diff --git a/src/lib/work-stealing.c b/src/lib/work-stealing.c
index 05fa93866..3a79fcd50 100644
--- a/src/lib/work-stealing.c
+++ b/src/lib/work-stealing.c
@@ -18,14 +18,20 @@
 
 struct Work;
 
-// A Task is a function pointer that consumes a Work* and returns a Work*
-// The input is the `Work` Always passed a pointer to the containing Work struct
+// A Task is a function pointer that consumes a Work* and returns a Work*.
+// The input `Work` is always a pointer to the Work struct containing that
+// Task, which it accepts in order to be able to deallocate it.
 // Question: Do we also want to tell the task the thread id of the worker
 // that's running it?  Maybe to support thread-local accumulators for
 // commutative reductions?
 // Oh yeah, also to know which worker's queue to put more stuff onto.
-// Trampoline: returns the next work to do, if ready, or NULL if not.
-typedef struct Work* (*Task)(struct Work*);
+//
+// The return value is a trampoline: a `Task` returns the next work to do, if
+// it's runnable, or NULL if there isn't one.
+//
+// `Task`s are internal to the work-stealing system; the client does not
+// provide or consume `Task`s.
+typedef struct Work* (*Task)(int thread_id, struct Work*);
 
 typedef struct Work {
   Task code;
@@ -33,8 +39,8 @@ typedef struct Work {
   void* args[];
 } Work;
 
-Work* EMPTY = -1;
-Work* ABORT = -2;
+Work* EMPTY = (Work*)-1;
+Work* ABORT = (Work*)-2;
 
 /////////////////////////
 // Work-stealing deque //
@@ -56,8 +62,13 @@ typedef struct {
 void init(Deque* q, int size_hint) {
   // This does not appear in https://fzn.fr/readings/ppopp13.pdf; I am imputing
   // it.
-  atomic_init(&q->top, 0);
-  atomic_init(&q->bottom, 0);
+  // Initialize the buffer indices at 1 to prevent underflow.  The buffer
+  // indices are of type `size_t`; the top index never decreases, and the bottom
+  // index is never less than the top index at rest.  The smallest intermediate
+  // value ever used is `bottom-1`, inside `take`.  Initializing `top` and
+  // `bottom` at 1 suffices to prevent this computation from underflowing.
+  atomic_init(&q->top, 1);
+  atomic_init(&q->bottom, 1);
   Array* a = (Array*) malloc(sizeof(Array) + sizeof(Work*) * size_hint);
   atomic_init(&a->size, size_hint);
   atomic_init(&q->array, a);
@@ -147,7 +158,7 @@ Work* steal(Deque *q) {
 // Worker loop //
 /////////////////
 
-#define nthreads 24
+int thread_count;
 
 Deque* thread_queues;
 
@@ -156,7 +167,7 @@ atomic_bool done;
 // Trampoline: Returns the next item to work on, or NULL if there aren't any.
 Work* do_one_work(int id, Work* work) {
   printf("Worker %d running item %p\n", id, work);
-  return (*(work->code))(work);
+  return (*(work->code))(id, work);
 }
 
 void do_work(int id, Work* work) {
@@ -185,7 +196,7 @@ void* thread(void* payload) {
     } else {
       // No work in my own queue
       Work* stolen = EMPTY;
-      for (int i = 0; i < nthreads; ++i) {
+      for (int i = 0; i < thread_count; ++i) {
         if (i == id) continue;
         stolen = steal(&thread_queues[i]);
         if (stolen == ABORT) {
@@ -198,7 +209,7 @@ void* thread(void* payload) {
         }
       }
       if (stolen == EMPTY) {
-        // Even though the queues we all empty when I tried them, somebody
+        // Even though the queues were all empty when I tried them, somebody
         // might have added some more work since.  Busy-wait until the global
         // "done" flag is set.
         if (atomic_load(&done)) {
@@ -215,63 +226,222 @@ void* thread(void* payload) {
   return NULL;
 }
 
-////////////////////
-// Client program //
-////////////////////
+///////////////////////////
+// Dex codegen interface //
+///////////////////////////
 
