diff --git a/packages/reacord/helpers/container.ts b/packages/reacord/helpers/container.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 75ce2c9..0000000
--- a/packages/reacord/helpers/container.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-export class Container<T> {
-  private items: T[] = []
-
-  getItems(): readonly T[] {
-    return this.items
-  }
-
-  add(item: T) {
-    this.items.push(item)
-  }
-
-  remove(item: T) {
-    const index = this.items.indexOf(item)
-    if (index === -1) return
-    this.items.splice(index, 1)
-  }
-
-  clear() {
-    this.items = []
-  }
-
-  insertBefore(item: T, beforeItem: T) {
-    const index = this.items.indexOf(beforeItem)
-    if (index === -1) return
-    this.items.splice(index, 0, item)
-  }
-}
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/button.tsx b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/button.tsx
index 445735a..27b5434 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/button.tsx
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/button.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto"
-import React, { useState } from "react"
+import React from "react"
 import type { Except } from "type-fest"
 import type { ButtonSharedProps } from "./button-shared-props"
 import type { ComponentEvent } from "./component-event"
-import type { NodeBase } from "./node"
-import { makeNode } from "./node"
+import { Node } from "./node"
 import { ReacordElement } from "./reacord-element"
 
 /**
@@ -28,16 +27,18 @@ export type ButtonProps = ButtonSharedProps & {
  */
 export type ButtonClickEvent = ComponentEvent
 
-export type ButtonNode = NodeBase<
-  "button",
-  Except<ButtonProps, "label"> & { customId: string }
->
-
 export function Button({ label, ...props }: ButtonProps) {
-  const [customId] = useState(() => randomUUID())
   return (
-    <ReacordElement node={makeNode("button", { ...props, customId })}>
+    <ReacordElement
+      name="button"
+      createNode={() => new ButtonNode(props)}
+      nodeProps={props}
+    >
       {label}
     </ReacordElement>
   )
 }
+
+export class ButtonNode extends Node<Except<ButtonProps, "label">> {
+  readonly customId = randomUUID()
+}
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/make-message-payload.ts b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/make-message-payload.ts
index 5b7a7e8..ec57ea5 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/make-message-payload.ts
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/make-message-payload.ts
@@ -5,21 +5,21 @@ import type {
 } from "discord-api-types/v10"
 import { ButtonStyle, ComponentType } from "discord-api-types/v10"
 import type { ButtonProps } from "./button"
+import { ButtonNode } from "./button"
 import type { Node } from "./node"
+import { TextNode } from "./text-node"
 
-export type MessagePayload = RESTPostAPIChannelMessageJSONBody
+export type MessageUpdatePayload = RESTPostAPIChannelMessageJSONBody
 
-export function makeMessagePayload(tree: readonly Node[]) {
-  const payload: MessagePayload = {}
+export function makeMessageUpdatePayload(root: Node) {
+  const payload: MessageUpdatePayload = {}
 
-  const content = tree
-    .map((item) => (item.type === "text" ? item.props.text : ""))
-    .join("")
+  const content = extractText(root, 1)
   if (content) {
     payload.content = content
   }
 
-  const actionRows = makeActionRows(tree)
+  const actionRows = makeActionRows(root)
   if (actionRows.length > 0) {
     payload.components = actionRows
   }
@@ -27,11 +27,11 @@ export function makeMessagePayload(tree: readonly Node[]) {
   return payload
 }
 
-function makeActionRows(tree: readonly Node[]) {
+function makeActionRows(root: Node) {
   const actionRows: Array<APIActionRowComponent<APIButtonComponent>> = []
 
-  for (const node of tree) {
-    if (node.type === "button") {
+  for (const node of root.children) {
+    if (node instanceof ButtonNode) {
       let currentRow = actionRows[actionRows.length - 1]
       if (!currentRow || currentRow.components.length === 5) {
         currentRow = {
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ function makeActionRows(tree: readonly Node[]) {
 
       currentRow.components.push({
         type: ComponentType.Button,
-        custom_id: node.props.customId,
-        label: extractText(node.children.getItems()),
+        custom_id: node.customId,
+        label: extractText(node, Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY),
         emoji: { name: node.props.emoji },
         style: translateButtonStyle(node.props.style ?? "secondary"),
         disabled: node.props.disabled,
@@ -55,14 +55,10 @@ function makeActionRows(tree: readonly Node[]) {
   return actionRows
 }
 
