diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5d470732f..841b0ffa2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -22,5 +22,6 @@
 /yosys-filterlib.html
 /kernel/version_*.cc
 /share
+/libyosys
 /yosys-win32-mxebin-*
 /yosys-win32-vcxsrc-*
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2e6b0e9ee..1ca7f2fbd 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -335,6 +335,20 @@ qtcreator:
 	{ echo .; find backends frontends kernel libs passes -type f \( -name '*.h' -o -name '*.hh' \) -printf '%h\n' | sort -u; } > qtcreator.includes
 	touch qtcreator.config qtcreator.creator
 
+mklibyosys: $(OBJS) $(GENFILES) $(EXTRA_TARGETS)
+	rm -rf libyosys
+	mkdir -p libyosys/include libyosys/objs
+	set -e; for f in $(wildcard $(filter %.cc %.cpp,$(GENFILES)) $(addsuffix .cc,$(basename $(OBJS))) $(addsuffix .cpp,$(basename $(OBJS))) 2>/dev/null); do \
+		echo "Analyse: $$f" >&2; cpp -std=gnu++0x -MM -I. -D_YOSYS_ $$f; done | sed 's,.*:,,; s,//*,/,g; s,/[^/]*/\.\./,/,g; y, \\,\n\n,;' | \
+		grep '^[^/]' | sort -u | grep -v kernel/version_ | grep '\.\(h\|hh\)$$' | xargs cp -t libyosys/include/
+	sed -i 's/^\(# *include *"\)[^"]*\//\1/' libyosys/include/*
+	{ echo "#ifndef YOSYS_CONFIG_H"; echo "#define YOSYS_CONFIG_H"; for opt in $(CXXFLAGS); do [[ "$$opt" == -D* ]] || continue; V="$${opt#-D}"; N="$${V%=*}"; \
+		V="$${V#*=}"; [ "$$V" = "$$N" ] && echo "#define $$N" || echo "#define $$N $$V"; done; echo "#endif"; } > libyosys/include/config.h
+	sed -i '/^#define YOSYS_H/ { p; s/.*/#include "config.h"/; };' libyosys/include/yosys.h
+	cp $(filter-out kernel/driver.o,$(OBJS)) libyosys/objs/
+	cp tests/simple/fiedler-cooley.v libyosys/example.v
+	cp misc/example.cc libyosys/example.cc
+
 vcxsrc: $(GENFILES) $(EXTRA_TARGETS)
 	rm -rf yosys-win32-vcxsrc-$(YOSYS_VER){,.zip}
 	set -e; for f in $(wildcard $(filter %.cc %.cpp,$(GENFILES)) $(addsuffix .cc,$(basename $(OBJS))) $(addsuffix .cpp,$(basename $(OBJS))) 2>/dev/null); do \
diff --git a/kernel/driver.cc b/kernel/driver.cc
index 65b6c5a47..e95ef48d3 100644
--- a/kernel/driver.cc
+++ b/kernel/driver.cc
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 
 	while (optind < argc)
-		run_frontend(argv[optind++], frontend_command, yosys_design, output_filename == "-" ? &backend_command : NULL, NULL);
+		run_frontend(argv[optind++], frontend_command, output_filename == "-" ? &backend_command : NULL);
 
 	if (!scriptfile.empty()) {
 		if (scriptfile_tcl) {
@@ -302,14 +302,14 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			log_error("Can't exectue TCL script: this version of yosys is not built with TCL support enabled.\n");
 #endif
 		} else
-			run_frontend(scriptfile, "script", yosys_design, output_filename == "-" ? &backend_command : NULL, NULL);
+			run_frontend(scriptfile, "script", output_filename == "-" ? &backend_command : NULL);
 	}
 
 	for (auto it = passes_commands.begin(); it != passes_commands.end(); it++)
-		run_pass(*it, yosys_design);
+		run_pass(*it);
 
 	if (!backend_command.empty())
-		run_backend(output_filename, backend_command, yosys_design);
+		run_backend(output_filename, backend_command);
 
 	if (print_stats)
 	{
diff --git a/kernel/yosys.cc b/kernel/yosys.cc
index e4a5c3351..530d78796 100644
--- a/kernel/yosys.cc
+++ b/kernel/yosys.cc
@@ -679,8 +679,11 @@ static void handle_label(std::string &command, bool &from_to_active, const std::
 	}
 }
 
-void run_frontend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design, std::string *backend_command, std::string *from_to_label)
+void run_frontend(std::string filename, std::string command, std::string *backend_command, std::string *from_to_label, RTLIL::Design *design)
 {
+	if (design == nullptr)
+		design = yosys_design;
+
 	if (command == "auto") {
 		if (filename.size() > 2 && filename.substr(filename.size()-2) == ".v")
 			command = "verilog";
@@ -772,8 +775,16 @@ void run_frontend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *desi
 	Frontend::frontend_call(design, NULL, filename, command);
 }
 
