diff --git a/lib/binding_rust/build.rs b/lib/binding_rust/build.rs
index c560149a..caf5fa8e 100644
--- a/lib/binding_rust/build.rs
+++ b/lib/binding_rust/build.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 extern crate cc;
 
-use std::{env, fs};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::{env, fs};
 
 fn main() {
     println!("cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=TREE_SITTER_STATIC_ANALYSIS");
@@ -21,13 +21,12 @@ fn main() {
 
     let mut config = cc::Build::new();
 
-    println!("cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=TREE_SITTER_TEST");
-    if env::var("TREE_SITTER_TEST").is_ok() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=DEBUG");
+    if env::var("DEBUG").map(|s| s == "true").unwrap_or(false) {
         config.define("TREE_SITTER_TEST", "");
     }
 
     let src_path = Path::new("src");
-
     for entry in fs::read_dir(&src_path).unwrap() {
         let entry = entry.unwrap();
         let path = src_path.join(entry.file_name());
@@ -40,7 +39,6 @@ fn main() {
         .include(src_path)
         .include("include")
         .file(src_path.join("lib.c"))
-        .file(Path::new("binding_rust").join("helper.c"))
         .compile("tree-sitter");
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/binding_rust/helper.c b/lib/binding_rust/helper.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 4275e445..00000000
--- a/lib/binding_rust/helper.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-#if defined(TREE_SITTER_TEST)
-
-void ts_record_free(void *);
-
-void rust_tree_sitter_free(void *p) {
-  ts_record_free(p);
-}
-
-#else
-
-void free(void *);
-
-void rust_tree_sitter_free(void *p) {
-  free(p);
-}
-
-#endif
diff --git a/lib/binding_rust/util.rs b/lib/binding_rust/util.rs
index e62e371f..3480c02d 100644
--- a/lib/binding_rust/util.rs
+++ b/lib/binding_rust/util.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,69 @@
 use std::os::raw::c_void;
 
 extern "C" {
-    #[link_name = "rust_tree_sitter_free"]
+    /// In *Release* builds, the C library links directly against `malloc` and `free`.
+    ///
+    /// When freeing memory that was allocated by C code, use `free` directly.
+    #[cfg(not(test))]
+    #[link_name = "free"]
     pub fn free_ptr(ptr: *mut c_void);
+
+    /// In *Test* builds, the C library is compiled with the `TREE_SITTER_TEST` macro,
+    /// so all calls to `malloc`, `free`, etc are linked against wrapper functions
+    /// called `ts_record_malloc`, `ts_record_free`, etc. These symbols are defined
+    /// in the `tree_sitter_cli::tests::helpers::allocations` module.
+    ///
+    /// When freeing memory that was allocated by C code, use the `free` function
+    /// from that module.
+    #[cfg(test)]
+    #[link_name = "ts_record_free"]
+    pub fn free_ptr(ptr: *mut c_void);
+
+    /// In *Debug* builds, the C library is compiled the same as in test builds: using
+    /// the wrapper functions. This prevents the C library from having to be recompiled
+    /// constantly when switching between running tests and compiling with RLS.
+    ///
+    /// But we don't want to actually record allocations when running the library in
+    /// debug mode, so we define symbols like `ts_record_malloc` to just delegate to
+    /// the normal `malloc` functions.
+    #[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+    fn malloc(size: usize) -> *mut c_void;
+    #[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+    fn calloc(count: usize, size: usize) -> *mut c_void;
+    #[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+    fn realloc(ptr: *mut c_void, size: usize) -> *mut c_void;
+    #[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+    fn free(ptr: *mut c_void);
+}
+
+#[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+#[no_mangle]
+unsafe extern "C" fn ts_record_malloc(size: usize) -> *const c_void {
+    malloc(size)
+}
+
+#[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+#[no_mangle]
+unsafe extern "C" fn ts_record_calloc(count: usize, size: usize) -> *const c_void {
+    calloc(count, size)
+}
+
+#[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+#[no_mangle]
+unsafe extern "C" fn ts_record_realloc(ptr: *mut c_void, size: usize) -> *const c_void {
+    realloc(ptr, size)
+}
+
+#[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+#[no_mangle]
+unsafe extern "C" fn ts_record_free(ptr: *mut c_void) {
+    free(ptr)
+}
+
+#[cfg(all(debug_assertions, not(test)))]
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn ts_toggle_allocation_recording(_: bool) -> bool {
+    false
 }
 
 pub struct CBufferIter<T> {
@@ -40,6 +101,8 @@ impl<T: Copy> ExactSizeIterator for CBufferIter<T> {}
 
 impl<T> Drop for CBufferIter<T> {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        unsafe { free_ptr(self.ptr as *mut c_void); }
+        unsafe {
+            free_ptr(self.ptr as *mut c_void);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/lib/src/subtree.c b/lib/src/subtree.c
index e95733eb..c6c11223 100644
--- a/lib/src/subtree.c
+++ b/lib/src/subtree.c
@@ -18,18 +18,9 @@ typedef struct {
   Length new_end;
 } Edit;
 
-#ifdef TREE_SITTER_TEST
-
-#define TS_MAX_INLINE_TREE_LENGTH 2
-#define TS_MAX_TREE_POOL_SIZE 0
-
-#else
-
 #define TS_MAX_INLINE_TREE_LENGTH UINT8_MAX
 #define TS_MAX_TREE_POOL_SIZE 32
 
-#endif
-
 static const ExternalScannerState empty_state = {.length = 0, .short_data = {0}};
 
 // ExternalScannerState