diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 25c783d..2fdb13d 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "tidesdb",
-  "version": "0.5.0",
+  "version": "0.5.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "tidesdb",
-      "version": "0.4.0",
+      "version": "0.5.1",
       "license": "MPL-2.0",
       "dependencies": {
         "koffi": "^2.9.0"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e8b72a7..082aeea 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "tidesdb",
-  "version": "0.5.0",
+  "version": "0.5.1",
   "description": "TypeScript bindings for TidesDB - A high-performance embedded key-value storage engine",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
   "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
diff --git a/src/ffi.ts b/src/ffi.ts
index 24b9708..35e62cb 100644
--- a/src/ffi.ts
+++ b/src/ffi.ts
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ export const tidesdb_flush_memtable = lib.func('int tidesdb_flush_memtable(tides
 export const tidesdb_is_flushing = lib.func('int tidesdb_is_flushing(tidesdb_column_family_t *cf)');
 export const tidesdb_is_compacting = lib.func('int tidesdb_is_compacting(tidesdb_column_family_t *cf)');
 export const tidesdb_backup = lib.func('int tidesdb_backup(tidesdb_t *db, char *dir)');
+export const tidesdb_checkpoint = lib.func('int tidesdb_checkpoint(tidesdb_t *db, const char *checkpoint_dir)');
 
 // Comparator operations
 export const tidesdb_register_comparator = lib.func('int tidesdb_register_comparator(tidesdb_t *db, const char *name, void *fn, const char *ctx_str, void *ctx)');
diff --git a/src/tidesdb.test.ts b/src/tidesdb.test.ts
index eda32e5..1e78533 100644
--- a/src/tidesdb.test.ts
+++ b/src/tidesdb.test.ts
@@ -474,6 +474,107 @@ describe('TidesDB', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('Checkpoint', () => {
+    // Use relative paths for checkpoint tests to avoid a Windows bug in the
+    // C library's tidesdb_checkpoint_ensure_parent_dir: it fails to stat/mkdir
+    // the drive-letter component (e.g. "C:") of absolute paths.  Other bindings
+    // (Go, Lua) also use relative paths.  Both DB and checkpoint must be on the
+    // same volume for hard links, so the DB is also opened from a relative path.
+    let cpDb: TidesDB;
+    let cpDbDir: string;
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      cpDbDir = `tidesdb-cp-test-${Date.now()}`;
+      cpDb = TidesDB.open({
+        dbPath: cpDbDir,
+        numFlushThreads: 2,
+        numCompactionThreads: 2,
+      });
+    });
+
+    afterEach(() => {
+      try { cpDb.close(); } catch { /* ignore */ }
+      fs.rmSync(cpDbDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    });
+
+    test('create checkpoint of database', () => {
+      cpDb.createColumnFamily('test_cf');
+      const cf = cpDb.getColumnFamily('test_cf');
+
+      // Insert data
+      const txn = cpDb.beginTransaction();
+      txn.put(cf, Buffer.from('cp_key1'), Buffer.from('cp_value1'), -1);
+      txn.put(cf, Buffer.from('cp_key2'), Buffer.from('cp_value2'), -1);
+      txn.commit();
+      txn.free();
+
+      // Create checkpoint (directory must NOT exist; the C library creates it)
+      const checkpointDir = `tidesdb-checkpoint-${Date.now()}`;
+      fs.rmSync(checkpointDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      try {
+        cpDb.checkpoint(checkpointDir);
+
+        // Verify checkpoint directory exists with contents
+        expect(fs.existsSync(checkpointDir)).toBe(true);
+        expect(fs.readdirSync(checkpointDir).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      } finally {
+        fs.rmSync(checkpointDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      }
+    });
+
+    test('checkpoint to existing non-empty directory throws', () => {
+      cpDb.createColumnFamily('test_cf');
+
+      // Create a non-empty directory
+      const checkpointDir = `tidesdb-checkpoint-nonempty-${Date.now()}`;
+      fs.mkdirSync(checkpointDir, { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(checkpointDir, 'dummy'), 'data');
+
+      try {
+        expect(() => cpDb.checkpoint(checkpointDir)).toThrow();
+      } finally {
+        fs.rmSync(checkpointDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      }
+    });
+
+    test('checkpoint can be opened as a database', () => {
+      cpDb.createColumnFamily('test_cf');
+      const cf = cpDb.getColumnFamily('test_cf');
+
+      // Insert data
+      const txn = cpDb.beginTransaction();
+      txn.put(cf, Buffer.from('cp_key'), Buffer.from('cp_value'), -1);
+      txn.commit();
+      txn.free();
+
+      // Create checkpoint (directory must NOT exist; the C library creates it)
+      const checkpointDir = `tidesdb-checkpoint-open-${Date.now()}`;
+      fs.rmSync(checkpointDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      try {
+        cpDb.checkpoint(checkpointDir);
+
+        // Open the checkpoint as a separate database
+        const cpOpenDb = TidesDB.open({
+          dbPath: checkpointDir,
+          numFlushThreads: 1,
+          numCompactionThreads: 1,
+        });
+
+        try {
+          const cpCf = cpOpenDb.getColumnFamily('test_cf');
+          const readTxn = cpOpenDb.beginTransaction();
+          const value = readTxn.get(cpCf, Buffer.from('cp_key'));
+          expect(value.toString()).toBe('cp_value');
+          readTxn.free();
+        } finally {
+          cpOpenDb.close();
+        }
+      } finally {
+        fs.rmSync(checkpointDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      }
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('Statistics', () => {
     test('get column family stats', () => {
       db.createColumnFamily('test_cf');
diff --git a/src/tidesdb.ts b/src/tidesdb.ts
index 9c68d31..1fecb0c 100644
--- a/src/tidesdb.ts
+++ b/src/tidesdb.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import {
   tidesdb_register_comparator,
   tidesdb_get_cache_stats,
   tidesdb_backup,
+  tidesdb_checkpoint,
 } from './ffi';
 import { checkResult, TidesDBError } from './error';
 import { ColumnFamily } from './column-family';
@@ -324,6 +325,18 @@ export class TidesDB {
     checkResult(result, 'failed to create backup');
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Create a lightweight, near-instant snapshot of the database using hard links.
+   * Much faster than backup() as it uses hard links instead of copying SSTable data.
+   * @param dir Checkpoint directory path (must be non-existent or empty, same filesystem).
+   */
+  checkpoint(dir: string): void {
+    if (!this._db) throw new Error('Database has been closed');
+
+    const result = tidesdb_checkpoint(this._db, dir);
+    checkResult(result, 'failed to create checkpoint');
+  }
+
   /**
    * Get statistics about the block cache.
    */