diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 95bfda0..de9bc42 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ Pugz is a Pug-like HTML template engine written in Zig 0.15.2. It implements Pug
 ## Build Commands
 
 - `zig build` - Build the project (output in `zig-out/`)
-- `zig build run` - Build and run the executable
-- `zig build test` - Run all tests (113 tests currently)
+- `zig build test` - Run all tests
+- `zig build app-01` - Run the example web app (http://localhost:8080)
 
 ## Architecture Overview
 
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ Source → Lexer → Tokens → Parser → AST → Runtime → HTML
 | **src/ast.zig** | AST node definitions (Element, Text, Conditional, Each, Mixin, etc.) |
 | **src/runtime.zig** | Evaluates AST with data context, produces final HTML. Handles variable interpolation, conditionals, loops, mixins. |
 | **src/codegen.zig** | Static HTML generation (without runtime evaluation). Outputs placeholders for dynamic content. |
-| **src/root.zig** | Public library API - exports `renderTemplate()` and core types. |
-| **src/main.zig** | CLI executable example. |
+| **src/view_engine.zig** | High-level ViewEngine for web servers. Manages views directory, auto-loads mixins. |
+| **src/root.zig** | Public library API - exports `ViewEngine`, `renderTemplate()` and core types. |
 
 ### Test Files
 
@@ -239,7 +239,63 @@ block prepend styles
 //- This is a silent comment (not in output)
 ```
 
-## Server Usage Example
+## Server Usage
+
+### ViewEngine (Recommended)
+
+The `ViewEngine` provides the simplest API for web servers:
+
+```zig
+const std = @import("std");
+const pugz = @import("pugz");
+
+// Initialize once at server startup
+var engine = try pugz.ViewEngine.init(allocator, .{
+    .views_dir = "src/views",     // Root views directory
+    .mixins_dir = "mixins",       // Auto-load mixins from views/mixins/ (optional)
+    .extension = ".pug",          // File extension (default: .pug)
+    .pretty = true,               // Pretty-print output (default: true)
+});
+defer engine.deinit();
+
+// In request handler - use arena allocator per request
+pub fn handleRequest(engine: *pugz.ViewEngine, allocator: std.mem.Allocator) ![]u8 {
+    var arena = std.heap.ArenaAllocator.init(allocator);
+    defer arena.deinit();
+
+    // Template path is relative to views_dir, extension added automatically
+    return try engine.render(arena.allocator(), "pages/home", .{
+        .title = "Home",
+        .user = .{ .name = "Alice" },
+    });
+}
+```
+
+### Directory Structure
+
+```
+src/views/
+├── mixins/           # Auto-loaded mixins (optional)
+│   ├── buttons.pug   # mixin btn(text), mixin btn-link(href, text)
+│   └── cards.pug     # mixin card(title), mixin card-simple(title, body)
+├── layouts/
+│   └── base.pug      # Base layout with blocks
+├── partials/
+│   ├── header.pug
+│   └── footer.pug
+└── pages/
+    ├── home.pug      # extends layouts/base
+    └── about.pug     # extends layouts/base
+```
+
+Templates can use:
+- `extends layouts/base` - Paths relative to views_dir
+- `include partials/header` - Paths relative to views_dir
+- `+btn("Click")` - Mixins from mixins/ dir available automatically
+
+### Low-Level API
+
+For inline templates or custom use cases:
 
