diff --git a/src/CSV.jl b/src/CSV.jl
index 617cdcf2..9ff52a09 100644
--- a/src/CSV.jl
+++ b/src/CSV.jl
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ include("precompile.jl")
 _precompile_()
 
 function __init__()
-    # CSV.File(IOBuffer(PRECOMPILE_DATA))
+    CSV.Context(IOBuffer(CSV.PRECOMPILE_DATA))
+    # CSV.File(IOBuffer(CSV.PRECOMPILE_DATA))
     # foreach(row -> row, CSV.Rows(IOBuffer(PRECOMPILE_DATA)))
     # CSV.File(joinpath(dirname(pathof(CSV)), "..", "test", "testfiles", "promotions.csv"))
 end
diff --git a/src/context.jl b/src/context.jl
index 4a4a0bc5..e134a630 100644
--- a/src/context.jl
+++ b/src/context.jl
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ struct Context
     names::Vector{Symbol}
     rowsguess::Int64
     cols::Int
-    buf::AbstractVector{UInt8}
+    buf::Vector{UInt8}
     datapos::Int64
     len::Int
     datarow::Int
@@ -141,6 +141,61 @@ struct Context
     streaming::Bool
 end
 
+# user-facing function if just the context is desired
+function Context(source::ValidSources;
+    # file options
+    # header can be a row number, range of rows, or actual string vector
+    header::Union{Integer, Vector{Symbol}, Vector{String}, AbstractVector{<:Integer}}=1,
+    normalizenames::Bool=false,
+    # by default, data starts immediately after header or start of file
+    datarow::Integer=-1,
+    skipto::Integer=-1,
+    footerskip::Integer=0,
+    transpose::Bool=false,
+    comment::Union{String, Nothing}=nothing,
+    ignoreemptyrows::Bool=true,
+    ignoreemptylines=nothing,
+    select=nothing,
+    drop=nothing,
+    limit::Union{Integer, Nothing}=nothing,
+    buffer_in_memory::Bool=false,
+    threaded::Union{Bool, Nothing}=nothing,
+    ntasks::Union{Nothing, Integer}=nothing,
+    tasks::Union{Nothing, Integer}=nothing,
+    rows_to_check::Integer=DEFAULT_ROWS_TO_CHECK,
+    lines_to_check=nothing,
+    # parsing options
+    missingstrings=String[],
+    missingstring="",
+    delim::Union{Nothing, Char, String}=nothing,
+    ignorerepeated::Bool=false,
+    quoted::Bool=true,
+    quotechar::Union{UInt8, Char}='"',
+    openquotechar::Union{UInt8, Char, Nothing}=nothing,
+    closequotechar::Union{UInt8, Char, Nothing}=nothing,
+    escapechar::Union{UInt8, Char}='"',
+    dateformat::Union{String, Dates.DateFormat, Nothing, AbstractDict}=nothing,
+    dateformats=nothing,
+    decimal::Union{UInt8, Char}=UInt8('.'),
+    truestrings::Union{Vector{String}, Nothing}=TRUE_STRINGS,
+    falsestrings::Union{Vector{String}, Nothing}=FALSE_STRINGS,
+    # type options
+    type=nothing,
+    types=nothing,
+    typemap::Dict=Dict{Type, Type}(),
+    pool::Union{Bool, Real, AbstractVector, AbstractDict}=DEFAULT_POOL,
+    downcast::Bool=false,
+    lazystrings::Bool=false,
+    stringtype::StringTypes=DEFAULT_STRINGTYPE,
+    strict::Bool=false,
+    silencewarnings::Bool=false,
+    maxwarnings::Int=DEFAULT_MAX_WARNINGS,
+    debug::Bool=false,
+    parsingdebug::Bool=false
+    )
+    return @refargs Context(source, header, normalizenames, datarow, skipto, footerskip, transpose, comment, ignoreemptyrows, ignoreemptylines, select, drop, limit, buffer_in_memory, threaded, ntasks, tasks, rows_to_check, lines_to_check, missingstrings, missingstring, delim, ignorerepeated, quoted, quotechar, openquotechar, closequotechar, escapechar, dateformat, dateformats, decimal, truestrings, falsestrings, type, types, typemap, pool, downcast, lazystrings, stringtype, strict, silencewarnings, maxwarnings, debug, parsingdebug, false)
+end
+
 @refargs function Context(source::ValidSources,
     # file options
     # header can be a row number, range of rows, or actual string vector
diff --git a/src/file.jl b/src/file.jl
index 7d3a6e36..0a8c09fd 100644
--- a/src/file.jl
+++ b/src/file.jl
@@ -213,13 +213,13 @@ function File(source::ValidSources;
     # select=nothing;drop=nothing;limit=nothing;threaded=nothing;ntasks=Threads.nthreads();tasks=nothing;rows_to_check=30;lines_to_check=nothing;missingstrings=String[];missingstring="";
     # delim=nothing;ignorerepeated=false;quoted=true;quotechar='"';openquotechar=nothing;closequotechar=nothing;escapechar='"';dateformat=nothing;
     # dateformats=nothing;decimal=UInt8('.');truestrings=nothing;falsestrings=nothing;type=nothing;types=nothing;typemap=Dict{Type,Type}();
-    # pool=CSV.DEFAULT_POOL;downcast=false;lazystrings=false;stringtype=String;strict=false;silencewarnings=false;maxwarnings=100;debug=true;parsingdebug=false;buffer_in_memory=false
+    # pool=CSV.DEFAULT_POOL;downcast=false;lazystrings=false;stringtype=String;strict=false;silencewarnings=false;maxwarnings=100;debug=false;parsingdebug=false;buffer_in_memory=false
     # @descend CSV.Context(CSV.Arg(source), CSV.Arg(header), CSV.Arg(normalizenames), CSV.Arg(datarow), CSV.Arg(skipto), CSV.Arg(footerskip), CSV.Arg(transpose), CSV.Arg(comment), CSV.Arg(ignoreemptyrows), CSV.Arg(ignoreemptylines), CSV.Arg(select), CSV.Arg(drop), CSV.Arg(limit), CSV.Arg(buffer_in_memory), CSV.Arg(threaded), CSV.Arg(ntasks), CSV.Arg(tasks), CSV.Arg(rows_to_check), CSV.Arg(lines_to_check), CSV.Arg(missingstrings), CSV.Arg(missingstring), CSV.Arg(delim), CSV.Arg(ignorerepeated), CSV.Arg(quoted), CSV.Arg(quotechar), CSV.Arg(openquotechar), CSV.Arg(closequotechar), CSV.Arg(escapechar), CSV.Arg(dateformat), CSV.Arg(dateformats), CSV.Arg(decimal), CSV.Arg(truestrings), CSV.Arg(falsestrings), CSV.Arg(type), CSV.Arg(types), CSV.Arg(typemap), CSV.Arg(pool), CSV.Arg(downcast), CSV.Arg(lazystrings), CSV.Arg(stringtype), CSV.Arg(strict), CSV.Arg(silencewarnings), CSV.Arg(maxwarnings), CSV.Arg(debug), CSV.Arg(parsingdebug), CSV.Arg(false))
     ctx = @refargs Context(source, header, normalizenames, datarow, skipto, footerskip, transpose, comment, ignoreemptyrows, ignoreemptylines, select, drop, limit, buffer_in_memory, threaded, ntasks, tasks, rows_to_check, lines_to_check, missingstrings, missingstring, delim, ignorerepeated, quoted, quotechar, openquotechar, closequotechar, escapechar, dateformat, dateformats, decimal, truestrings, falsestrings, type, types, typemap, pool, downcast, lazystrings, stringtype, strict, silencewarnings, maxwarnings, debug, parsingdebug, false)
     return File(ctx)
 end
 
