diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9399c8538603..014c5210751b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3339,6 +3339,13 @@ dependencies = [
  "wat",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "wasmtime-c-api-artifact"
+version = "15.0.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "wasmtime-c-api",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "wasmtime-c-api-macros"
 version = "0.0.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b2b3f3b3cb7e..9b612a34f2a0 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ members = [
   "cranelift/isle/islec",
   "cranelift/serde",
   "crates/bench-api",
-  "crates/c-api",
+  "crates/c-api/artifact",
   "crates/environ/fuzz",
   "crates/test-programs",
   "crates/wasi-preview1-component-adapter",
diff --git a/ci/build-release-artifacts.sh b/ci/build-release-artifacts.sh
index 71c7888395cd..0a4d3e9f21b0 100755
--- a/ci/build-release-artifacts.sh
+++ b/ci/build-release-artifacts.sh
@@ -37,4 +37,4 @@ else
 fi
 
 cargo build --release $flags --target $target -p wasmtime-cli $bin_flags
-cargo build --release $flags --target $target -p wasmtime-c-api
+cargo build --release $flags --target $target -p wasmtime-c-api-artifact
diff --git a/crates/c-api/Cargo.toml b/crates/c-api/Cargo.toml
index 1548b0634dca..62cd30301840 100644
--- a/crates/c-api/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/c-api/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ edition.workspace = true
 publish = false
 
 [lib]
-name = "wasmtime"
-crate-type = ["staticlib", "cdylib", "rlib"]
 doc = false
 test = false
 doctest = false
@@ -38,16 +36,6 @@ wasi-common = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 futures = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 
 [features]
-default = [
-  'profiling',
-  'wat',
-  'wasi',
-  'cache',
-  'parallel-compilation',
-  'async',
-  'coredump',
-  'addr2line',
-]
 async = ['wasmtime/async', 'futures']
 profiling = ["wasmtime/profiling"]
 cache = ["wasmtime/cache"]
diff --git a/crates/c-api/artifact/Cargo.toml b/crates/c-api/artifact/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d34841b1bede
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/c-api/artifact/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+[package]
+name = "wasmtime-c-api-artifact"
+version.workspace = true
+authors.workspace = true
+description = "C API to expose the Wasmtime runtime"
+license = "Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception"
+repository = "https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime"
+readme = "README.md"
+edition.workspace = true
+publish = false
+
+[lib]
+name = "wasmtime"
+crate-type = ["staticlib", "cdylib"]
+doc = false
+test = false
+doctest = false
+
+[dependencies]
+wasmtime-c-api = { path = '..' }
+
+[features]
+default = [
+  'profiling',
+  'wat',
+  'wasi',
+  'cache',
+  'parallel-compilation',
+  'async',
+  'coredump',
+  'addr2line',
+]
+async = ['wasmtime-c-api/async']
+profiling = ["wasmtime-c-api/profiling"]
+cache = ["wasmtime-c-api/cache"]
+parallel-compilation = ['wasmtime-c-api/parallel-compilation']
+wasi = ['wasmtime-c-api/wasi']
+logging = ['wasmtime-c-api/logging']
+disable-logging = ["wasmtime-c-api/disable-logging"]
+coredump = ["wasmtime-c-api/coredump"]
+addr2line = ["wasmtime-c-api/addr2line"]
+wat = ["wasmtime-c-api/wat"]
diff --git a/crates/c-api/artifact/src/lib.rs b/crates/c-api/artifact/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..43929bb8605f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/c-api/artifact/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pub use wasmtime_c_api::*;