-function extractText(tree: readonly Node[]): string {
-  return tree
-    .map((item) => {
-      return item.type === "text"
-        ? item.props.text
-        : extractText(item.children.getItems())
-    })
-    .join("")
+function extractText(node: Node, depth: number): string {
+  if (node instanceof TextNode) return node.props.text
+  if (depth <= 0) return ""
+  return node.children.map((child) => extractText(child, depth - 1)).join("")
 }
 
 function translateButtonStyle(style: NonNullable<ButtonProps["style"]>) {
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/node.ts b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/node.ts
index 5d73e45..985abc1 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/node.ts
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/node.ts
@@ -1,37 +1,33 @@
-import type { ButtonNode } from "./button"
-import { Container } from "../../helpers/container"
+export class Node<Props = unknown> {
+  private readonly _children: Node[] = []
 
-export type NodeBase<Type extends string, Props> = {
-  type: Type
-  props: Props
-  children: Container<Node>
-}
+  constructor(public props: Props) {}
 
-export type Node = TextNode | ButtonNode | ActionRowNode
+  get children(): readonly Node[] {
+    return this._children
+  }
 
-export type TextNode = NodeBase<"text", { text: string }>
+  clear() {
+    this._children.splice(0)
+  }
 
-export type ActionRowNode = NodeBase<"actionRow", {}>
+  add(...nodes: Node[]) {
+    this._children.push(...nodes)
+  }
 
-export const makeNode = <Type extends Node["type"]>(
-  type: Type,
-  props: Extract<Node, { type: Type }>["props"],
-) =>
-  ({ type, props, children: new Container() } as Extract<Node, { type: Type }>)
+  remove(node: Node) {
+    const index = this._children.indexOf(node)
+    if (index !== -1) this._children.splice(index, 1)
+  }
 
-/** A wrapper for ensuring we're actually working with a real node
- * inside the React reconciler
- */
-export class NodeRef {
-  constructor(public readonly node: Node) {}
+  insertBefore(node: Node, beforeNode: Node) {
+    const index = this._children.indexOf(beforeNode)
+    if (index !== -1) this._children.splice(index, 0, node)
+  }
 
-  static unwrap(maybeNodeRef: unknown): Node {
-    if (maybeNodeRef instanceof NodeRef) {
-      return maybeNodeRef.node
-    }
-    const received = maybeNodeRef as Object | null | undefined
-    throw new TypeError(
-      `Expected ${NodeRef.name}, received instance of "${received?.constructor.name}"`,
-    )
+  clone(): this {
+    const cloned: this = new (this.constructor as any)(this.props)
+    cloned.add(...this.children.map((child) => child.clone()))
+    return cloned
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-element.ts b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-element.ts
index 00b1473..dd1ac2a 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-element.ts
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-element.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,43 @@
 import type { ReactNode } from "react"
-import React from "react"
+import { createElement } from "react"
+import { inspect } from "node:util"
 import type { Node } from "./node"
-import { NodeRef } from "./node"
 
