diff --git a/lsp-export-protocol/README.md b/lsp-export-protocol/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8b679f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lsp-export-protocol/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# lsp-export-protocol
+
+The `codedown/render` wire types, shared by `lsp-export-server` and its clients. Depends only on
+`aeson`, `containers` and `text`, so a client needs no LSP dependency to speak the protocol.
+
+A *task* is one document rendered to one format. The client picks its `taskId`; every message
+carries it.
+
+Field names are the record field with its prefix dropped, first letter lower-cased: `startTaskId`
+is `taskId`. Enums drop the constructor prefix and lower-case: `StatusRendering` is `"rendering"`.
+
+## Messages
+
+The document arrives as ordinary `textDocument/didOpen` and `didChange`, so renders come from the
+buffer rather than from disk. Commands are `workspace/executeCommand` requests; a rejected one
+comes back as an `InvalidParams` error response. Renders report progress as custom notifications,
+since they outlive the command that started them.
+
+| client → server | arguments | result |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `codedown.render.start` | `[StartParams]` | `StartResult` |
+| `codedown.render.stop` | `[taskId]` | `null` |
+| `codedown.render.rebuild` | `[taskId, RebuildParams]` | `null` |
+| `codedown.render.setPaused` | `[taskId, bool]` | `null` |
+| `codedown.render.resync` | `[taskId]` | `null` |
+
+| server → client | params |
+| --- | --- |
+| `codedown/render/status` | `StatusParams` |
+| `codedown/render/output` | `OutputParams` |
+| `codedown/render/log` | `LogParams` |
+
+`StartResult` only echoes the `taskId` the client chose, so a client that tracks its own ids can
+treat every command as fire-and-forget and watch for the error response.
+
+`rebuild` says a file the last render read has changed; the server re-hashes the deps it knows and
+renders only if one differs. `setPaused` suspends rendering without ending the task. `resync` makes
+the next output a full one.
+
+The notifications are externally tagged: the variant is the method, and the params carry no
+discriminator of their own, so a client dispatches on the method and then parses the params.
+
+## The cycle
+
+1. An edit marks the task dirty. The worker sleeps `debounceMs`; another edit restarts the wait.
+2. Quick pass: `status` `rendering` (`phase: "quick"`), a `log` with `clear: true`, then the render
+   program runs with its output streaming as `log`.
+3. `output` if the bytes changed, then `status` `ready` with `renderMs` and `timings`.
+4. If the program has a settle pass and edits stay quiet for 1500ms, it runs the same way with
+   `phase: "settle"`, its logs flushed only if it failed or changed the output.
+5. An edit mid-render cancels it, with no `status` for that pass.
+
+A failure sends `status` `errored` with the program's `exitCode`. Both passes of one edit report
+`ready`, so a client tracking "is it rendering" should let `phase: "settle"` leave its state alone.
+
+## Output
+
+`OutputFile` has the base64 `bytes`, an `encoding`, and `decodedSize` — the size of the
+reconstructed file, not of this message.
+
+The first output is `full`; later ones are `xdelta3` patches against `baseRenderId`, the `renderId`
+of the last output sent. So a client keeps the bytes it last reconstructed and:
+
+- `baseRenderId` matches → apply, store, remember `renderId`.
+- it doesn't, or the patch won't apply → send `resync`.
+- bytes identical to the last render → nothing is sent at all.
+
+If xdelta3 fails the server falls back to `full`.
+
+`deps` lists files the render read from disk, minus the entry document and any buffer the client
+sends over `didChange`; watch them and send `rebuild`. `documentVersion` is the entry buffer's LSP
+version, absent when the server read from disk.
diff --git a/lsp-export-protocol/lsp-export-protocol.cabal b/lsp-export-protocol/lsp-export-protocol.cabal
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e11a50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lsp-export-protocol/lsp-export-protocol.cabal
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+cabal-version: 2.2
+
+-- This file has been generated from package.yaml by hpack version 0.39.1.