-function File(ctx::Context, chunking::Bool=false)
+function File(ctx::Context, @nospecialize(chunking::Bool=false))
     @inbounds begin
     # we now do our parsing pass over the file, starting at datapos
     if ctx.threaded
@@ -235,6 +235,7 @@ function File(ctx::Context, chunking::Bool=false)
         rows = zeros(Int64, ntasks) # how many rows each parsing task ended up actually parsing
         @sync for i = 1:ntasks
             Threads.@spawn multithreadparse(ctx, pertaskcolumns, rowchunkguess, i, rows, wholecolumnslock)
+            # CSV.multithreadparse(ctx, pertaskcolumns, rowchunkguess, i, rows, wholecolumnslock)
         end
         finalrows = sum(rows)
         if ctx.limit < finalrows
@@ -740,9 +741,7 @@ end
 function detectcell(buf, pos, len, row, rowoffset, i, col, ctx, rowsguess)::Tuple{Int64, Int16}
     # debug && println("detecting on task $(Threads.threadid())")
     opts = col.options
-    # stats = Base.gc_num()
     code, tlen, x, xT = detect(pass, buf, pos, len, opts, false, ctx.downcast, rowoffset + row, i)
-    # diff = GC_Diff(gc_num(), stats)
     if x === missing
         col.anymissing = true
         @goto finaldone
diff --git a/src/precompile.jl b/src/precompile.jl
index 364b9c2a..07b7636a 100644
--- a/src/precompile.jl
+++ b/src/precompile.jl
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 const PRECOMPILE_DATA = "int,float,date,datetime,bool,null,str,catg,int_float\n1,3.14,2019-01-01,2019-01-01T01:02:03,true,,hey,abc,2\n2,NaN,2019-01-02,2019-01-03T01:02:03,false,,there,abc,3.14\n"
 function _precompile_()
-    # ccall(:jl_generating_output, Cint, ()) == 1 || return nothing
-    # CSV.File(IOBuffer(PRECOMPILE_DATA))
+    ccall(:jl_generating_output, Cint, ()) == 1 || return nothing
+    while false; end
+    # CSV.Context(IOBuffer(CSV.PRECOMPILE_DATA))
     # foreach(row -> row, CSV.Rows(IOBuffer(PRECOMPILE_DATA)))
-    # CSV.File(joinpath(dirname(pathof(CSV)), "..", "test", "testfiles", "promotions.csv"))
+    CSV.Context(joinpath(dirname(pathof(CSV)), "..", "test", "testfiles", "promotions.csv"))
 end