diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ec44c9a..b3fd9bd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,3 +17,4 @@ _liburing.c
 _liburing.o
 _liburing.*.so
 _uringcore.*.so
+_uringcore_liburing.*.so
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index f0f5dda..9dde61b 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 include _ffi_build.py
 include src/uringcore.c
+include src/uringcore_liburing.c
+include THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES/liburing-MIT.txt
 recursive-include docs *.md
 recursive-include uringloop *.py *.pyi
 include uringloop/py.typed
diff --git a/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES/liburing-MIT.txt b/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES/liburing-MIT.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c89bbf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES/liburing-MIT.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+liburing
+Copyright 2020 Jens Axboe
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
+the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
+IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
+CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
+TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
+SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/docs/phase1-static-liburing-spike.md b/docs/phase1-static-liburing-spike.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af0e71b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/phase1-static-liburing-spike.md
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Phase 1 static-liburing ring spike
+
+This is the second native ring implementation spike required by Phase 1 of
+the roadmap. It mirrors the lifecycle boundary of the raw-syscall
+`_uringcore.Ring` with a separate `_uringcore_liburing.Ring` implemented
+through the pinned liburing submodule.
+
+The extension links `libs/src/liburing.a` into the module. It therefore has
+no runtime dependency on a system `liburing.so`. liburing is used under its
+MIT license, whose notice is included in the package.
+
+Like the raw-syscall spike, this module owns ring initialization and teardown
+but does not submit or reap operations and is not wired into the Python
+proactor. The source checkout must configure and build the pinned submodule
+before building this experimental extension; packaging the vendored sources
+for standalone wheel builds remains part of the route decision.
+
+The decision record can now compare the two lifecycle implementations using
+the same API and tests. Neither spike is the production backend until that
+record selects a route.
+
+On the initial CPython 3.12 x86-64 development build, including debug
+information, the module sizes are:
+
+| Route | Extension size |
+| --- | ---: |
+| Raw syscalls | 35,152 bytes |
+| Static liburing | 109,840 bytes |
+
+The static module adds 74,688 bytes in this build. These are spike
+measurements rather than release-wheel results; the decision record must
+repeat them with the release build and record its compiler and strip
+settings.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 02e8b57..9904a33 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 description = "An io_uring-based proactor event loop for asyncio"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = "MIT"
-license-files = ["LICENSE"]
+license-files = ["LICENSE", "THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES/*"]
 requires-python = ">=3.12"
 dependencies = [
     "cffi>=1.17.1",
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0d83377..9e141a5 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
         Extension(
             "uringloop._uringcore",
             sources=["src/uringcore.c"],
-        )
+        ),
+        Extension(
+            "uringloop._uringcore_liburing",
+            sources=["src/uringcore_liburing.c"],
+            include_dirs=["libs/src/include"],
+            extra_objects=["libs/src/liburing.a"],
+        ),
     ],
 )
diff --git a/src/uringcore_liburing.c b/src/uringcore_liburing.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..79c1e3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/uringcore_liburing.c
@@ -0,0 +1,256 @@
+#define PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN
+#include <Python.h>
+#include <structmember.h>
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <limits.h>
+#include <liburing.h>
+#include <stddef.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+typedef struct {
+    PyObject_HEAD
+    struct io_uring ring;
+    int initialized;
