diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9f92d9ed..c1e8905f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1959,6 +1959,7 @@ name = "tree-sitter-generate"
 version = "0.26.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
+ "bitflags 2.9.4",
  "dunce",
  "indexmap",
  "indoc",
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/main.rs b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
index 74f33268..6f64c801 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ use tree_sitter_cli::{
     wasm,
 };
 use tree_sitter_config::Config;
+use tree_sitter_generate::OptLevel;
 use tree_sitter_highlight::Highlighter;
 use tree_sitter_loader::{self as loader, Bindings, TreeSitterJSON};
 use tree_sitter_tags::TagsContext;
@@ -162,6 +163,11 @@ struct Generate {
     /// The name or path of the JavaScript runtime to use for generating parsers, specify `native`
     /// to use the native `QuickJS` runtime
     pub js_runtime: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Disable optimizations when generating the parser. Currently, this only affects
+    /// the merging of compatible parse states.
+    #[arg(long)]
+    pub disable_optimizations: bool,
 }
 
 #[derive(Args)]
@@ -868,6 +874,11 @@ impl Generate {
             self.report_states_for_rule.as_deref(),
             self.js_runtime.as_deref(),
             self.emit != GenerationEmit::Json,
+            if self.disable_optimizations {
+                OptLevel::empty()
+            } else {
+                OptLevel::default()
+            },
         ) {
             if self.json {
                 eprintln!("{}", serde_json::to_string_pretty(&err)?);
diff --git a/crates/generate/Cargo.toml b/crates/generate/Cargo.toml
index 61b1686a..1588763d 100644
--- a/crates/generate/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/generate/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ qjs-rt = ["load", "rquickjs", "pathdiff"]
 
 [dependencies]
 anyhow.workspace = true
+bitflags = "2.9.4"
 dunce = "1.0.5"
 indexmap.workspace = true
 indoc.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/generate/src/build_tables.rs b/crates/generate/src/build_tables.rs
index f455664b..8c6ef2a4 100644
--- a/crates/generate/src/build_tables.rs
+++ b/crates/generate/src/build_tables.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ use crate::{
     node_types::VariableInfo,
     rules::{AliasMap, Symbol, SymbolType, TokenSet},
     tables::{LexTable, ParseAction, ParseTable, ParseTableEntry},
+    OptLevel,
 };
 
 pub struct Tables {
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ pub fn build_tables(
     variable_info: &[VariableInfo],
     inlines: &InlinedProductionMap,
     report_symbol_name: Option<&str>,
+    optimizations: OptLevel,
 ) -> BuildTableResult<Tables> {
     let item_set_builder = ParseItemSetBuilder::new(syntax_grammar, lexical_grammar, inlines);
     let following_tokens =
@@ -78,6 +80,7 @@ pub fn build_tables(
         simple_aliases,
         &token_conflict_map,
         &keywords,
+        optimizations,
     );
     let lex_tables = build_lex_table(
         &mut parse_table,
diff --git a/crates/generate/src/build_tables/minimize_parse_table.rs b/crates/generate/src/build_tables/minimize_parse_table.rs
index 9655cb88..1d70625e 100644
--- a/crates/generate/src/build_tables/minimize_parse_table.rs
+++ b/crates/generate/src/build_tables/minimize_parse_table.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ use crate::{
     grammars::{LexicalGrammar, SyntaxGrammar, VariableType},
     rules::{AliasMap, Symbol, TokenSet},
     tables::{GotoAction, ParseAction, ParseState, ParseStateId, ParseTable, ParseTableEntry},
+    OptLevel,
 };
 
 pub fn minimize_parse_table(
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ pub fn minimize_parse_table(
     simple_aliases: &AliasMap,
     token_conflict_map: &TokenConflictMap,
     keywords: &TokenSet,
+    optimizations: OptLevel,
 ) {
     let mut minimizer = Minimizer {
         parse_table,
@@ -29,7 +31,9 @@ pub fn minimize_parse_table(
         keywords,
         simple_aliases,
     };
-    minimizer.merge_compatible_states();
+    if optimizations.contains(OptLevel::MergeStates) {
+        minimizer.merge_compatible_states();
+    }
     minimizer.remove_unit_reductions();
     minimizer.remove_unused_states();
     minimizer.reorder_states_by_descending_size();
diff --git a/crates/generate/src/generate.rs b/crates/generate/src/generate.rs
index cf6d1009..09e6e389 100644
--- a/crates/generate/src/generate.rs
+++ b/crates/generate/src/generate.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ use std::{
 };
 
 use anyhow::Result;
+use bitflags::bitflags;
 use log::warn;
 use node_types::VariableInfo;
 use regex::{Regex, RegexBuilder};
@@ -191,6 +192,19 @@ impl From<rquickjs::Error> for JSError {
     }
 }
 
+bitflags! {
+    #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
+    pub struct OptLevel: u32 {
+        const MergeStates = 1 << 0;
+    }
+}
+
+impl Default for OptLevel {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self::MergeStates
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(feature = "load")]
 #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
 pub fn generate_parser_in_directory<T, U, V>(
@@ -201,6 +215,7 @@ pub fn generate_parser_in_directory<T, U, V>(
     report_symbol_name: Option<&str>,
     js_runtime: Option<&str>,
     generate_parser: bool,
+    optimizations: OptLevel,
 ) -> GenerateResult<()>
 where
     T: Into<PathBuf>,
@@ -278,6 +293,7 @@ where
         abi_version,
         semantic_version.map(|v| (v.major as u8, v.minor as u8, v.patch as u8)),
         report_symbol_name,
+        optimizations,
     )?;
 
     write_file(&src_path.join("parser.c"), c_code)?;
@@ -301,6 +317,7 @@ pub fn generate_parser_for_grammar(
         LANGUAGE_VERSION,
         semantic_version,
         None,
+        OptLevel::empty(),
     )?;
     Ok((input_grammar.name, parser.c_code))
 }
@@ -334,6 +351,7 @@ fn generate_parser_for_grammar_with_opts(
     abi_version: usize,
     semantic_version: Option<(u8, u8, u8)>,
     report_symbol_name: Option<&str>,
+    optimizations: OptLevel,
 ) -> GenerateResult<GeneratedParser> {
     let JSONOutput {
         syntax_grammar,
@@ -353,6 +371,7 @@ fn generate_parser_for_grammar_with_opts(
         &variable_info,
         &inlines,
         report_symbol_name,
+        optimizations,
     )?;
     let c_code = render_c_code(
         &input_grammar.name,