 ```zig
 const std = @import("std");
diff --git a/build.zig.zon b/build.zig.zon
index c544f10..7416bea 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon
+++ b/build.zig.zon
@@ -1,36 +1,8 @@
 .{
-    // This is the default name used by packages depending on this one. For
-    // example, when a user runs `zig fetch --save <url>`, this field is used
-    // as the key in the `dependencies` table. Although the user can choose a
-    // different name, most users will stick with this provided value.
-    //
-    // It is redundant to include "zig" in this name because it is already
-    // within the Zig package namespace.
     .name = .pugz,
-    // This is a [Semantic Version](https://semver.org/).
-    // In a future version of Zig it will be used for package deduplication.
     .version = "0.0.0",
-    // Together with name, this represents a globally unique package
-    // identifier. This field is generated by the Zig toolchain when the
-    // package is first created, and then *never changes*. This allows
-    // unambiguous detection of one package being an updated version of
-    // another.
-    //
-    // When forking a Zig project, this id should be regenerated (delete the
-    // field and run `zig build`) if the upstream project is still maintained.
-    // Otherwise, the fork is *hostile*, attempting to take control over the
-    // original project's identity. Thus it is recommended to leave the comment
-    // on the following line intact, so that it shows up in code reviews that
-    // modify the field.
     .fingerprint = 0x822db0790e17621d, // Changing this has security and trust implications.
-    // Tracks the earliest Zig version that the package considers to be a
-    // supported use case.
     .minimum_zig_version = "0.15.2",
-    // This field is optional.
-    // Each dependency must either provide a `url` and `hash`, or a `path`.
-    // `zig build --fetch` can be used to fetch all dependencies of a package, recursively.
-    // Once all dependencies are fetched, `zig build` no longer requires
-    // internet connectivity.
     .dependencies = .{
         .httpz = .{
             .url = "git+https://github.com/karlseguin/http.zig?ref=master#9ef2ffe8d611ff2e1081e5cf39cb4632c145c5b9",
diff --git a/src/examples/app_01/main.zig b/src/examples/app_01/main.zig
index de43087..e1cc5f2 100644
--- a/src/examples/app_01/main.zig
+++ b/src/examples/app_01/main.zig
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 //! Pugz Template Inheritance Demo
 //!
 //! A web application demonstrating Pug-style template inheritance
-//! using the Pugz template engine with http.zig server.
+//! using the Pugz ViewEngine with http.zig server.
 //!
 //! Routes:
 //!   GET /           - Home page (layout.pug)
@@ -19,58 +19,25 @@ const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
 /// Application state shared across all requests
 const App = struct {
     allocator: Allocator,
-    views_dir: []const u8,
+    engine: pugz.ViewEngine,
 
-    /// File resolver for loading templates from disk
-    pub fn fileResolver(allocator: Allocator, path: []const u8) ?[]const u8 {
-        const file = std.fs.cwd().openFile(path, .{}) catch return null;
-        defer file.close();
-        return file.readToEndAlloc(allocator, 1024 * 1024) catch null;
+    pub fn init(allocator: Allocator) !App {
+        return .{
+            .allocator = allocator,
+            .engine = try pugz.ViewEngine.init(allocator, .{
+                .views_dir = "src/examples/app_01/views",
+            }),
+        };
     }
 
-    /// Render a template with data
-    pub fn render(self: *App, template_name: []const u8, data: anytype) ![]u8 {
-        // Build full path
-        const template_path = try std.fs.path.join(self.allocator, &.{ self.views_dir, template_name });
-        defer self.allocator.free(template_path);
-
-        // Load template source
-        const source = fileResolver(self.allocator, template_path) orelse {
-            return error.TemplateNotFound;
-        };
-        defer self.allocator.free(source);
-
-        // Parse template
-        var lexer = pugz.Lexer.init(self.allocator, source);
-        const tokens = try lexer.tokenize();
-
-        var parser = pugz.Parser.init(self.allocator, tokens);
-        const doc = try parser.parse();
-
-        // Setup context with data
-        var ctx = pugz.runtime.Context.init(self.allocator);
-        defer ctx.deinit();
-
-        try ctx.pushScope();
-        inline for (std.meta.fields(@TypeOf(data))) |field| {
-            const value = @field(data, field.name);
-            try ctx.set(field.name, pugz.runtime.toValue(self.allocator, value));
-        }
-
-        // Render with file resolver for includes/extends
-        var runtime = pugz.runtime.Runtime.init(self.allocator, &ctx, .{
-            .file_resolver = fileResolver,
-            .base_dir = self.views_dir,
-        });
-        defer runtime.deinit();
-
-        return runtime.renderOwned(doc);
+    pub fn deinit(self: *App) void {
+        self.engine.deinit();
     }
 };
 
 /// Handler for GET /
 fn index(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
-    const html = app.render("layout.pug", .{
+    const html = app.engine.render(app.allocator, "layout", .{
         .title = "Home",
     }) catch |err| {
         res.status = 500;
@@ -84,7 +51,7 @@ fn index(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
 
