diff --git a/examples/ffi-05-string-args.sx b/examples/ffi-05-string-args.sx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef30e93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/ffi-05-string-args.sx
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+// Phase 0 baseline (PLAN-FFI.md step 0.5): the three shapes that
+// actually appear at the sx ↔ C boundary today:
+//
+//   1. Null-terminated `[:0]u8`  — passed by `.ptr` to a `const char *`.
+//   2. Raw byte buffer `[*]u8`   — pointer + explicit length.
+//   3. sx `string` value         — coerceArg's "fat-pointer decay" branch
+//                                  pulls `.ptr` automatically for `*u8`/
+//                                  `[:0]u8` params (string is `{ptr, len}`).
+//   4. Pointer return from C     — round-trips back as `[*]u8` / `*u8`.
+
+#import "modules/std.sx";
+
+#import c {
+    #source "vendors/ffi_strings/ffi_strings.c";
+};
+
+ffi_strlen          :: (s: [:0]u8)                    -> s32 #foreign;
+ffi_first_byte      :: (s: [:0]u8)                    -> s32 #foreign;
+ffi_sum_bytes       :: (buf: [*]u8, len: s32)         -> s32 #foreign;
+ffi_write_byte      :: (buf: [*]u8, idx: s32, v: u8)  -> void #foreign;
+ffi_static_greeting :: ()                             -> [*]u8 #foreign;
+
+main :: () -> s32 {
+    // ── [:0]u8 null-terminated literal ─────────────────────────────
+    msg : [:0]u8 = "hello";
+    print("strlen(\"hello\")     = {}\n", ffi_strlen(msg));
+    print("first_byte           = {}\n", ffi_first_byte(msg));
+
+    // ── sx `string` → C `const char *` (slice-decay through coerceArg) ─
+    s : string = "sx string here";
+    print("strlen(sx string)    = {}\n", ffi_strlen(xx s.ptr));
+
+    // ── [*]u8 raw buffer + length ──────────────────────────────────
+    bytes : [4]u8 = .[10, 20, 30, 40];
+    bp : [*]u8 = xx @bytes[0];
+    print("sum_bytes([10,20,30,40]) = {}\n", ffi_sum_bytes(bp, 4));
+
+    // ── Mutate buffer via C, read back from sx ─────────────────────
+    ffi_write_byte(bp, 1, 99);
+    print("bytes[1] after write = {}\n", bytes[1]);
+
+    // ── C returns a static string pointer; read it byte-by-byte ────
+    g := ffi_static_greeting();
+    n := ffi_strlen(xx g);
+    print("static greeting len  = {}\n", n);
+    print("static greeting [0]  = {}\n", g[0]);
+
+    0;
+}
diff --git a/tests/expected/ffi-05-string-args.exit b/tests/expected/ffi-05-string-args.exit
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..573541a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/expected/ffi-05-string-args.exit
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0
diff --git a/tests/expected/ffi-05-string-args.txt b/tests/expected/ffi-05-string-args.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd22f36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/expected/ffi-05-string-args.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+strlen("hello")     = 5
+first_byte           = 104
+strlen(sx string)    = 14
+sum_bytes([10,20,30,40]) = 100
+bytes[1] after write = 99
+static greeting len  = 12
+static greeting [0]  = 104
diff --git a/vendors/ffi_strings/ffi_strings.c b/vendors/ffi_strings/ffi_strings.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5140c43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendors/ffi_strings/ffi_strings.c
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#include "ffi_strings.h"
+
+int ffi_strlen(const char *s) {
+    int n = 0;
+    while (s[n] != 0) n++;
+    return n;
+}
+
+int ffi_first_byte(const char *s) {
+    return (int)(unsigned char)s[0];
+}
+
+int ffi_sum_bytes(const unsigned char *buf, int len) {
+    int total = 0;
+    for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) total += buf[i];
+    return total;
+}
+
+void ffi_write_byte(unsigned char *buf, int idx, unsigned char val) {
+    buf[idx] = val;
+}
+
+const char* ffi_static_greeting(void) {
+    return "hello from C";
+}
diff --git a/vendors/ffi_strings/ffi_strings.h b/vendors/ffi_strings/ffi_strings.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..516756a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendors/ffi_strings/ffi_strings.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+// String / byte-pointer FFI baselines. Covers the three shapes
+// callers actually use at the sx ↔ C boundary:
+//   - null-terminated `[:0]u8`              (C-style string)
+//   - raw byte pointer `[*]u8` + length     (slice-style)
+//   - sx `string` decayed to `ptr`          (the slice-decay branch
+//                                            in coerceArg pulls .ptr)
+
+#include <stddef.h>
+
+int    ffi_strlen     (const char *s);
+int    ffi_first_byte (const char *s);
+int    ffi_sum_bytes  (const unsigned char *buf, int len);
+void   ffi_write_byte (unsigned char *buf, int idx, unsigned char val);
+const char* ffi_static_greeting(void);