-export function ReacordElement({
-  node,
+export function ReacordElement<NodeProps = unknown>({
+  name,
+  createNode,
+  nodeProps,
   children,
 }: {
-  node: Node
+  // A name representing what type of element this is,
+  // so that react will know if/when it needs to recreate the node,
+  // or just assign the props if the element name is the same on re-render
+  name: string
+  createNode: () => Node<NodeProps>
+  nodeProps: NodeProps
   children?: ReactNode
 }) {
-  return React.createElement(
-    "reacord-element",
-    { node: new NodeRef(node) },
+  return createElement<ReacordHostElementProps>(
+    `reacord-${name}`,
+    { config: new ReacordElementConfig(createNode, nodeProps) },
     children,
   )
 }
+
+export type ReacordHostElementProps = {
+  config: ReacordElementConfig<unknown>
+}
+
+// Any kind of element can go through the React reconciler.
+// This class serves as a typesafe wrapper for creating a node
+// and assigning props to an existing node.
+// We can use `instanceof` to know for sure that the element is a Reacord element
+export class ReacordElementConfig<Props> {
+  constructor(readonly create: () => Node<Props>, readonly props: Props) {}
+
+  static parse(value: unknown): ReacordElementConfig<unknown> {
+    if (value instanceof ReacordElementConfig) return value
+    const debugValue = inspect(value, { depth: 1 })
+    throw new Error(`Expected ${ReacordElementConfig.name}, got ${debugValue}`)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-instance-pool.ts b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-instance-pool.ts
index ca2009b..f4d3d78 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-instance-pool.ts
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reacord-instance-pool.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 import type { ReactNode } from "react"
-import { Container } from "../../helpers/container"
-import type { MessagePayload } from "./make-message-payload"
-import { makeMessagePayload } from "./make-message-payload"
-import type { Node } from "./node"
+import { Node } from "./node"
 import { reconciler } from "./reconciler"
 
 export type ReacordOptions = {
@@ -33,7 +30,7 @@ export type ReacordInstanceOptions = {
 }
 
 export type ReacordMessageRenderer = {
-  update: (payload: MessagePayload) => Promise<void>
+  update: (tree: Node) => Promise<void>
   deactivate: () => Promise<void>
   destroy: () => Promise<void>
 }
@@ -47,18 +44,18 @@ export class ReacordInstancePool {
   }
 
   create({ initialContent, renderer }: ReacordInstanceOptions) {
-    const nodes = new Container<Node>()
+    const root = new Node({})
 
-    const render = async () => {
+    const render = async (tree: Node) => {
       try {
-        await renderer.update(makeMessagePayload(nodes.getItems()))
+        await renderer.update(tree)
       } catch (error) {
         console.error("Failed to update message.", error)
       }
     }
 
     const container = reconciler.createContainer(
-      { nodes, render },
+      { root, render },
       0,
       // eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/no-null
       null,
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reconciler.ts b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reconciler.ts
index 7bb8bd9..86dc2b8 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reconciler.ts
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/reconciler.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,31 @@
+/* eslint-disable unicorn/prefer-modern-dom-apis */
 import ReactReconciler from "react-reconciler"
 import { DefaultEventPriority } from "react-reconciler/constants"
-import type { Container } from "../../helpers/container"
-import type { Node, TextNode } from "./node"
-import { makeNode, NodeRef } from "./node"
+import type { Node } from "./node"
+import type { ReacordHostElementProps } from "./reacord-element"
+import { ReacordElementConfig } from "./reacord-element"
+import { TextNode } from "./text-node"
+
+// technically elements of any shape can go through the reconciler,
+// so I'm typing this as unknown to ensure we validate the props
+// before using them
+type ReconcilerProps = {
+  [_ in keyof ReacordHostElementProps]?: unknown
+}
+
+type ReconcilerContainer = {
+  root: Node
+
+  // We need to pass in a render callback, so the reconciler can tell us
+  // when it's done modifying elements, after which we'll update
+  // the message in Discord
+  render: (root: Node) => void
+}
 
 export const reconciler = ReactReconciler<
   string, // Type
-  { node?: unknown }, // Props
-  { nodes: Container<Node>; render: () => void }, // Container
+  ReconcilerProps, // Props
+  ReconcilerContainer, // Container
   Node, // Instance
   TextNode, // TextInstance
   never, // SuspenseInstance
@@ -28,43 +46,43 @@ export const reconciler = ReactReconciler<
   noTimeout: -1,
 
   createInstance(type, props) {
-    return NodeRef.unwrap(props.node)
+    return ReacordElementConfig.parse(props.config).create()
   },
 
   createTextInstance(text) {
-    return makeNode("text", { text })
+    return new TextNode({ text })
   },
 
