diff --git a/examples/string-sum/.template/Cargo.toml b/examples/string-sum/.template/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..40afa2504c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/.template/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[package]
+authors = ["{{authors}}"]
+name = "{{project-name}}"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[lib]
+name = "string_sum"
+crate-type = ["cdylib"]
+
+[dependencies]
+pyo3-ffi = { version = "{{PYO3_VERSION}}", features = ["extension-module"] }
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/.template/pre-script.rhai b/examples/string-sum/.template/pre-script.rhai
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d3341677b1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/.template/pre-script.rhai
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+variable::set("PYO3_VERSION", "0.19.2");
+file::rename(".template/Cargo.toml", "Cargo.toml");
+file::rename(".template/pyproject.toml", "pyproject.toml");
+file::delete(".template");
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/.template/pyproject.toml b/examples/string-sum/.template/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..537fdacc666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/.template/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["maturin>=1,<2"]
+build-backend = "maturin"
+
+[project]
+name = "{{project-name}}"
+version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/Cargo.toml b/examples/string-sum/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4a48b221c60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+[package]
+name = "string_sum"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[lib]
+name = "string_sum"
+crate-type = ["cdylib"]
+
+[dependencies]
+pyo3-ffi = { path = "../../pyo3-ffi", features = ["extension-module"] }
+
+[workspace]
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/MANIFEST.in b/examples/string-sum/MANIFEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..becccf7bc9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/MANIFEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+include pyproject.toml Cargo.toml
+recursive-include src *
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/README.md b/examples/string-sum/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..552d9020963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# string_sum
+
+A project built using only `pyo3_ffi`, without any of PyO3's safe api.
+
+## Building and Testing
+
+To build this package, first install `maturin`:
+
+```shell
+pip install maturin
+```
+
+To build and test use `maturin develop`:
+
+```shell
+pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+maturin develop
+pytest
+```
+
+Alternatively, install nox and run the tests inside an isolated environment:
+
+```shell
+nox
+```
+
+## Copying this example
+
+Use [`cargo-generate`](https://crates.io/crates/cargo-generate):
+
+```bash
+$ cargo install cargo-generate
+$ cargo generate --git https://github.com/PyO3/pyo3 examples/string_sum
+```
+
+(`cargo generate` will take a little while to clone the PyO3 repo first; be patient when waiting for the command to run.)
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/cargo-generate.toml b/examples/string-sum/cargo-generate.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d750c4de7a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/cargo-generate.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+[template]
+ignore = [".nox"]
+
+[hooks]
+pre = [".template/pre-script.rhai"]
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/noxfile.py b/examples/string-sum/noxfile.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..17a6b80f3f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/noxfile.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import nox
+
+
+@nox.session
+def python(session):
+    session.install("-rrequirements-dev.txt")
+    session.install("maturin")
+    session.run_always("maturin", "develop")
+    session.run("pytest")
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/pyproject.toml b/examples/string-sum/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..088f2b47085
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["maturin>=1,<2"]
+build-backend = "maturin"
+
+[project]
+name = "string sum"
+version = "0.1.0"
+classifiers = [
+    "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
+    "Development Status :: 3 - Alpha",
+    "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+    "Programming Language :: Python",
+    "Programming Language :: Rust",
+    "Operating System :: POSIX",
+    "Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X",
+]
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/requirements-dev.txt b/examples/string-sum/requirements-dev.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9ea7f14b6dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+pytest>=3.5.0
+pip>=21.3
+maturin>=0.12,<0.13
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/src/lib.rs b/examples/string-sum/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..91072418038
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+use std::os::raw::{c_char, c_long};
+use std::ptr;
+
+use pyo3_ffi::*;
+
+static mut MODULE_DEF: PyModuleDef = PyModuleDef {
+    m_base: PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
+    m_name: "string_sum\0".as_ptr().cast::<c_char>(),
+    m_doc: "A Python module written in Rust.\0"
+        .as_ptr()
+        .cast::<c_char>(),
+    m_size: 0,
+    m_methods: unsafe { METHODS as *const [PyMethodDef] as *mut PyMethodDef },
+    m_slots: std::ptr::null_mut(),
+    m_traverse: None,
+    m_clear: None,
+    m_free: None,
+};
+
+static mut METHODS: &[PyMethodDef] = &[
+    PyMethodDef {
+        ml_name: "sum_as_string\0".as_ptr().cast::<c_char>(),
+        ml_meth: PyMethodDefPointer {
+            _PyCFunctionFast: sum_as_string,
+        },
+        ml_flags: METH_FASTCALL,
+        ml_doc: "returns the sum of two integers as a string\0"
+            .as_ptr()
+            .cast::<c_char>(),
+    },
+    // A zeroed PyMethodDef to mark the end of the array.