 /// Handler for GET /page-a - demonstrates extends and block override
 fn pageA(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
-    const html = app.render("page-a.pug", .{
+    const html = app.engine.render(app.allocator, "page-a", .{
         .title = "Page A - Pets",
         .items = &[_][]const u8{ "A", "B", "C" },
         .n = 0,
@@ -100,7 +67,7 @@ fn pageA(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
 
 /// Handler for GET /page-b - demonstrates sub-layout inheritance
 fn pageB(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
-    const html = app.render("page-b.pug", .{
+    const html = app.engine.render(app.allocator, "page-b", .{
         .title = "Page B - Sub Layout",
     }) catch |err| {
         res.status = 500;
@@ -114,7 +81,7 @@ fn pageB(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
 
 /// Handler for GET /append - demonstrates block append
 fn pageAppend(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
-    const html = app.render("page-append.pug", .{
+    const html = app.engine.render(app.allocator, "page-append", .{
         .title = "Page Append",
     }) catch |err| {
         res.status = 500;
@@ -128,7 +95,7 @@ fn pageAppend(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
 
 /// Handler for GET /append-opt - demonstrates optional block keyword
 fn pageAppendOptional(app: *App, _: *httpz.Request, res: *httpz.Response) !void {
-    const html = app.render("page-appen-optional-blk.pug", .{
+    const html = app.engine.render(app.allocator, "page-appen-optional-blk", .{
         .title = "Page Append Optional",
     }) catch |err| {
         res.status = 500;
@@ -145,13 +112,9 @@ pub fn main() !void {
     defer _ = gpa.deinit();
     const allocator = gpa.allocator();
 
-    // Views directory - relative to current working directory
-    const views_dir = "src/examples/app_01/views";
-
-    var app = App{
-        .allocator = allocator,
-        .views_dir = views_dir,
-    };
+    // Initialize view engine once at startup
+    var app = try App.init(allocator);
+    defer app.deinit();
 
     var server = try httpz.Server(*App).init(allocator, .{ .port = 8080 }, &app);
     defer server.deinit();
diff --git a/src/examples/app_01/views/mixins/buttons.pug b/src/examples/app_01/views/mixins/buttons.pug
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e96740f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/examples/app_01/views/mixins/buttons.pug
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+mixin btn(text, type="primary")
+  button(class="btn btn-" + type)= text
+
+mixin btn-link(href, text)
+  a.btn.btn-link(href=href)= text
diff --git a/src/examples/app_01/views/mixins/cards.pug b/src/examples/app_01/views/mixins/cards.pug
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9845b64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/examples/app_01/views/mixins/cards.pug
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+mixin card(title)
+  .card
+    .card-header
+      h3= title
+    .card-body
+      block
+
+mixin card-simple(title, body)
+  .card
+    h3= title
+    p= body
diff --git a/src/root.zig b/src/root.zig
index 13d0438..9b89326 100644
--- a/src/root.zig
+++ b/src/root.zig
@@ -7,12 +7,33 @@
 //! - Attributes and text interpolation
 //! - Control flow (if/else, each, while)
 //! - Mixins and template inheritance
+//!
+//! ## Quick Start (Server Usage)
+//!
+//! ```zig
+//! const pugz = @import("pugz");
+//!
+//! // Initialize view engine once at startup
+//! var engine = try pugz.ViewEngine.init(allocator, .{
+//!     .views_dir = "src/views",
+//! });
+//! defer engine.deinit();
+//!
+//! // Render templates (use arena allocator per request)
+//! var arena = std.heap.ArenaAllocator.init(allocator);
+//! defer arena.deinit();
+//!
+//! const html = try engine.render(arena.allocator(), "pages/home", .{
+//!     .title = "Home",
+//! });
+//! ```
 
 pub const lexer = @import("lexer.zig");
 pub const ast = @import("ast.zig");
 pub const parser = @import("parser.zig");
 pub const codegen = @import("codegen.zig");
 pub const runtime = @import("runtime.zig");
+pub const view_engine = @import("view_engine.zig");
 
 // Re-export main types for convenience
 pub const Lexer = lexer.Lexer;
@@ -32,6 +53,9 @@ pub const Value = runtime.Value;
 pub const render = runtime.render;
 pub const renderTemplate = runtime.renderTemplate;
 