+    unsigned int sq_entries;
+    unsigned int cq_entries;
+    unsigned int features;
+} UringCoreLiburingRing;
+
+static void
+uringcore_liburing_ring_close_resources(UringCoreLiburingRing *self)
+{
+    if (self->initialized) {
+        io_uring_queue_exit(&self->ring);
+        memset(&self->ring, 0, sizeof(self->ring));
+        self->initialized = 0;
+    }
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+uringcore_liburing_ring_new(
+    PyTypeObject *type,
+    PyObject *Py_UNUSED(args),
+    PyObject *Py_UNUSED(kwargs))
+{
+    return type->tp_alloc(type, 0);
+}
+
+static int
+uringcore_liburing_ring_init(
+    UringCoreLiburingRing *self,
+    PyObject *args,
+    PyObject *kwargs)
+{
+    static char *keyword_names[] = {"entries", NULL};
+    PyObject *entries_object = NULL;
+    PyObject *entries_index = NULL;
+    unsigned long parsed_entries;
+    unsigned int entries = 256;
+    struct io_uring_params params;
+    int result;
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(
+            args, kwargs, "|O:Ring", keyword_names, &entries_object)) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+    if (entries_object != NULL) {
+        entries_index = PyNumber_Index(entries_object);
+        if (entries_index == NULL) {
+            return -1;
+        }
+        parsed_entries = PyLong_AsUnsignedLong(entries_index);
+        Py_DECREF(entries_index);
+        if (parsed_entries == (unsigned long)-1 && PyErr_Occurred()) {
+            PyErr_Clear();
+            PyErr_Format(
+                PyExc_ValueError,
+                "entries must be between 1 and %u",
+                UINT_MAX);
+            return -1;
+        }
+        if (parsed_entries == 0 || parsed_entries > UINT_MAX) {
+            PyErr_Format(
+                PyExc_ValueError,
+                "entries must be between 1 and %u",
+                UINT_MAX);
+            return -1;
+        }
+        entries = (unsigned int)parsed_entries;
+    }
+
+    uringcore_liburing_ring_close_resources(self);
+    memset(&params, 0, sizeof(params));
+
+    result = io_uring_queue_init_params(entries, &self->ring, &params);
+    if (result < 0) {
+        errno = -result;
+        PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    self->initialized = 1;
+    self->sq_entries = params.sq_entries;
+    self->cq_entries = params.cq_entries;
+    self->features = params.features;
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static void
+uringcore_liburing_ring_dealloc(UringCoreLiburingRing *self)
+{
+    uringcore_liburing_ring_close_resources(self);
+    Py_TYPE(self)->tp_free((PyObject *)self);
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+uringcore_liburing_ring_close(
+    UringCoreLiburingRing *self,
+    PyObject *Py_UNUSED(ignored))
+{
+    uringcore_liburing_ring_close_resources(self);
+    Py_RETURN_NONE;
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+uringcore_liburing_ring_enter(
+    UringCoreLiburingRing *self,
+    PyObject *Py_UNUSED(ignored))
+{
+    if (!self->initialized) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "ring is closed");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    return Py_NewRef(self);
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+uringcore_liburing_ring_exit(
+    UringCoreLiburingRing *self,
+    PyObject *Py_UNUSED(args))
+{
+    uringcore_liburing_ring_close_resources(self);
+    Py_RETURN_FALSE;
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+uringcore_liburing_ring_get_closed(
+    UringCoreLiburingRing *self,
+    void *Py_UNUSED(context))
+{
+    return PyBool_FromLong(!self->initialized);
+}
+
+static PyMethodDef uringcore_liburing_ring_methods[] = {
+    {
+        "close",
+        (PyCFunction)uringcore_liburing_ring_close,
+        METH_NOARGS,
+        PyDoc_STR("Release the liburing ring resources."),
+    },
+    {
+        "__enter__",
+        (PyCFunction)uringcore_liburing_ring_enter,
+        METH_NOARGS,
+        NULL,
+    },
+    {
+        "__exit__",
+        (PyCFunction)uringcore_liburing_ring_exit,
+        METH_VARARGS,
+        NULL,
+    },
+    {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL},
+};
+
+static PyMemberDef uringcore_liburing_ring_members[] = {
+    {
+        "sq_entries",
+        T_UINT,
+        offsetof(UringCoreLiburingRing, sq_entries),
+        READONLY,
+        PyDoc_STR("Number of submission queue entries allocated by the kernel."),
+    },
+    {
+        "cq_entries",
+        T_UINT,
+        offsetof(UringCoreLiburingRing, cq_entries),
+        READONLY,
