<string, string>
+}
+
+export interface InternalIndexedDirResponse {
+    type: 'IndexedDir',
+    page_count: number
+}
+
+export interface InternalWriteFilesResponse {
+    type: 'WriteFiles',
+    output_path: string,
+}
+
+export interface InternalGetFilesResponse {
+    type: 'GetFiles',
+    files: InternalSyntheticFile[],
+}
+
+export interface InternalSyntheticFile {
+    path: string,
+    content: string
+}
+
+export interface InternalDeleteIndexResponse {
+    type: 'DeleteIndex'
+}
+
+/**
+ * What the service returns to the wrapping javascript detailing a response
+ */
+export interface InternalResponseCallback {
+    exception: Error | null,
+    err: InternalResponseError | null,
+    result: InternalResponsePayload | null
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/wrappers/python/src/pagefind/index/__init__.py b/wrappers/python/src/pagefind/index/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6180cdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wrappers/python/src/pagefind/index/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,284 @@
+import logging
+import base64
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Sequence, TypedDict, cast
+
+from ..service import PagefindService
+from ..service.types import (
+    InternalAddDirRequest,
+    InternalAddFileRequest,
+    InternalAddRecordRequest,
+    InternalDeleteIndexRequest,
+    InternalGetFilesRequest,
+    InternalGetFilesResponse,
+    InternalIndexedDirResponse,
+    InternalIndexedFileResponse,
+    InternalDecodedFile,
+    InternalWriteFilesRequest,
+)
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class IndexConfig(TypedDict, total=False):
+    root_selector: Optional[str]
+    """
+    The root selector to use for the index.
+    If not supplied, Pagefind will use the ``<html>`` tag.
+    """
+    exclude_selectors: Optional[Sequence[str]]
+    """Extra element selectors that Pagefind should ignore when indexing."""
+    force_language: Optional[str]
+    """
+    Ignores any detected languages and creates a single index for the entire site as the
+    provided language. Expects an ISO 639-1 code, such as ``en`` or ``pt``.
+    """
+    verbose: Optional[bool]
+    """
+    Prints extra logging while indexing the site. Only affects the CLI, does not impact
+    web-facing search.
+    """
+    logfile: Optional[str]
+    """
+    A path to a file to log indexing output to in addition to stdout.
+    The file will be created if it doesn't exist and overwritten on each run.
+    """
+    keep_index_url: Optional[bool]
+    """Whether to keep ``index.html`` at the end of search result paths.
+
+    By default, a file at ``animals/cat/index.html`` will be given the URL
+    ``/animals/cat/``. Setting this option to ``true`` will result in the URL
+    ``/animals/cat/index.html``.
+    """
+    write_playground: Optional[bool]
+    """When writing or outputting files, also write the Pagefind playground to /pagefind/playground/.
+
+    Defaults to false, ensuring the playground isn't available on a live site.
+    """
+    include_characters: Optional[str]
+    """Include these characters when indexing and searching words.
+
+    Useful for sites documenting technical topics such as programming languages.
+    """
+    output_path: Optional[str]
+    """
+    The folder to output the search bundle into, relative to the processed site.
+    Defaults to ``pagefind``.
+    """
+
+
+class PagefindIndex:
+    """Manages a Pagefind index.
+
+    ``PagefindIndex`` operates as an async contextmanager.
+    Entering the context starts a backing Pagefind service and creates an in-memory index in the backing service.
+    Exiting the context writes the in-memory index to disk and then shuts down the backing Pagefind service.
+
+    Each method of ``PagefindIndex`` that talks to the backing Pagefind service can raise errors.
+    If an exception is is rased inside ``PagefindIndex``'s context, the context closes without writing the index files to disk.
+
+    ``PagefindIndex`` optionally takes a configuration dictionary that can apply parts of the [Pagefind CLI config](/docs/config-options/). The options available at this level are:
+
+    See the relevant documentation for these configuration options in the
+    `Configuring the Pagefind CLI <https://pagefind.app/docs/config-options/>` documentation.
+    """
+
+    _service: Optional["PagefindService"] = None
+    _index_id: Optional[int] = None
+    _config: Optional[IndexConfig] = None
+    """Note that config should be immutable."""
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        config: Optional[IndexConfig] = None,
+        *,
+        _service: Optional["PagefindService"] = None,
+        _index_id: Optional[int] = None,
+    ):
+        self._service = _service
+        self._index_id = _index_id
+        self._config = config
+
+    async def _start(self) -> "PagefindIndex":
+        """Start the backing Pagefind service and create an in-memory index."""
+        assert self._index_id is None
+        assert self._service is None
+        self._service = await PagefindService().launch()
+        _index = await self._service.create_index(self._config)
+        self._index_id = _index._index_id
+        return self
+
+    async def add_html_file(
+        self,
+        *,
+        content: str,
+        source_path: Optional[str] = None,
+        url: Optional[str] = None,
+    ) -> InternalIndexedFileResponse:
+        """Add an HTML file to the index.
+
+        :param content: The source HTML content of the file to be parsed.
