diff --git a/lib/rage/configuration.rb b/lib/rage/configuration.rb
index a10eb126..e39b03eb 100644
--- a/lib/rage/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/rage/configuration.rb
@@ -230,6 +230,37 @@ def run_after_initialize!
     __finalize
   end
 
+  # Register a custom renderer that generates a <tt>render_<name></tt> method on all controllers.
+  # The block receives the object passed to <tt>render_<name></tt> and any additional keyword arguments.
+  # The return value of the block is used as the response body.
+  #
+  # @param name [Symbol, String] the name of the renderer
+  # @param block [Proc] the rendering logic
+  #
+  # @example Register a CSV renderer
+  #   Rage.configure do
+  #     config.renderer(:csv) do |object, delimiter: ","|
+  #       headers["content-type"] = "text/csv"
+  #       object.join(delimiter)
+  #     end
+  #   end
+  #
+  # @example Use in a controller
+  #   class ReportsController < RageController::API
+  #     def index
+  #       render_csv %w[a b c], delimiter: ";", status: :ok
+  #     end
+  #   end
+  def renderer(name, &block)
+    @renderers ||= {}
+    raise ArgumentError, "renderer requires a block" unless block_given?
+    name = name.to_sym
+    if @renderers.key?(name)
+      raise ArgumentError, "a renderer named :#{name} is already registered"
+    end
+    @renderers[name] = RendererEntry.new(block)
+  end
+
   class LogContext
     # @private
     def initialize
@@ -999,7 +1030,32 @@ def __finalize
     end
 
     Rage::Telemetry.__setup(@telemetry.handlers_map) if @telemetry
+
+    __define_custom_renderers if @renderers
+  end
+
+  # @private
+  class RendererEntry
+    attr_reader :block
+
+    def initialize(block)
+      @block = block
+      @applied = false
+    end
+
+    def applied? = @applied
+    def applied! = (@applied = true)
+  end
+  private_constant :RendererEntry
+
+  def __define_custom_renderers
+    @renderers.each do |name, entry|
+      next if entry.applied?
+      RageController::API.__register_renderer(name, entry.block)
+      entry.applied!
+    end
   end
+  private :__define_custom_renderers
 end
 
 # @!parse [ruby]
diff --git a/lib/rage/controller/api.rb b/lib/rage/controller/api.rb
index c357ae1b..492e3fc9 100644
--- a/lib/rage/controller/api.rb
+++ b/lib/rage/controller/api.rb
@@ -211,6 +211,30 @@ def __rage_dynamic_#{name}(condition)
       RUBY
     end
 
+    # @private
+    def __register_renderer(name, block)
+      method_name = :"render_#{name}"
+
+      if method_defined?(method_name)
+        loc = instance_method(method_name).source_location
+        loc_str = loc ? "#{loc[0]}:#{loc[1]}" : "unknown location"
+
+        raise ArgumentError,
+          "cannot register renderer :#{name} — `#{method_name}` is already defined at #{loc_str}"
+      end
+
+      dynamic_method_name = Rage::Internal.define_dynamic_method(self, block)
+
+      class_eval <<~RUBY
+        def render_#{name}(*args, status: nil, **kwargs)
+          raise "Render was called multiple times in this action." if @__rendered
+          result = #{dynamic_method_name}(*args, **kwargs)
+          return if @__rendered
+          render plain: result.to_s, status: (status || 200)
+        end
+      RUBY
+    end
+
     ############
     #
     # PUBLIC API
@@ -445,11 +469,14 @@ def prepare_action_params(action_name = nil, **opts, &block)
     end
   end # class << self
 
+  DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE = "application/json; charset=utf-8"
+  private_constant :DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE
+
   # @private
   def initialize(env, params)
     @__env = env
     @__params = params
-    @__status, @__headers, @__body = 204, { "content-type" => "application/json; charset=utf-8" }, []
+    @__status, @__headers, @__body = 204, { "content-type" => DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE }, []
     @__rendered = false
   end
 
