diff --git a/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp b/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp
index 0f4566016..031096c91 100644
--- a/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp
+++ b/lib/Interpreter/CXCppInterOp.cpp
@@ -271,8 +271,15 @@ 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>();
+#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
   // create a bridge between CXTranslationUnit and clang::Interpreter
   // auto AU = std::make_unique<ASTUnit>(false);
   // AU->FileMgr = I->Interp->getCompilerInstance().getFileManager();
@@ -281,7 +288,7 @@ 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.release();
 }
 
 CXInterpreter clang_createInterpreterFromRawPtr(TInterp_t I) {
diff --git a/lib/Interpreter/Compatibility.h b/lib/Interpreter/Compatibility.h
index 88169028e..7550fa8d5 100644
--- a/lib/Interpreter/Compatibility.h
+++ b/lib/Interpreter/Compatibility.h
@@ -294,9 +294,11 @@ createClangInterpreter(std::vector<const char*>& args) {
     return nullptr;
   }
   if (CudaEnabled) {
-    if (auto Err = (*innerOrErr)->LoadDynamicLibrary("libcudart.so"))
+    if (auto Err = (*innerOrErr)->LoadDynamicLibrary("libcudart.so")) {
       llvm::logAllUnhandledErrors(std::move(Err), llvm::errs(),
                                   "Failed load libcudart.so runtime:");
+      return nullptr;
+    }
   }
 
   return std::move(*innerOrErr);
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 01b6d9795..9f22fb1b3 100644
--- a/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOpInterpreter.h
+++ b/lib/Interpreter/CppInterOpInterpreter.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #if CLANG_VERSION_MAJOR >= 19
 #include "clang/Sema/Redeclaration.h"
 #endif
+#include "clang/Serialization/ModuleFileExtension.h"
 
 #include "llvm/ADT/DenseMap.h"
 #include "llvm/ADT/SmallSet.h"
@@ -34,6 +35,10 @@
 #include "llvm/Support/Compiler.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/Error.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/TargetSelect.h"
+#include "llvm/Support/raw_ostream.h"
+
+#include <utility>
+#include <vector>
 
 namespace clang {
 class CompilerInstance;
@@ -136,11 +141,14 @@ 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();
@@ -148,7 +156,13 @@ class Interpreter {
     llvm::InitializeAllAsmPrinters();
 
     std::vector<const char*> vargs(argv + 1, argv + argc);
-    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/CUDATest.cpp b/unittests/CppInterOp/CUDATest.cpp
index ea171b46e..f697007cf 100644
--- a/unittests/CppInterOp/CUDATest.cpp
+++ b/unittests/CppInterOp/CUDATest.cpp
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ static bool HasCudaSDK() {
     // FIXME: Enable this for cling.
     return false;
 #endif // CLANG_VERSION_MAJOR < 16
-    Cpp::CreateInterpreter({}, {"--cuda"});
+    if (!Cpp::CreateInterpreter({}, {"--cuda"}))
+      return false;
     return Cpp::Declare("__global__ void test_func() {}"
                         "test_func<<<1,1>>>();") == 0;
   };
@@ -30,7 +31,8 @@ static bool HasCudaRuntime() {
     if (!HasCudaSDK())
       return false;
 
-    Cpp::CreateInterpreter({}, {"--cuda"});
+    if (!Cpp::CreateInterpreter({}, {"--cuda"}))
+      return false;
     if (Cpp::Declare("__global__ void test_func() {}"
                      "test_func<<<1,1>>>();"))
       return false;
@@ -74,4 +76,4 @@ TEST(CUDATest, CUDARuntime) {
     GTEST_SKIP() << "Skipping CUDA tests as CUDA runtime not found";
 
   EXPECT_TRUE(HasCudaRuntime());
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp b/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp
index 71e1ca991..008ea01e7 100644
--- a/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp
+++ b/unittests/CppInterOp/InterpreterTest.cpp
@@ -167,6 +167,25 @@ TEST(InterpreterTest, CreateInterpreter) {
 #endif
 }
 
+#ifndef CPPINTEROP_USE_CLING
+TEST(InterpreterTest, CreateInterpreterCAPI) {
+  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 _WIN32
+  GTEST_SKIP() << "Disabled on Windows. Needs fixing.";
+#endif
+  const char* argv[] = {"-fsyntax-only", "-Xclang", "-invalid-plugin"};
+  auto *CXI = clang_createInterpreter(argv, 3);
+  EXPECT_EQ(CXI, nullptr);
+}
+#endif
+
 #ifdef LLVM_BINARY_DIR
 TEST(InterpreterTest, DetectResourceDir) {
 #ifdef EMSCRIPTEN