+        PyDoc_STR("Number of completion queue entries allocated by the kernel."),
+    },
+    {
+        "features",
+        T_UINT,
+        offsetof(UringCoreLiburingRing, features),
+        READONLY,
+        PyDoc_STR("Feature flags returned by io_uring_setup."),
+    },
+    {NULL},
+};
+
+static PyGetSetDef uringcore_liburing_ring_getset[] = {
+    {
+        "closed",
+        (getter)uringcore_liburing_ring_get_closed,
+        NULL,
+        PyDoc_STR("Whether the liburing ring resources have been released."),
+        NULL,
+    },
+    {NULL},
+};
+
+PyDoc_STRVAR(
+    uringcore_liburing_ring_doc,
+    "Ring(entries=256)\n"
+    "--\n"
+    "\n"
+    "Own an io_uring lifecycle through statically linked liburing.");
+
+static PyTypeObject UringCoreLiburingRingType = {
+    PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
+    .tp_name = "uringloop._uringcore_liburing.Ring",
+    .tp_basicsize = sizeof(UringCoreLiburingRing),
+    .tp_dealloc = (destructor)uringcore_liburing_ring_dealloc,
+    .tp_flags = Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT,
+    .tp_doc = uringcore_liburing_ring_doc,
+    .tp_methods = uringcore_liburing_ring_methods,
+    .tp_members = uringcore_liburing_ring_members,
+    .tp_getset = uringcore_liburing_ring_getset,
+    .tp_init = (initproc)uringcore_liburing_ring_init,
+    .tp_new = uringcore_liburing_ring_new,
+};
+
+static PyModuleDef uringcore_liburing_module = {
+    PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
+    .m_name = "_uringcore_liburing",
+    .m_doc = "Statically linked liburing ring primitives.",
+    .m_size = -1,
+};
+
+PyMODINIT_FUNC
+PyInit__uringcore_liburing(void)
+{
+    PyObject *module;
+
+    if (PyType_Ready(&UringCoreLiburingRingType) < 0) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    module = PyModule_Create(&uringcore_liburing_module);
+    if (module == NULL) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    if (PyModule_AddObjectRef(
+            module,
+            "Ring",
+            (PyObject *)&UringCoreLiburingRingType) < 0) {
+        Py_DECREF(module);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    if (PyModule_AddIntConstant(module, "ABI_VERSION", 1) < 0) {
+        Py_DECREF(module);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    return module;
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_uringcore_liburing.py b/tests/unit/test_uringcore_liburing.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22b7f9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_uringcore_liburing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import pytest
+
+from uringloop import _uringcore_liburing
+
+
+def test_static_liburing_core_has_versioned_abi():
+    assert _uringcore_liburing.ABI_VERSION == 1
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("entries", [-(2**32), -1, 0, 2**32, 2**64])
+def test_static_liburing_ring_rejects_out_of_range_queue_size(entries):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="entries must be between"):
+        _uringcore_liburing.Ring(entries)
+
+
+def test_static_liburing_ring_owns_and_releases_kernel_resources():
+    ring = _uringcore_liburing.Ring(8)
+
+    assert ring.sq_entries >= 8
+    assert ring.cq_entries >= ring.sq_entries
+    assert ring.closed is False
+
+    ring.close()
+    assert ring.closed is True
+
+    ring.close()
+    assert ring.closed is True
+
+
+def test_static_liburing_ring_context_manager_closes_resources():
+    with _uringcore_liburing.Ring(entries=8) as ring:
+        assert ring.closed is False
+
+    assert ring.closed is True
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="ring is closed"):
+        ring.__enter__()
diff --git a/uringloop/_uringcore_liburing.pyi b/uringloop/_uringcore_liburing.pyi
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..959461d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/uringloop/_uringcore_liburing.pyi
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from typing import Final, Literal, Self
+
+ABI_VERSION: Final[int]
+
+class Ring:
+    def __init__(self, entries: int = 256) -> None: ...
+    @property
+    def sq_entries(self) -> int: ...
+    @property
+    def cq_entries(self) -> int: ...
+    @property
+    def features(self) -> int: ...
+    @property
+    def closed(self) -> bool: ...
+    def close(self) -> None: ...
+    def __enter__(self) -> Self: ...
+    def __exit__(
+        self,
+        exc_type: type[BaseException] | None,
+        exc_value: BaseException | None,
+        traceback: object | None,
+    ) -> Literal[False]: ...