+        :param source_path: The source path of the HTML file would have on disk. \
+            Must be a relative path, or an absolute path within the current working directory. \
+            Pagefind will compute the result URL from this path.
+        :param url: an explicit URL to use, instead of having Pagefind compute the \
+            URL based on the source_path. If not supplied, source_path must be supplied.
+        """
+        assert self._service is not None
+        assert self._index_id is not None
+        result = await self._service.send(
+            InternalAddFileRequest(
+                type="AddFile",
+                index_id=self._index_id,
+                url=url,
+                file_contents=content,
+                file_path=source_path,
+            )
+        )
+        assert result["type"] == "IndexedFile"
+        return cast(InternalIndexedFileResponse, result)
+
+    async def add_directory(
+        self, path: str, *, glob: Optional[str] = None
+    ) -> InternalIndexedDirResponse:
+        """Indexes a directory from disk using the standard Pagefind indexing behaviour.
+
+        This is equivalent to running the Pagefind binary with ``--site <dir>``.
+
+        :param path: the path to the directory to index. If the `path` provided is relative, \
+                it will be relative to the current working directory of your Python process.
+        :param glob: a glob pattern to filter files in the directory. If not provided, all \
+            files matching ``**.{html}`` are indexed. For more information on glob patterns, \
+            see the `Wax patterns documentation <https://github.com/olson-sean-k/wax#patterns>`.
+        """
+        assert self._service is not None
+        assert self._index_id is not None
+        result = await self._service.send(
+            InternalAddDirRequest(
+                type="AddDir",
+                index_id=self._index_id,
+                path=path,
+                glob=glob,
+            )
+        )
+        assert result["type"] == "IndexedDir"
+        return cast(InternalIndexedDirResponse, result)
+
+    async def get_files(self) -> List[InternalDecodedFile]:
+        """Get raw data of all files in the Pagefind index.
+
+        WATCH OUT: this method emits all files. This can be a lot of data, and
+        this amount of data can cause reading from the subprocess pipes to deadlock.
+
+        STRICTLY PREFER calling ``self.write_files()``.
+        """
+        assert self._service is not None
+        assert self._index_id is not None
+
+        response = await self._service.send(
+            InternalGetFilesRequest(type="GetFiles", index_id=self._index_id)
+        )
+        assert response["type"] == "GetFiles"
+        files = cast(InternalGetFilesResponse, response)["files"]
+
+        decoded_files = [
+            {"path": file["path"], "content": base64.b64decode(file["content"])}
+            for file in files
+        ]
+
+        return cast(List[InternalDecodedFile], decoded_files)
+
+    async def delete_index(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Deletes the data for the given index from its backing Pagefind service.
+        Doesn't affect any written files or data returned by ``get_files()``.
+        """
+        assert self._service is not None
+        assert self._index_id is not None
+        result = await self._service.send(
+            InternalDeleteIndexRequest(type="DeleteIndex", index_id=self._index_id)
+        )
+        assert result["type"] == "DeleteIndex"
+        self._index_id = None
+        self._service = None
+
+    async def add_custom_record(
+        self,
+        *,
+        url: str,
+        content: str,
+        language: str,
+        meta: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
+        filters: Optional[Dict[str, List[str]]] = None,
+        sort: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
+    ) -> InternalIndexedFileResponse:
+        """Add a direct record to the Pagefind index.
+
+        This method is useful for adding non-HTML content to the search results.
+
+        :param content: the raw content of this record.
+        :param url: the output URL of this record. Pagefind will not alter this.
+        :param language: ISO 639-1 code of the language this record is written in.
+        :param meta: the metadata to attach to this record. Supplying a ``title`` is highly recommended.
+        :param filters: the filters to attach to this record. Filters are used to group records together.
+        :param sort: the sort keys to attach to this record.
+        """
+        assert self._service is not None
+        assert self._index_id is not None
+        result = await self._service.send(
+            InternalAddRecordRequest(
+                type="AddRecord",
+                index_id=self._index_id,
+                url=url,
+                content=content,
+                language=language,
+                meta=meta,
+                filters=filters,
+                sort=sort,
+            )
+        )
+        assert result["type"] == "IndexedFile"
+        return cast(InternalIndexedFileResponse, result)
+
+    async def write_files(self, output_path: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
+        """Write the index files to disk.
+
+        If you're using PagefindIndex as a context manager, there's no need to call this method:
+        if no error occurred, closing the context automatically writes the index files to disk.
+
+        :param output_path: a path to override the configured output path for the index.