+// High-level API
+pub const ViewEngine = view_engine.ViewEngine;
+
 test {
     _ = @import("std").testing.refAllDecls(@This());
 }
diff --git a/src/view_engine.zig b/src/view_engine.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f07905
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/view_engine.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+//! ViewEngine - High-level template engine for web servers.
+//!
+//! Provides a simple API for rendering Pug templates with:
+//! - Views directory configuration
+//! - Auto-loading mixins from a mixins subdirectory
+//! - Relative path resolution for includes and extends
+//!
+//! Example:
+//! ```zig
+//! var engine = try ViewEngine.init(allocator, .{
+//!     .views_dir = "src/views",
+//! });
+//! defer engine.deinit();
+//!
+//! const html = try engine.render(arena.allocator(), "pages/home", .{
+//!     .title = "Home",
+//! });
+//! ```
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const Lexer = @import("lexer.zig").Lexer;
+const Parser = @import("parser.zig").Parser;
+const runtime = @import("runtime.zig");
+const ast = @import("ast.zig");
+
+const Runtime = runtime.Runtime;
+const Context = runtime.Context;
+const Value = runtime.Value;
+
+/// Configuration options for the ViewEngine.
+pub const Options = struct {
+    /// Root directory containing view templates.
+    views_dir: []const u8,
+    /// Subdirectory within views_dir containing mixin files.
+    /// Defaults to "mixins". Set to null to disable auto-loading.
+    mixins_dir: ?[]const u8 = "mixins",
+    /// File extension for templates. Defaults to ".pug".
+    extension: []const u8 = ".pug",
+    /// Enable pretty-printing with indentation.
+    pretty: bool = true,
+};
+
+/// Error types for ViewEngine operations.
+pub const ViewEngineError = error{
+    TemplateNotFound,
+    ParseError,
+    OutOfMemory,
+    AccessDenied,
+    InvalidPath,
+};
+
+/// A pre-parsed mixin definition.
+const MixinEntry = struct {
+    name: []const u8,
+    def: ast.MixinDef,
+};
+
+/// ViewEngine manages template rendering with a configured views directory.
+pub const ViewEngine = struct {
+    allocator: std.mem.Allocator,
+    options: Options,
+    /// Absolute path to views directory.
+    views_path: []const u8,
+    /// Pre-loaded mixin definitions.
+    mixins: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(MixinEntry),
+    /// Cached mixin source files (to keep slices valid).
+    mixin_sources: std.ArrayListUnmanaged([]const u8),
+
+    /// Initializes the ViewEngine with the given options.
+    /// Loads all mixins from the mixins directory if configured.
+    pub fn init(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, options: Options) !ViewEngine {
+        // Resolve views directory to absolute path
+        const views_path = try std.fs.cwd().realpathAlloc(allocator, options.views_dir);
+        errdefer allocator.free(views_path);
+
+        var engine = ViewEngine{
+            .allocator = allocator,
+            .options = options,
+            .views_path = views_path,
+            .mixins = .empty,
+            .mixin_sources = .empty,
+        };
+
+        // Auto-load mixins if configured
+        if (options.mixins_dir) |mixins_subdir| {
+            try engine.loadMixins(mixins_subdir);
+        }
+
+        return engine;
+    }
+
+    /// Releases all resources held by the ViewEngine.
+    pub fn deinit(self: *ViewEngine) void {
+        self.allocator.free(self.views_path);
+        self.mixins.deinit(self.allocator);
+        for (self.mixin_sources.items) |source| {
+            self.allocator.free(source);
+        }
+        self.mixin_sources.deinit(self.allocator);
+    }
+
+    /// Loads all mixin files from the specified subdirectory.
+    fn loadMixins(self: *ViewEngine, mixins_subdir: []const u8) !void {
+        const mixins_path = try std.fs.path.join(self.allocator, &.{ self.views_path, mixins_subdir });
+        defer self.allocator.free(mixins_path);
+
+        var dir = std.fs.openDirAbsolute(mixins_path, .{ .iterate = true }) catch |err| {
+            if (err == error.FileNotFound) {
+                // Mixins directory doesn't exist - that's OK
+                return;
+            }
+            return err;
+        };
+        defer dir.close();
+
+        var iter = dir.iterate();
+        while (try iter.next()) |entry| {
+            if (entry.kind != .file) continue;
+
+            // Check for .pug extension
+            if (!std.mem.endsWith(u8, entry.name, self.options.extension)) continue;
