diff --git a/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp b/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp
index 0f4566016..5f91fa4e2 100644
--- a/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp
+++ b/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp
@@ -271,8 +271,17 @@ static inline compat::Interpreter* getInterpreter(const CXInterpreterImpl* I) {
 }
 
 CXInterpreter clang_createInterpreter(const char* const* argv, int argc) {
-  auto* I = new CXInterpreterImpl(); // NOLINT(*-owning-memory)
+  auto I = std::make_unique<CXInterpreterImpl>(); // NOLINT(*-owning-memory)
+#ifdef CPPINTEROP_USE_CLING
   I->Interp = std::make_unique<compat::Interpreter>(argc, argv);
+#else
+  I->Interp = compat::Interpreter::create(argc, argv);
+  if (!I->Interp) {
+    return nullptr;
+  }
+#endif
+  return I.release();
+  // I->Interp = std::make_unique<compat::Interpreter>(argc, argv);
   // create a bridge between CXTranslationUnit and clang::Interpreter
   // auto AU = std::make_unique<ASTUnit>(false);
   // AU->FileMgr = I->Interp->getCompilerInstance().getFileManager();
@@ -281,7 +290,7 @@ CXInterpreter clang_createInterpreter(const char* const* argv, int argc) {
   // AU->Ctx = &I->Interp->getSema().getASTContext();
   // I->TU.reset(MakeCXTranslationUnit(static_cast<CIndexer*>(clang_createIndex(0,
   // 0)), AU));
-  return I;
+  // return I;
 }
 
 CXInterpreter clang_createInterpreterFromRawPtr(TInterp_t I) {
diff --git a/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOp.cpp b/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOp.cpp
index 3575bb2fa..9cfafe2f1 100755
--- a/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOp.cpp
+++ b/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOp.cpp
@@ -2957,7 +2957,15 @@ namespace Cpp {
                    std::back_inserter(ClingArgv),
                    [&](const std::string& str) { return str.c_str(); });
 
+#ifdef CPPINTEROP_USE_CLING
     auto I = new compat::Interpreter(ClingArgv.size(), &ClingArgv[0]);
+#else
+    auto Interp = compat::Interpreter::create(
+        static_cast<int>(ClingArgv.size()), ClingArgv.data());
+    if (!Interp)
+      return nullptr;
+    auto* I = Interp.release();
+#endif
 
     // Honor -mllvm.
     //
diff --git a/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOpInterpreter.h b/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOpInterpreter.h
index cdac4f768..254e10fca 100644
--- a/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOpInterpreter.h
+++ b/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOpInterpreter.h
@@ -136,11 +136,15 @@ class Interpreter {
 private:
   std::unique_ptr<clang::Interpreter> inner;
 
+  Interpreter(std::unique_ptr<clang::Interpreter> CI) : inner(std::move(CI)) {}
+
 public:
-  Interpreter(int argc, const char* const* argv, const char* llvmdir = 0,
-              const std::vector<std::shared_ptr<clang::ModuleFileExtension>>&
-                  moduleExtensions = {},
-              void* extraLibHandle = 0, bool noRuntime = true) {
+
+  static std::unique_ptr<Interpreter>
+  create(int argc, const char* const* argv, const char* llvmdir = nullptr,
+         const std::vector<std::shared_ptr<clang::ModuleFileExtension>>&
+             moduleExtensions = {},
+         void* extraLibHandle = nullptr, bool noRuntime = true) {
     // Initialize all targets (required for device offloading)
     llvm::InitializeAllTargetInfos();
     llvm::InitializeAllTargets();
@@ -150,7 +154,13 @@ class Interpreter {
     std::vector<const char*> vargs(argv + 1, argv + argc);
     vargs.push_back("-include");
     vargs.push_back("new");
-    inner = compat::createClangInterpreter(vargs);
+    auto CI = compat::createClangInterpreter(vargs);
+    if (!CI) {
+      llvm::errs() << "Interpreter creation failed\n";
+      return nullptr;
+    }
+
+    return std::unique_ptr<Interpreter>(new Interpreter(std::move(CI)));
   }
 
   ~Interpreter() {}
diff --git a/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp b/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp
index 55cd3f742..30bf6bd61 100644
--- a/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp
+++ b/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp
@@ -166,6 +166,29 @@ TEST(InterpreterTest, CreateInterpreter) {
 #endif
 }
 
+TEST(InterpreterTest, CreateInterpreterCAPI) {
+#ifdef CPPINTEROP_USE_CLING
+  GTEST_SKIP() << "C API is not available in this build";
+#endif
+  // C API
+  const char* argv[] = {"-std=c++17"};
+  auto *CXI = clang_createInterpreter(argv, 1);
+  auto CLI = clang_Interpreter_getClangInterpreter(CXI);
+  EXPECT_TRUE(CLI);
+  clang_Interpreter_dispose(CXI);
+}
+
+TEST(InterpreterTest, CreateInterpreterCAPIFailure) {
+#ifdef CPPINTEROP_USE_CLING
+  GTEST_SKIP() << "C API is not available in this build";
+#endif
+  const char* argv[] = {"-fsyntax-only", "-Xclang", "-invalid-plugin"};
+  testing::internal::CaptureStderr(); // Suppress error messages
+  auto *CXI = clang_createInterpreter(argv, 3);
+  std::string capturedStderr = testing::internal::GetCapturedStderr();
+  EXPECT_EQ(CXI, nullptr);
+}
+
 #ifdef LLVM_BINARY_DIR
 TEST(InterpreterTest, DetectResourceDir) {
 #ifdef EMSCRIPTEN