diff --git a/src/components/Box.tsx b/src/components/Box.tsx
index c22a2a107..90e809c46 100644
--- a/src/components/Box.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Box.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import React, {forwardRef, PropsWithChildren} from 'react';
 import {Except} from 'type-fest';
 import {Styles} from '../styles';
-import {DOMElement} from '../dom';
+import {DirectRenderFunc, DOMElement} from '../dom';
 
 export type Props = Except<Styles, 'textWrap'> & {
 	/**
@@ -46,13 +46,18 @@ export type Props = Except<Styles, 'textWrap'> & {
 	 * @default 0
 	 */
 	readonly paddingY?: number;
+
+	/**
+	 * Specify a custom render function that will be called by the renderer before border and children are rendered.
+	 */
+	readonly unsafeDirectRender?: DirectRenderFunc;
 };
 
 /**
  * `<Box>` is an essential Ink component to build your layout. It's like `<div style="display: flex">` in the browser.
  */
 const Box = forwardRef<DOMElement, PropsWithChildren<Props>>(
-	({children, ...style}, ref) => {
+	({children, unsafeDirectRender, ...style}, ref) => {
 		const transformedStyle = {
 			...style,
 			marginLeft: style.marginLeft || style.marginX || style.margin || 0,
@@ -66,7 +71,11 @@ const Box = forwardRef<DOMElement, PropsWithChildren<Props>>(
 		};
 
 		return (
-			<ink-box ref={ref} style={transformedStyle}>
+			<ink-box
+				ref={ref}
+				style={transformedStyle}
+				unsafeDirectRender={unsafeDirectRender}
+			>
 				{children}
 			</ink-box>
 		);
diff --git a/src/dom.ts b/src/dom.ts
index 3b3ae18b9..0cc2ff0b8 100644
--- a/src/dom.ts
+++ b/src/dom.ts
@@ -4,12 +4,21 @@ import applyStyles, {Styles} from './styles';
 import wrapText from './wrap-text';
 import squashTextNodes from './squash-text-nodes';
 import {OutputTransformer} from './render-node-to-output';
+import Output from './output';
+
+export type DirectRenderFunc = (
+	x: number,
+	y: number,
+	node: DOMNode,
+	output: Output
+) => void;
 
 interface InkNode {
 	parentNode: DOMElement | null;
 	yogaNode?: Yoga.YogaNode;
 	internal_static?: boolean;
 	style: Styles;
+	internal_pre_render?: DirectRenderFunc;
 }
 
 export const TEXT_NAME = '#text';
diff --git a/src/global.d.ts b/src/global.d.ts
index c161adc92..dbccc80f3 100644
--- a/src/global.d.ts
+++ b/src/global.d.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {ReactNode, Key, LegacyRef} from 'react';
 import {Except} from 'type-fest';
-import {DOMElement} from './dom';
+import {DirectRenderFunc, DOMElement} from './dom';
 import {Styles} from './styles';
 
 declare global {
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ declare namespace Ink {
 		key?: Key;
 		ref?: LegacyRef<DOMElement>;
 		style?: Except<Styles, 'textWrap'>;
+		unsafeDirectRender?: DirectRenderFunc;
 	}
 
 	interface Text {
diff --git a/src/reconciler.ts b/src/reconciler.ts
index bae2cb462..907bddf20 100644
--- a/src/reconciler.ts
+++ b/src/reconciler.ts
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ export default createReconciler<
 				node.internal_transform = value as OutputTransformer;
 			} else if (key === 'internal_static') {
 				node.internal_static = true;
+			} else if (key === 'unsafeDirectRender') {
+				node.internal_pre_render = value as any;
 			} else {
 				setAttribute(node, key, value as DOMNodeAttribute);
 			}
@@ -230,6 +232,8 @@ export default createReconciler<
 				node.internal_transform = value as OutputTransformer;
 			} else if (key === 'internal_static') {
 				node.internal_static = true;
+			} else if (key === 'unsafeDirectRender') {
+				node.internal_pre_render = value as any;
 			} else {
 				setAttribute(node, key, value as DOMNodeAttribute);
 			}
diff --git a/src/render-node-to-output.ts b/src/render-node-to-output.ts
index cb0e05fee..96a9c273f 100644
--- a/src/render-node-to-output.ts
+++ b/src/render-node-to-output.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,10 @@ const renderNodeToOutput = (
 		}
 
 		if (node.nodeName === 'ink-box') {
+			if (node.internal_pre_render) {
+				node.internal_pre_render(x, y, node, output);
+			}
+
 			renderBorder(x, y, node, output);
 		}
 
diff --git a/test/render.tsx b/test/render.tsx
index f15cab26a..6a600813b 100644
--- a/test/render.tsx
+++ b/test/render.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import boxen from 'boxen';
 import delay from 'delay';
 import {render, Box, Text} from '../src';
 import createStdout from './helpers/create-stdout';
+import {DirectRenderFunc} from '../src/dom';
 
 const term = (fixture: string, args: string[] = []) => {
 	let resolve: (value?: unknown) => void;
@@ -142,3 +143,24 @@ test('rerender on resize', async t => {
 	unmount();
 	t.is(stdout.listeners('resize').length, 0);
 });
+
+test('manual render', t => {
+	const stdout = createStdout(10);
+
+	const custRender: DirectRenderFunc = (x, y, node, output) => {
+		const width = node.yogaNode!.getComputedWidth();
+		output.write(x, y, '$'.repeat(width), {transformers: []});
+	};
+
+	const Test = () => (
+		<Box unsafeDirectRender={custRender}>
+			<Text>Test</Text>
+		</Box>
+	);
+
+	const {unmount} = render(<Test />, {stdout});
+
+	t.is(stripAnsi(stdout.write.firstCall.args[0]), 'Test$$$$$$\n');
+
+	unmount();
+});