+void run_frontend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design)
+{
+	run_frontend(filename, command, nullptr, nullptr, design);
+}
+
 void run_pass(std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design)
 {
+	if (design == nullptr)
+		design = yosys_design;
+
 	log("\n-- Running command `%s' --\n", command.c_str());
 
 	Pass::call(design, command);
@@ -781,6 +792,9 @@ void run_pass(std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design)
 
 void run_backend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design)
 {
+	if (design == nullptr)
+		design = yosys_design;
+
 	if (command == "auto") {
 		if (filename.size() > 2 && filename.substr(filename.size()-2) == ".v")
 			command = "verilog";
@@ -1025,9 +1039,9 @@ struct ScriptPass : public Pass {
 		if (args.size() < 2)
 			log_cmd_error("Missing script file.\n");
 		else if (args.size() == 2)
-			run_frontend(args[1], "script", design, NULL, NULL);
+			run_frontend(args[1], "script", design);
 		else if (args.size() == 3)
-			run_frontend(args[1], "script", design, NULL, &args[2]);
+			run_frontend(args[1], "script", NULL, &args[2], design);
 		else
 			extra_args(args, 2, design, false);
 	}
diff --git a/kernel/yosys.h b/kernel/yosys.h
index efdc005eb..47275ecd4 100644
--- a/kernel/yosys.h
+++ b/kernel/yosys.h
@@ -253,9 +253,10 @@ std::string proc_self_dirname();
 std::string proc_share_dirname();
 const char *create_prompt(RTLIL::Design *design, int recursion_counter);
 
-void run_frontend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design, std::string *backend_command, std::string *from_to_label);
-void run_pass(std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design);
-void run_backend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design);
+void run_pass(std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design = nullptr);
+void run_frontend(std::string filename, std::string command, std::string *backend_command, std::string *from_to_label = nullptr, RTLIL::Design *design = nullptr);
+void run_frontend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design = nullptr);
+void run_backend(std::string filename, std::string command, RTLIL::Design *design = nullptr);
 void shell(RTLIL::Design *design);
 
 // from kernel/version_*.o (cc source generated from Makefile)
diff --git a/misc/example.cc b/misc/example.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a8244ac4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/misc/example.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+// clang -o example -std=c++11 -I/usr/include/tcl8.5 -I include/ example.cc objs/*.o -lstdc++ -lm -lrt -lreadline -lffi -ldl -ltcl8.5
+
+#include <yosys.h>
+
+int main()
+{
+	Yosys::log_streams.push_back(&std::cout);
+	Yosys::log_error_stderr = true;
+
+	Yosys::yosys_setup();
+	Yosys::yosys_banner();
+
+	Yosys::run_pass("read_verilog example.v");
+	Yosys::run_pass("synth -noabc");
+	Yosys::run_pass("clean -purge");
+	Yosys::run_pass("write_blif example.blif");
+
+	Yosys::yosys_shutdown();
+	return 0;
+}
+
diff --git a/techlibs/common/synth.cc b/techlibs/common/synth.cc
index 5267344bb..69ef5bc55 100644
--- a/techlibs/common/synth.cc
+++ b/techlibs/common/synth.cc
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ struct SynthPass : public Pass {
 		log("    -encfile <file>\n");
 		log("        passed to 'fsm_recode' via 'fsm'\n");
 		log("\n");
+		log("    -noabc\n");
+		log("        do not run abc (as if yosys was compiled without ABC support)\n");
+		log("\n");
 		log("    -run <from_label>[:<to_label>]\n");
 		log("        only run the commands between the labels (see below). an empty\n");
 		log("        from label is synonymous to 'begin', and empty to label is\n");
@@ -96,6 +99,7 @@ struct SynthPass : public Pass {
 	{
 		std::string top_module, fsm_opts;
 		std::string run_from, run_to;
+		bool noabc = false;
 
 		size_t argidx;
 		for (argidx = 1; argidx < args.size(); argidx++)
@@ -119,6 +123,10 @@ struct SynthPass : public Pass {
 				}
 				continue;
 			}
+			if (args[argidx] == "-noabc") {
+				noabc = true;
+				continue;
+			}
 			break;
 		}
 		extra_args(args, argidx, design);
@@ -163,7 +171,7 @@ struct SynthPass : public Pass {
 		}
 
 	#ifdef YOSYS_ENABLE_ABC
-		if (check_label(active, run_from, run_to, "abc"))
+		if (check_label(active, run_from, run_to, "abc") && !noabc)
 		{
 			Pass::call(design, "abc -fast");
 			Pass::call(design, "opt -fast");