@@ -508,7 +535,8 @@ def render(json: nil, plain: nil, sse: nil, status: nil)
       @__body << if json
         json.is_a?(String) ? json : json.to_json
       else
-        @__headers["content-type"] = "text/plain; charset=utf-8"
+        ct = @__headers["content-type"]
+        @__headers["content-type"] = "text/plain; charset=utf-8" if ct.nil? || ct == DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE
         plain.to_s
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/configuration/custom_renderer_spec.rb b/spec/configuration/custom_renderer_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..50f92a43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/configuration/custom_renderer_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "securerandom"
+
+module ConfigurationCustomRendererSpec
+  class BaseController < RageController::API
+  end
+end
+
+RSpec.describe Rage::Configuration do
+  describe "#renderer / custom renderers" do
+    let(:config) { described_class.new }
+
+    def build_controller(&block)
+      klass = Class.new(ConfigurationCustomRendererSpec::BaseController)
+      klass.class_eval(&block) if block
+      klass
+    end
+
+    def unique_renderer_name(base)
+      :"#{base}_#{SecureRandom.hex(4)}"
+    end
+
+    it "registers a renderer and defines render_<name> on RageController::API after finalize" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:csv)
+
+      config.renderer(name) do |object, delimiter: ","|
+        headers["content-type"] = "text/csv"
+        object.join(delimiter)
+      end
+
+      config.__finalize
+
+      controller = build_controller do
+        define_method(:index) do
+          public_send(:"render_#{name}", %w[a b c], delimiter: ";")
+        end
+      end
+
+      expect(run_action(controller, :index)).to eq(
+        [200, { "content-type" => "text/csv" }, ["a;b;c"]]
+      )
+    end
+
+    it "supports status: on generated render_<name> method" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:csv)
+
+      config.renderer(name) do |object|
+        headers["content-type"] = "text/csv"
+        object.join(",")
+      end
+
+      config.__finalize
+
+      controller = build_controller do
+        define_method(:index) do
+          public_send(:"render_#{name}", %w[a b], status: :created)
+        end
+      end
+
+      expect(run_action(controller, :index)).to eq(
+        [201, { "content-type" => "text/csv" }, ["a,b"]]
+      )
+    end
+
+    it "raises when renderer is registered without a block" do
+      expect { config.renderer(:csv) }.to raise_error(ArgumentError)
+    end
+
+    it "raises on duplicate renderer names" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:csv)
+      config.renderer(name) { "x" }
+
+      expect {
+        config.renderer(name) { "y" }
+      }.to raise_error(ArgumentError)
+    end
+
+    it "raises when generated method conflicts with existing API method" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:conflict)
+      method_name = :"render_#{name}"
+
+      # create a real method so the conflict is real
+      RageController::API.define_method(method_name) {}
+
+      config.renderer(name) { "x" }
+
+      expect {
+        config.__finalize
+      }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, /#{Regexp.escape(method_name.to_s)}/)
+    ensure
+      RageController::API.send(:remove_method, method_name) if RageController::API.method_defined?(method_name)
+    end
+
+    it "executes renderer in controller context (can access headers/request/params)" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:ctx)
+      config.renderer(name) do |_|
+        headers["content-type"] = "text/plain; charset=utf-8"
+        "id=#{params[:id]}"
+      end
+
+      config.__finalize
+
+      controller = build_controller do
+        define_method(:index) do
+          public_send(:"render_#{name}", nil)
+        end
+      end
+
+      expect(run_action(controller, :index, params: { id: 42 })).to eq(
+        [200, { "content-type" => "text/plain; charset=utf-8" }, ["id=42"]]
+      )
+    end
+
+    it "converts nil return value to empty string body" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:empty)
+      config.renderer(name) do |_|
+        headers["content-type"] = "text/plain; charset=utf-8"
+        nil
+      end
+
+      config.__finalize
+
+      controller = build_controller do
+        define_method(:index) do
+          public_send(:"render_#{name}", nil)
+        end
+      end
+
+      expect(run_action(controller, :index)).to eq(
+        [200, { "content-type" => "text/plain; charset=utf-8" }, [""]]
+      )
+    end
+
+    it "does not double-render when renderer block calls render internally" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:sse_like)
+
+      config.renderer(name) do |_|
+        render plain: "from-inner-render", status: :accepted
+      end
+
+      config.__finalize
+
+      controller = build_controller do
+        define_method(:index) do
+          public_send(:"render_#{name}", nil)
+        end
+      end
+
+      status, _headers, body = run_action(controller, :index)
+      expect(status).to eq(202)
+      expect(body).to eq(["from-inner-render"])
+    end
+
+    it "raises if custom renderer is called after already rendering in action" do
+      name = unique_renderer_name(:csv)
+      config.renderer(name) { |_obj| "x" }
+      config.__finalize
+
+      controller = build_controller do
+        define_method(:index) do
+          render plain: "first"
+          public_send(:"render_#{name}", %w[a b])
+        end
+      end
+
+      expect { run_action(controller, :index) }.to raise_error(/Render was called multiple times in this action/)
+    end
+  end
+end