+
+            // Read and parse the mixin file
+            try self.loadMixinFile(dir, entry.name);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Loads a single mixin file and extracts its mixin definitions.
+    fn loadMixinFile(self: *ViewEngine, dir: std.fs.Dir, filename: []const u8) !void {
+        const source = try dir.readFileAlloc(self.allocator, filename, 1024 * 1024);
+        errdefer self.allocator.free(source);
+
+        // Keep source alive for string slices
+        try self.mixin_sources.append(self.allocator, source);
+
+        // Parse the file
+        var lexer = Lexer.init(self.allocator, source);
+        defer lexer.deinit();
+
+        const tokens = lexer.tokenize() catch return;
+
+        var parser = Parser.init(self.allocator, tokens);
+        const doc = parser.parse() catch return;
+
+        // Extract mixin definitions
+        for (doc.nodes) |node| {
+            if (node == .mixin_def) {
+                try self.mixins.append(self.allocator, .{
+                    .name = node.mixin_def.name,
+                    .def = node.mixin_def,
+                });
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Renders a template with the given data context.
+    ///
+    /// The template path is relative to the views directory.
+    /// The .pug extension is added automatically if not present.
+    ///
+    /// Example:
+    /// ```zig
+    /// const html = try engine.render(allocator, "pages/home", .{
+    ///     .title = "Home Page",
+    /// });
+    /// ```
+    pub fn render(self: *ViewEngine, allocator: std.mem.Allocator, template_path: []const u8, data: anytype) ![]u8 {
+        // Build full path
+        const full_path = try self.resolvePath(allocator, template_path);
+        defer allocator.free(full_path);
+
+        // Read template file
+        const source = std.fs.cwd().readFileAlloc(allocator, full_path, 1024 * 1024) catch {
+            return ViewEngineError.TemplateNotFound;
+        };
+        defer allocator.free(source);
+
+        // Tokenize
+        var lexer = Lexer.init(allocator, source);
+        defer lexer.deinit();
+        const tokens = lexer.tokenize() catch return ViewEngineError.ParseError;
+
+        // Parse
+        var parser = Parser.init(allocator, tokens);
+        const doc = parser.parse() catch return ViewEngineError.ParseError;
+
+        // Create context with data
+        var ctx = Context.init(allocator);
+        defer ctx.deinit();
+
+        // Register pre-loaded mixins
+        for (self.mixins.items) |mixin_entry| {
+            try ctx.defineMixin(mixin_entry.def);
+        }
+
+        // Populate context from data struct
+        try ctx.pushScope();
+        inline for (std.meta.fields(@TypeOf(data))) |field| {
+            const value = @field(data, field.name);
+            try ctx.set(field.name, runtime.toValue(allocator, value));
+        }
+
+        // Create runtime with file resolver for includes/extends
+        var rt = Runtime.init(allocator, &ctx, .{
+            .pretty = self.options.pretty,
+            .base_dir = self.views_path,
+            .file_resolver = createFileResolver(),
+        });
+        defer rt.deinit();
+
+        return rt.renderOwned(doc);
+    }
+
+    /// Resolves a template path relative to views directory.
+    fn resolvePath(self: *ViewEngine, allocator: std.mem.Allocator, template_path: []const u8) ![]const u8 {
+        // Add extension if not present
+        const with_ext = if (std.mem.endsWith(u8, template_path, self.options.extension))
+            try allocator.dupe(u8, template_path)
+        else
+            try std.fmt.allocPrint(allocator, "{s}{s}", .{ template_path, self.options.extension });
+        defer allocator.free(with_ext);
+
+        return std.fs.path.join(allocator, &.{ self.views_path, with_ext });
+    }
+
+    /// Creates a file resolver function for the runtime.
+    fn createFileResolver() runtime.FileResolver {
+        return struct {
+            fn resolve(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, path: []const u8) ?[]const u8 {
+                return std.fs.cwd().readFileAlloc(allocator, path, 1024 * 1024) catch null;
+            }
+        }.resolve;
+    }
+};
+
+// ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// Tests
+// ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+test "ViewEngine resolves paths correctly" {
+    // This test requires a views directory - skip in unit tests
+    // Full integration tests are in src/tests/
+}