+    PyMethodDef::zeroed(),
+];
+
+// The module initialization function, which must be named `PyInit_<your_module>`.
+#[allow(non_snake_case)]
+#[no_mangle]
+pub unsafe extern "C" fn PyInit_string_sum() -> *mut PyObject {
+    PyModule_Create(ptr::addr_of_mut!(MODULE_DEF))
+}
+
+/// A helper to parse function arguments
+/// If we used PyO3's proc macros they'd handle all of this boilerplate for us :)
+unsafe fn parse_arg_as_i32(obj: *mut PyObject, n_arg: usize) -> Option<i32> {
+    if PyLong_Check(obj) == 0 {
+        let msg = format!(
+            "sum_as_string expected an int for positional argument {}\0",
+            n_arg
+        );
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, msg.as_ptr().cast::<c_char>());
+        return None;
+    }
+
+    // Let's keep the behaviour consistent on platforms where `c_long` is bigger than 32 bits.
+    // In particular, it is an i32 on Windows but i64 on most Linux systems
+    let mut overflow = 0;
+    let i_long: c_long = PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow(obj, &mut overflow);
+
+    if overflow != 0 {
+        raise_overflowerror(obj);
+        None
+    } else if let Ok(i) = i_long.try_into() {
+        Some(i)
+    } else {
+        raise_overflowerror(obj);
+        None
+    }
+}
+
+unsafe fn raise_overflowerror(obj: *mut PyObject) {
+    let obj_repr = PyObject_Str(obj);
+    if !obj_repr.is_null() {
+        let mut size = 0;
+        let p = PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(obj_repr, &mut size);
+        if !p.is_null() {
+            let s = std::str::from_utf8_unchecked(std::slice::from_raw_parts(
+                p.cast::<u8>(),
+                size as usize,
+            ));
+            let msg = format!("cannot fit {} in 32 bits\0", s);
+
+            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, msg.as_ptr().cast::<c_char>());
+        }
+        Py_DECREF(obj_repr);
+    }
+}
+
+pub unsafe extern "C" fn sum_as_string(
+    _self: *mut PyObject,
+    args: *mut *mut PyObject,
+    nargs: Py_ssize_t,
+) -> *mut PyObject {
+    if nargs != 2 {
+        PyErr_SetString(
+            PyExc_TypeError,
+            "sum_as_string expected 2 positional arguments\0"
+                .as_ptr()
+                .cast::<c_char>(),
+        );
+        return std::ptr::null_mut();
+    }
+
+    let (first, second) = (*args, *args.add(1));
+
+    let first = match parse_arg_as_i32(first, 1) {
+        Some(x) => x,
+        None => return std::ptr::null_mut(),
+    };
+    let second = match parse_arg_as_i32(second, 2) {
+        Some(x) => x,
+        None => return std::ptr::null_mut(),
+    };
+
+    match first.checked_add(second) {
+        Some(sum) => {
+            let string = sum.to_string();
+            PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(string.as_ptr().cast::<c_char>(), string.len() as isize)
+        }
+        None => {
+            PyErr_SetString(
+                PyExc_OverflowError,
+                "arguments too large to add\0".as_ptr().cast::<c_char>(),
+            );
+            std::ptr::null_mut()
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/examples/string-sum/tests/test_.py b/examples/string-sum/tests/test_.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d9b5ab5fd44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string-sum/tests/test_.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import pytest
+from string_sum import sum_as_string
+
+
+def test_sum():
+    a, b = 12, 42
+
+    added = sum_as_string(a, b)
+    assert added == "54"
+
+
+def test_err1():
+    a, b = "abc", 42
+
+    with pytest.raises(
+        TypeError, match="sum_as_string expected an int for positional argument 1"
+    ) as e:
+        sum_as_string(a, b)
+
+
+def test_err2():
+    a, b = 0, {}
+
+    with pytest.raises(
+        TypeError, match="sum_as_string expected an int for positional argument 2"
+    ) as e:
+        sum_as_string(a, b)
+
+
+def test_overflow1():
+    a, b = 0, 1 << 43
+
+    with pytest.raises(OverflowError, match="cannot fit 8796093022208 in 32 bits") as e:
+        sum_as_string(a, b)
+
+
+def test_overflow2():
+    a, b = 1 << 30, 1 << 30
+
+    with pytest.raises(OverflowError, match="arguments too large to add") as e:
+        sum_as_string(a, b)