diff --git a/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string.hpp b/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string.hpp
index 07b1ef33..459d8da0 100644
--- a/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string.hpp
+++ b/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string.hpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include "nautilus/val_ptr.hpp"
+#include "nautilus/std/string_view.hpp"
 #include <string>
 
 namespace nautilus {
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ class val<std::basic_string<CharT, Traits>> {
 	 * is valid and the values in it correspond to the values stored in the string with an additional null
 	 * character after the last position.
 	 */
-	val<const CharT*> c_str() {
+	val<const CharT*> c_str() const {
 		return invoke(+[](base_type* ptr) -> const CharT* { return ptr->c_str(); }, data_ptr);
 	}
 
diff --git a/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string_view.hpp b/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string_view.hpp
index dcb09f8b..e696c2ec 100644
--- a/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string_view.hpp
+++ b/nautilus/include/nautilus/std/string_view.hpp
@@ -57,17 +57,17 @@ class val<std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>> {
 		return invoke(+[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr) { return ptr->cend(); }, data_ptr);
 	}
 
-	val<const_reference> operator[](val<size_type> pos) const {
+	val<value_type> operator[](val<size_type> pos) const {
 		return invoke(
-		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr, size_type pos) -> const_reference {
+		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr, size_type pos) -> value_type {
 			    return ptr->operator[](pos);
 		    },
 		    data_ptr, pos);
 	}
 
-	const val<const_reference> at(val<size_type> index) const {
+	const val<value_type> at(val<size_type> index) const {
 		return invoke(
-		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr, size_type index) -> const_reference {
+		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr, size_type index) -> value_type {
 			    return ptr->at(index);
 		    },
 		    data_ptr, index);
@@ -89,14 +89,14 @@ class val<std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>> {
 		return invoke(+[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr) { return ptr->empty(); }, data_ptr);
 	}
 
-	val<const_reference> front() const {
+	val<value_type> front() const {
 		return invoke(
-		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr) -> const_reference { return ptr->front(); }, data_ptr);
+		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr) -> value_type { return ptr->front(); }, data_ptr);
 	}
 
-	val<const_reference> back() const {
+	val<value_type> back() const {
 		return invoke(
-		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr) -> const_reference { return ptr->back(); }, data_ptr);
+		    +[](std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>* ptr) -> value_type { return ptr->back(); }, data_ptr);
 	}
 
 	val<const_pointer> data() const {
diff --git a/nautilus/src/nautilus/api/std/CMakeLists.txt b/nautilus/src/nautilus/api/std/CMakeLists.txt
index c8d0ef97..1be56dbd 100644
--- a/nautilus/src/nautilus/api/std/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/nautilus/src/nautilus/api/std/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,4 +3,6 @@ add_source_files(nautilus
         cstring.cpp
         cmath.cpp
         cstdlib.cpp
-        iostream.cpp)
+        iostream.cpp
+        string.cpp
+        string_view.cpp)
diff --git a/nautilus/src/nautilus/api/std/string.cpp b/nautilus/src/nautilus/api/std/string.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4c3d27a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nautilus/src/nautilus/api/std/string.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#include "nautilus/std/string.hpp"
+#include "nautilus/function.hpp"
+
+namespace nautilus {
+template class val<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>>>;
+template class val<std::basic_string<char16_t, std::char_traits<char16_t>>>;
+template class val<std::basic_string<char32_t, std::char_traits<char32_t>>>;
+template class val<std::basic_string<wchar_t, std::char_traits<wchar_t>>>;
+} // namespace nautilus