   appendInitialChild(parent, child) {
-    parent.children?.add(child)
+    parent.add(child)
   },
 
   appendChild(parent, child) {
-    parent.children?.add(child)
+    parent.add(child)
   },
 
   appendChildToContainer(container, child) {
-    container.nodes.add(child)
+    container.root.add(child)
   },
 
   insertBefore(parent, child, beforeChild) {
-    parent.children?.insertBefore(child, beforeChild)
+    parent.insertBefore(child, beforeChild)
   },
 
   insertInContainerBefore(container, child, beforeChild) {
-    container.nodes.insertBefore(child, beforeChild)
+    container.root.insertBefore(child, beforeChild)
   },
 
   removeChild(parent, child) {
-    parent.children?.remove(child)
+    parent.remove(child)
   },
 
   removeChildFromContainer(container, child) {
-    container.nodes.remove(child)
+    container.root.remove(child)
   },
 
   clearContainer(container) {
-    container.nodes.clear()
+    container.root.clear()
   },
 
   commitTextUpdate(node, oldText, newText) {
@@ -72,7 +90,7 @@ export const reconciler = ReactReconciler<
   },
 
   commitUpdate(node, updatePayload, type, prevProps, nextProps) {
-    node.props = NodeRef.unwrap(nextProps.node).props
+    node.props = ReacordElementConfig.parse(nextProps.config).props
   },
 
   prepareForCommit() {
@@ -81,7 +99,7 @@ export const reconciler = ReactReconciler<
   },
 
   resetAfterCommit(container) {
-    container.render()
+    container.render(container.root.clone())
   },
 
   finalizeInitialChildren() {
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/core/text-node.ts b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/text-node.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..165a626
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/core/text-node.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+import { Node } from "./node"
+
+export class TextNode extends Node<{ text: string }> {}
diff --git a/packages/reacord/library.new/djs/channel-message-renderer.ts b/packages/reacord/library.new/djs/channel-message-renderer.ts
index 73fc20f..26a6ab7 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/library.new/djs/channel-message-renderer.ts
+++ b/packages/reacord/library.new/djs/channel-message-renderer.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import type { Client, Message, TextBasedChannel } from "discord.js"
 import { AsyncQueue } from "../../helpers/async-queue"
-import type { MessagePayload as MessagePayloadType } from "../core/make-message-payload"
+import { makeMessageUpdatePayload } from "../core/make-message-payload"
+import type { Node } from "../core/node"
 import type { ReacordMessageRenderer } from "../core/reacord-instance-pool"
 
 export class ChannelMessageRenderer implements ReacordMessageRenderer {
@@ -14,8 +15,10 @@ export class ChannelMessageRenderer implements ReacordMessageRenderer {
     private readonly channelId: string,
   ) {}
 
-  update({ content, embeds, components }: MessagePayloadType) {
+  update(root: Node) {
     return this.queue.add(async () => {
+      const { content, embeds, components } = makeMessageUpdatePayload(root)
+
       if (!this.active) {
         return
       }
diff --git a/packages/reacord/scripts/discordjs-manual-test.tsx b/packages/reacord/scripts/discordjs-manual-test.tsx
index 4e922b2..7b1c822 100644
--- a/packages/reacord/scripts/discordjs-manual-test.tsx
+++ b/packages/reacord/scripts/discordjs-manual-test.tsx
@@ -46,13 +46,16 @@ await createTest(
   "should show button text, emojis, and make automatic action rows",
   async (channel) => {
     const fruitEmojis = ["🍎", "🍊", "🍌", "🍉", "🍇", "🍓", "🍒", "🍍"]
+
+    const FruitLabel = (props: { index: number }) => <>{props.index + 1}</>
+
     reacord.send(
       channel.id,
       <>
         {Array.from({ length: 7 }, (_, i) => (
           <Button
             key={i}
-            label={String(i + 1)}
+            label={<FruitLabel index={i} />}
             emoji={fruitEmojis[i % 6]}
             onClick={() => {}}
           />