+        """
+        assert self._service is not None
+        assert self._index_id is not None
+        if not output_path:
+            if not self._config:
+                output_path = None
+            else:
+                output_path = self._config.get("output_path")
+
+        result = await self._service.send(
+            InternalWriteFilesRequest(
+                type="WriteFiles",
+                index_id=self._index_id,
+                output_path=output_path,
+            )
+        )
+        assert result["type"] == "WriteFiles"
+
+    async def __aenter__(self) -> "PagefindIndex":
+        assert self._service is None
+        assert self._index_id is None
+        return await self._start()
+
+    async def __aexit__(
+        self,
+        exc_type: Optional[Any],
+        exc_value: Optional[Any],
+        traceback: Optional[Any],
+    ) -> None:
+        if self._service is None:
+            return
+        if self._index_id is None:
+            return
+        if exc_type is None:
+            await self.write_files()
+        await self._service.close()
diff --git a/wrappers/python/src/pagefind/service/types.py b/wrappers/python/src/pagefind/service/types.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc807c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wrappers/python/src/pagefind/service/types.py
@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+from enum import Enum
+from typing import Dict, List, Literal, Optional, Sequence, TypedDict, Union
+
+
+class InternalRequestType(Enum):
+    NEW_INDEX = "NewIndex"
+    ADD_FILE = "AddFile"
+    ADD_RECORD = "AddRecord"
+    ADD_DIR = "AddDir"
+    WRITE_FILES = "WriteFiles"
+    GET_FILES = "GetFiles"
+    DELETE_INDEX = "DeleteIndex"
+
+
+class InternalPagefindServiceConfig(TypedDict, total=False):
+    # FIXME: document
+    root_selector: Optional[str]
+    exclude_selectors: Optional[Sequence[str]]
+    force_language: Optional[str]
+    verbose: Optional[bool]
+    logfile: Optional[str]
+    keep_index_url: Optional[bool]
+    write_playground: Optional[bool]
+    include_characters: Optional[str]
+
+
+class InternalNewIndexRequest(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["NewIndex"]
+    config: Optional[InternalPagefindServiceConfig]
+
+
+class InternalAddFileRequest(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["AddFile"]
+    index_id: int
+    """index_id must be positive."""
+    file_path: Optional[str]
+    url: Optional[str]
+    file_contents: str
+
+
+class InternalAddRecordRequest(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["AddRecord"]
+    index_id: int
+    """index_id must be positive."""
+    url: str
+    content: str
+    language: str
+    meta: Optional[Dict[str, str]]
+    filters: Optional[Dict[str, List[str]]]
+    sort: Optional[Dict[str, str]]
+
+
+class InternalAddDirRequest(TypedDict, total=False):
+    type: Literal["AddDir"]
+    index_id: int
+    path: str  # TODO: support Path
+    glob: Optional[str]
+
+
+class InternalWriteFilesRequest(TypedDict, total=False):
+    type: Literal["WriteFiles"]
+    index_id: int
+    """index_id must be positive."""
+    output_path: Optional[str]
+
+
+class InternalGetFilesRequest(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["GetFiles"]
+    index_id: int
+    """index_id must be positive."""
+
+
+class InternalDeleteIndexRequest(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["DeleteIndex"]
+    index_id: int
+    """index_id must be positive."""
+
+
+InternalRequestPayload = Union[
+    InternalNewIndexRequest,
+    InternalAddFileRequest,
+    InternalAddRecordRequest,
+    InternalAddDirRequest,
+    InternalWriteFilesRequest,
+    InternalGetFilesRequest,
+    InternalDeleteIndexRequest,
+]
+
+
+class InternalServiceRequest(TypedDict):
+    message_id: Optional[int]
+    payload: InternalRequestPayload
+
+
+class InternalResponseType(Enum):
+    NEW_INDEX = "NewIndex"
+    INDEXED_FILE = "IndexedFile"
+    INDEXED_DIR = "IndexedDir"
+    WRITE_FILES = "WriteFiles"
+    GET_FILES = "GetFiles"
+    DELETE_INDEX = "DeleteIndex"
+    ERROR = "Error"
+
+
+class InternalResponseError(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["Error"]
+    message: str
+    original_message: Optional[str]
+
+
+class InternalNewIndexResponse(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["NewIndex"]
+    index_id: int
+
+
+class InternalIndexedFileResponse(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["IndexedFile"]
+    page_word_count: int
+    page_url: str
+    page_meta: Dict[str, str]
+
+
+class InternalIndexedDirResponse(TypedDict):
+    type: str
+    page_count: int
+
+
+class InternalWriteFilesResponse(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["IndexedFile"]
+    output_path: str
+
+
+class InternalSyntheticFile(TypedDict):
+    path: str
+    content: str
+
+
+class InternalDecodedFile(TypedDict):
+    path: str
+    content: bytes
+
+
+class InternalGetFilesResponse(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["GetFiles"]
+    files: List[InternalSyntheticFile]
+
+
+class InternalDeleteIndexResponse(TypedDict):
+    type: Literal["DeleteIndex"]
+
+
+InternalResponsePayload = Union[
+    InternalNewIndexResponse,
+    InternalIndexedFileResponse,
+    InternalIndexedDirResponse,
+    InternalWriteFilesResponse,
+    InternalGetFilesResponse,
+    InternalDeleteIndexResponse,
+]
+
+
+class InternalServiceResponse(TypedDict):
+    message_id: Optional[int]
+    payload: Union[InternalResponsePayload, InternalResponseError]
+
+
+class InternalResponseCallback(TypedDict, total=False):
+    exception: Optional[Exception]
+    err: Optional[InternalResponseError]
+    result: Optional[InternalResponsePayload]