diff --git a/tests/testDriver_work_area_size_apis.c b/tests/testDriver_work_area_size_apis.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19a9a2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testDriver_work_area_size_apis.c
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+/*
+ * Copyright IBM Corp. 2024
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include "testsupport.h"
+
+/*
+ * Tests for RNN work-area size helper APIs.
+ *
+ * These helpers codify the README formulas:
+ * - LSTM: dim4 = (4 * num_timesteps) + 6
+ * - GRU:  dim4 = (3 * num_timesteps) + 5
+ * and multiply by 2 for BIDIR.
+ */
+
+void setUp(void) {}
+void tearDown(void) {}
+
+static uint64_t expected_size(uint32_t dim4, uint32_t num_batches,
+                              uint32_t num_hidden,
+                              lstm_gru_direction direction) {
+  zdnn_tensor_desc desc;
+  init_transformed_desc(ZDNN_NHWC, ZDNN_DLFLOAT16, ZDNN_FORMAT_4DFEATURE, &desc,
+                        dim4, 1, num_batches, num_hidden);
+  uint64_t size = zdnn_getsize_ztensor(&desc);
+  if (direction == BIDIR) {
+    size *= 2;
+  }
+  return size;
+}
+
+void test_lstm_work_area_size_matches_formula(void) {
+  uint32_t ts = 7, b = 4, h = 64;
+  uint32_t dim4 = (4 * ts) + 6;
+
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(expected_size(dim4, b, h, FWD),
+                           zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(ts, b, h, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(expected_size(dim4, b, h, BWD),
+                           zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(ts, b, h, BWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(expected_size(dim4, b, h, BIDIR),
+                           zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(ts, b, h, BIDIR));
+}
+
+void test_gru_work_area_size_matches_formula(void) {
+  uint32_t ts = 7, b = 4, h = 64;
+  uint32_t dim4 = (3 * ts) + 5;
+
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(expected_size(dim4, b, h, FWD),
+                           zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(ts, b, h, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(expected_size(dim4, b, h, BWD),
+                           zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(ts, b, h, BWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(expected_size(dim4, b, h, BIDIR),
+                           zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(ts, b, h, BIDIR));
+}
+
+void test_invalid_inputs_return_zero(void) {
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0, zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(0, 1, 1, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0, zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(1, 0, 1, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0, zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(1, 1, 0, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0,
+                           zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(1, 1, 1,
+                                                        (lstm_gru_direction)99));
+
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0, zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(0, 1, 1, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0, zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(1, 0, 1, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0, zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(1, 1, 0, FWD));
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT64(0,
+                           zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(1, 1, 1,
+                                                       (lstm_gru_direction)99));
+}
+
+int main(void) {
+  UNITY_BEGIN();
+
+  RUN_TEST(test_lstm_work_area_size_matches_formula);
+  RUN_TEST(test_gru_work_area_size_matches_formula);
+  RUN_TEST(test_invalid_inputs_return_zero);
+
+  return UNITY_END();
+}
diff --git a/zdnn/work_area.c b/zdnn/work_area.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf1a919
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zdnn/work_area.c
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+/*
+ * Copyright IBM Corp. 2024
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+#include "zdnn.h"
+#include "zdnn_private.h"
+
+#ifdef __MVS__
+#pragma export(zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size)
+#pragma export(zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size)
+#endif
+
+// Common helper for LSTM/GRU work-area sizing.
+//
+// The work area is internal scratch space used by the RNN implementations for
+// temporary ztensors. The required size is described in README.md; these helper
+// functions codify that formula to reduce caller error and avoid repeating the
+// descriptor math in every integration.
+static uint64_t get_rnn_work_area_size(uint32_t num_timesteps, uint32_t dim4_mul,
+                                       uint32_t dim4_add, uint32_t num_batches,
+                                       uint32_t num_hidden,
+                                       lstm_gru_direction direction) {
+  if (!num_timesteps || !num_batches || !num_hidden) {
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+  uint32_t num_dirs;
+  switch (direction) {
+  case FWD:
+  case BWD:
+    num_dirs = 1;
+    break;
+  case BIDIR:
+    num_dirs = 2;
+    break;
+  default:
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+  // Compute dim4 using a wider intermediate to avoid overflow.
+  uint64_t dim4_64 = ((uint64_t)dim4_mul * (uint64_t)num_timesteps) + dim4_add;
+  if (dim4_64 > UINT32_MAX) {
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+  zdnn_tensor_desc desc;
+  init_transformed_desc(ZDNN_NHWC, ZDNN_DLFLOAT16, ZDNN_FORMAT_4DFEATURE, &desc,
+                        (uint32_t)dim4_64, 1, num_batches, num_hidden);
+
+  uint64_t size = zdnn_getsize_ztensor(&desc);
+
+  // For bidirectional calls, twice the amount of contiguous storage is
+  // required.
+  if (num_dirs == 2) {
+    if (size > (UINT64_MAX / 2)) {
+      return 0;
+    }
+    size *= 2;
+  }
+
+  return size;
+}
+
+uint64_t zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(uint32_t num_timesteps, uint32_t num_batches,
+                                      uint32_t num_hidden,
+                                      lstm_gru_direction direction) {
+  // LSTM sizing (README): dim4 = (4 * num_timesteps) + 6
+  return get_rnn_work_area_size(num_timesteps, 4, 6, num_batches, num_hidden,
+                                direction);
+}
+
+uint64_t zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(uint32_t num_timesteps, uint32_t num_batches,
+                                     uint32_t num_hidden,
+                                     lstm_gru_direction direction) {
+  // GRU sizing (README): dim4 = (3 * num_timesteps) + 5
+  return get_rnn_work_area_size(num_timesteps, 3, 5, num_batches, num_hidden,
+                                direction);
+}
diff --git a/zdnn/zdnn.h b/zdnn/zdnn.h
index 0c9cacc..9988177 100644
--- a/zdnn/zdnn.h
+++ b/zdnn/zdnn.h
@@ -525,6 +525,19 @@ zdnn_status zdnn_gelu(const zdnn_ztensor *input, zdnn_ztensor *output);
 
 typedef enum lstm_gru_direction { FWD, BWD, BIDIR } lstm_gru_direction;
 
+// Convenience helpers to compute the required 4K-aligned `work_area` size for
+// zdnn_lstm()/zdnn_gru().
+//
+// These return 0 when inputs are invalid (e.g., direction is not recognized or
+// any dimension is 0).
+uint64_t zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size(uint32_t num_timesteps,
+                                      uint32_t num_batches, uint32_t num_hidden,
+                                      lstm_gru_direction direction);
+
+uint64_t zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size(uint32_t num_timesteps, uint32_t num_batches,
+                                     uint32_t num_hidden,
+                                     lstm_gru_direction direction);
+
 zdnn_status zdnn_lstm(const zdnn_ztensor *input, const zdnn_ztensor *h0,
                       const zdnn_ztensor *c0, const zdnn_ztensor *weights,
                       const zdnn_ztensor *biases,
diff --git a/zdnn/zdnn.map b/zdnn/zdnn.map
index d80d3a1..5396134 100644
--- a/zdnn/zdnn.map
+++ b/zdnn/zdnn.map
@@ -126,6 +126,8 @@ ZDNN_1.0 {
     zdnn_softmax;
     zdnn_softmax_mask;
     zdnn_gelu;
+    zdnn_get_lstm_work_area_size;
+    zdnn_get_gru_work_area_size;
     zdnn_lstm;
     zdnn_gru;
     zdnn_matmul_op;