The Tamino API for C allows client applications to access a Tamino XML Server without going through a web server. This distinguishes it from most other Tamino APIs. Since this functionality has first been introduced with Tamino 4.1, access to a Tamino XML Server with a version number of 4.1 or above only is supported by this API.

Since this API is entirely written in the C programming language, it is very well suited for client applications written in C or C++. However, any programming language that allows external C routines to be called can take advantage of the functionality provided by the Tamino API for C. The Tamino API for C is available for Windows as well as for UNIX platforms.

The Tamino API for C provides roughly the same functionality as the X-Machine programming interface; see Requests using X-Machine Commands for more details. However, in certain cases it provides a more convenient interface for communicating with a Tamino XML Server. For example, in a session context, the API does the bookkeeping for the Tamino session ID and session key automatically.