+--
+-- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
+
+name:           lsp-export-protocol
+version:        0.1.0.0
+synopsis:       The codedown/render wire protocol spoken by lsp-export-server
+homepage:       https://github.com/codedownio/lsp-export-server#readme
+bug-reports:    https://github.com/codedownio/lsp-export-server/issues
+license:        BSD-3-Clause
+build-type:     Simple
+extra-source-files:
+    README.md
+
+source-repository head
+  type: git
+  location: https://github.com/codedownio/lsp-export-server
+
+library
+  exposed-modules:
+      Render.Protocol
+  other-modules:
+      Paths_lsp_export_protocol
+  autogen-modules:
+      Paths_lsp_export_protocol
+  hs-source-dirs:
+      src
+  default-extensions:
+      LambdaCase
+      OverloadedStrings
+  ghc-options: -Wunused-packages -Wall -fno-warn-name-shadowing
+  build-depends:
+      aeson
+    , base >=4.7 && <5
+    , containers
+    , text
+  default-language: Haskell2010
diff --git a/lsp-export-protocol/package.yaml b/lsp-export-protocol/package.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9b5317
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lsp-export-protocol/package.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+name:                lsp-export-protocol
+version:             0.1.0.0
+synopsis:            The codedown/render wire protocol spoken by lsp-export-server
+license:             BSD-3-Clause
+github:              codedownio/lsp-export-server
+
+extra-source-files:
+- README.md
+
+dependencies:
+- base >= 4.7 && < 5
+- aeson
+- containers
+- text
+
+default-extensions:
+- LambdaCase
+- OverloadedStrings
+
+ghc-options:
+- -Wunused-packages
+- -Wall
+- -fno-warn-name-shadowing
+
+library:
+  source-dirs: src
diff --git a/src/Render/Protocol.hs b/lsp-export-protocol/src/Render/Protocol.hs
similarity index 99%
rename from src/Render/Protocol.hs
rename to lsp-export-protocol/src/Render/Protocol.hs
index 1c0394a..bba5f09 100644
--- a/src/Render/Protocol.hs
+++ b/lsp-export-protocol/src/Render/Protocol.hs
@@ -161,3 +161,4 @@ data LogParams = LogParams {
   } deriving (Show, Eq, Generic)
 instance ToJSON LogParams where toJSON = genericToJSON (fieldOptions 3)
 instance FromJSON LogParams where parseJSON = genericParseJSON (fieldOptions 3)
+
diff --git a/lsp-export-server.cabal b/lsp-export-server.cabal
index 47110ba..6c6b582 100644
--- a/lsp-export-server.cabal
+++ b/lsp-export-server.cabal
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ library
   exposed-modules:
       Render.Command
       Render.Process
-      Render.Protocol
       Render.Server
       Render.Xdelta
   other-modules:
@@ -81,6 +80,7 @@ library
     , filepath
     , lens
     , lsp
+    , lsp-export-protocol
     , lsp-types
     , process
     , stm
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ library test-lib
     , directory
     , filepath
     , lens
+    , lsp-export-protocol
     , lsp-export-server
     , lsp-test
     , lsp-types
@@ -169,6 +170,7 @@ executable lsp-export-server
     , containers
     , directory
     , filepath
+    , lsp-export-protocol
     , lsp-export-server
     , optparse-applicative
     , temporary
@@ -217,6 +219,7 @@ test-suite lsp-export-server-test
     , bytestring
     , containers
     , filepath
+    , lsp-export-protocol
     , lsp-export-server
     , lsp-test
     , sandwich
diff --git a/package.yaml b/package.yaml
index cfeb3b0..8ac5e9c 100644
--- a/package.yaml
+++ b/package.yaml
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ library:
   - filepath
   - lens
   - lsp
+  - lsp-export-protocol
   - lsp-types
   - process
   - stm
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ executables:
     - directory
     - filepath
     - optparse-applicative
+    - lsp-export-protocol
     - lsp-export-server
     - temporary
     - time
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ internal-libraries:
     - directory
     - filepath
     - lens
+    - lsp-export-protocol
     - lsp-export-server
     - lsp-test
     - lsp-types
@@ -112,6 +115,7 @@ tests:
     dependencies:
     - aeson
     - filepath
+    - lsp-export-protocol
     - lsp-export-server
     - lsp-test
     - sandwich
diff --git a/stack.yaml b/stack.yaml
index c13d3c5..2dccc1a 100644
--- a/stack.yaml
+++ b/stack.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ resolver: nightly-2026-04-19
 
 packages:
 - .
+- ./lsp-export-protocol
 
 nix:
   enable: false