diff --git a/.changeset/nasty-lizards-sleep.md b/.changeset/nasty-lizards-sleep.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..39c30daf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/nasty-lizards-sleep.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@spotlightjs/overlay': minor
+---
+
+Add direct event ingestion through `Spotlight.sendEvent('<content-type>', <event>)` to allow sending events without the
+sidecar
diff --git a/packages/overlay/src/App.tsx b/packages/overlay/src/App.tsx
index 9334002c..f243a521 100644
--- a/packages/overlay/src/App.tsx
+++ b/packages/overlay/src/App.tsx
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export default function App({
       }
     }
 
-    const result: [contentType: string, listener: (event: MessageEvent) => void][] = [];
+    const result: Record<string, (event: MessageEvent) => void> = Object.create(null);
     for (const [contentType, integrations] of contentTypeToIntegrations.entries()) {
       const listener = (event: MessageEvent): void => {
         log(`Received new ${contentType} event`);
@@ -67,10 +67,10 @@ export default function App({
         }
       };
 
-      log('Adding listener for', contentType, 'sum', result.length);
+      log('Adding listener for', contentType);
 
       // `contentType` could for example be "application/x-sentry-envelope"
-      result.push([contentType, listener]);
+      result[contentType] = listener;
     }
     return result;
   }, [integrations]);
@@ -139,8 +139,11 @@ export default function App({
       navigate(e.detail);
     };
 
-    return { clearEvents, onOpen, onClose, onNavigate, onToggle };
-  }, [integrations, navigate, sidecarUrl]);
+    const onEvent = ({ detail }: CustomEvent<{ contentType: string; event: MessageEvent }>) =>
+      contentTypeListeners[detail.contentType]?.(detail.event);
+
+    return { clearEvents, onEvent, onOpen, onClose, onNavigate, onToggle };
+  }, [integrations, navigate, sidecarUrl, contentTypeListeners]);
 
   useKeyPress(['ctrlKey', 'F12'], eventHandlers.onToggle);
 
@@ -150,6 +153,7 @@ export default function App({
     spotlightEventTarget.addEventListener('close', eventHandlers.onClose);
     spotlightEventTarget.addEventListener('navigate', eventHandlers.onNavigate as EventListener);
     spotlightEventTarget.addEventListener('clearEvents', eventHandlers.clearEvents as EventListener);
+    spotlightEventTarget.addEventListener('event', eventHandlers.onEvent as EventListener);
 
     return (): undefined => {
       log('useEffect[destructor]: Removing event listeners');
@@ -157,6 +161,7 @@ export default function App({
       spotlightEventTarget.removeEventListener('close', eventHandlers.onClose);
       spotlightEventTarget.removeEventListener('navigate', eventHandlers.onNavigate as EventListener);
       spotlightEventTarget.removeEventListener('clearEvents', eventHandlers.clearEvents as EventListener);
+      spotlightEventTarget.removeEventListener('event', eventHandlers.onEvent as EventListener);
     };
   }, [spotlightEventTarget, eventHandlers]);
 
diff --git a/packages/overlay/src/index.tsx b/packages/overlay/src/index.tsx
index 5ad35a86..7a02d2b8 100644
--- a/packages/overlay/src/index.tsx
+++ b/packages/overlay/src/index.tsx
@@ -39,28 +39,35 @@ function createStyleSheet(styles: string) {
 /**
  * Open the Spotlight debugger Window
  */
-export async function openSpotlight(path?: string | undefined) {
+export function openSpotlight(path?: string | undefined) {
   trigger('open', { path });
 }
 
 /**
  * Close the Spotlight debugger Window
  */
-export async function closeSpotlight() {
+export function closeSpotlight() {
   trigger('close');
 }
 
 /**
  * Invokes the passed in callback when the Spotlight debugger Window is closed
  */
-export async function onClose(cb: EventListener) {
+export function onClose(cb: EventListener) {
   on('closed', cb);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Send an event to spotlight without the sidecar
+ */
+export function sendEvent(contentType: string, event: MessageEvent) {
+  trigger('event', { contentType, event });
+}
+
 /**
  * Invokes the passed in callback when the Spotlight debugger Window is opened
  */
-export async function onOpen(cb: EventListener) {
+export function onOpen(cb: EventListener) {
   on('opened', cb);
 }
 
@@ -69,10 +76,8 @@ export async function onOpen(cb: EventListener) {
  * by a Spotlight integration.
  * A count of the number of collected severe events is passed to the callback.
  */
-export async function onSevereEvent(cb: (count: number) => void) {
-  on('severeEventCount', e => {
-    cb((e as CustomEvent).detail?.count ?? 1);
-  });
+export function onSevereEvent(cb: (count: number) => void) {
+  on('severeEventCount', e => cb((e as CustomEvent).detail?.count ?? 1));
 }
 
 function isSpotlightInjected() {
diff --git a/packages/overlay/src/sidecar.ts b/packages/overlay/src/sidecar.ts
index 6e9c2d61..30ebef9b 100644
--- a/packages/overlay/src/sidecar.ts
+++ b/packages/overlay/src/sidecar.ts
@@ -3,13 +3,14 @@ import { log } from './lib/logger';
 
 export function connectToSidecar(
   sidecarUrl: string,
-  contentTypeListeners: [contentType: string, listener: (event: MessageEvent) => void][],
+  // Content Type to listener
+  contentTypeListeners: Record<string, (event: MessageEvent) => void>,
   setOnline: React.Dispatch<React.SetStateAction<boolean>>,
 ): () => void {
   log('Connecting to sidecar at', sidecarUrl);
   const source = new EventSource(sidecarUrl);
 
-  for (const [contentType, listener] of contentTypeListeners) {
+  for (const [contentType, listener] of Object.entries(contentTypeListeners)) {
     source.addEventListener(contentType, listener);
   }
 
@@ -24,10 +25,10 @@ export function connectToSidecar(
   });
 
   return () => {
-    log(`Removing ${contentTypeListeners.length} listeners`);
-    for (const typeAndListener of contentTypeListeners) {
-      source.removeEventListener(typeAndListener[0], typeAndListener[1]);
-      log('Removed listener for type', typeAndListener[0]);
+    log('Removing all content type listeners');
+    for (const [contentType, listener] of Object.entries(contentTypeListeners)) {
+      source.removeEventListener(contentType, listener);
+      log('Removed listener for type', contentType);
     }
   };
 }