-Work* print_task(Work* w) {
-  int* payload = (int*)w->args[0];
-  int item = *payload;
-  printf("Did item %p with payload %d\n", w, item);
-  Work* cont = (Work*)w->args[1];
-  free(payload);
-  free(w);
-  return join_work(cont);
+// A (pointer to a) code-generated function.
+// This should either return the result of calling `begin_pure_loop` or return `NULL`.
+typedef Work* (*GenBlock)(int thread_id, void** env);
+
+// A (pointer to a) code-generated function that is a loop body.
+// This should either return the result of calling `begin_pure_loop` or return `NULL`.
+typedef Work* (*GenLoopBody)(int thread_id, int iteration, void** env);
+
+// Call this from Haskell once at the start of the process.
+// The integer is the number of OS threads to spawn to run work-stealing.
+void initialize_work_stealing(int nthreads);
+
+// Call this from Haskell to run a top block with work-stealing.  When this
+// exits, the work-stealing system is stopped, and results are written to their
+// proper `Dest`s.
+void execute_top_block(GenBlock body, void** env);
+
+// Call this from code-gen at the end of each top-level block.
+void finish_work_stealing();
+
+// Call this from code-gen to start a loop that you want work-stealing to
+// parallelize.
+// This assumes that the environment frame for the loop body and for the
+// continuation is the same.  That assumption isn't hard to change.
+Work* begin_pure_loop(int thread_id, GenLoopBody body, GenBlock cont, void** env, int trip_count);
+
+/////////////////////////
+// Dex codegen support //
+/////////////////////////
+
+Work* run_gen_block(int thread_id, Work* self) {
+  GenBlock body = (GenBlock)self->args[0];
+  void** env = (void**)self->args[1];
+  free(self);
+  return body(thread_id, env);
 }
 
-Work* done_task(Work* w) {
-  free(w);
-  atomic_store(&done, true);
-  return NULL;
+// Return a `Work*` such that joining it `joiners` times is equivalent to joining
+// the argument `cont` once.
+// - `joiners` >= 1.
+// - Do not use `cont` directly afterward, as this is allowed to mutate it.
+Work* increase_cont_capacity(Work* cont, int joiners) {
+  // One way to achieve the goal is to just atomically increase the `join_count`
+  // of `cont` by `joiners - 1` and reuse it:
+  atomic_fetch_add(&cont->join_count, joiners - 1);
+  return cont;
+  // An alternative would be allocate a new `Work` with `join_count` equal to
+  // `joiners` and `task` to `join` the current `cont`.  The advantage of this
+  // alternative is avoiding the atomic increment (on a potentially contentious
+  // variable if `cont` has many joiners already); the disadvantage is the
+  // allocation (which presumably entails some synchronization of its own), and
+  // an extra indirection at the end due to executing that mini-task.
 }
 
-int main(int argc, char **argv) {
+Work* execute_pure_loop_task(int id, Work* self);
+
+Work* execute_pure_loop(int thread_id, Work* cont, GenLoopBody body, void** env, int start_iter, int end_iter) {
+  if (end_iter - start_iter <= 1) {
+    // Few enough iterations; just do them.
+    for (int i = start_iter; i < end_iter; i++) {
+      do_work(thread_id, body(thread_id, i, env));
+    }
+    return join_work(cont);
+  } else {
+    // Create Works that represent schedulable pieces of the loop.
+    int branching_factor = 2;
+    div_t iters_per_branch = div(end_iter - start_iter, branching_factor);
+    int this_iter = start_iter;
+    Work* subcont = increase_cont_capacity(cont, branching_factor);
+    // Queue up all but one chunk of the loop
+    for (int i = 0; i < branching_factor - 1; i++) {
+      int next_iter = this_iter + iters_per_branch.quot;
+      if (i < iters_per_branch.rem) {
+        next_iter++;
+      }
+      Work* section = (Work*) malloc(sizeof(Work) + 5 * sizeof(int*));
+      section->code = &execute_pure_loop_task;
+      section->join_count = 0;
+      section->args[0] = subcont;
+      section->args[1] = body;
+      section->args[2] = env;
+      // TODO Is just casting ok here, or do I have to heap-allocate these ints?
+      // gcc complains about the integer and the pointer having different sizes.
+      section->args[3] = (void*)this_iter;
+      section->args[4] = (void*)next_iter;
+      push(&thread_queues[thread_id], section);
+      this_iter = next_iter;
+    }
+    // Do the last chunk directly yourself
+    return execute_pure_loop(thread_id, subcont, body, env, this_iter, end_iter);
+  }
+}
+
+Work* execute_pure_loop_task(int id, Work* self) {
+  Work* cont = self->args[0];
+  GenLoopBody body = self->args[1];
+  void** env = self->args[2];
+  int start_iter = (int)self->args[3];
+  int end_iter = (int)self->args[4];
+  return execute_pure_loop(id, cont, body, env, start_iter, end_iter);
+}
+
+Work* begin_pure_loop(int thread_id, GenLoopBody body, GenBlock cont, void** env, int trip_count) {
+  // TODO: If the whole loop is smaller than the grain size for
+  // execute_pure_loop, I can avoid allocating the `Work` for the continuation
+  // too by just executing the iterations inline here.
+  Work* k = (Work*) malloc(sizeof(Work) + 5 * sizeof(int*));
+  k->code = &run_gen_block;
+  k->join_count = 1;
+  k->args[0] = cont;
+  k->args[1] = env;
+  return execute_pure_loop(thread_id, k, body, env, 0, trip_count);
+}
+
+pthread_t* the_threads;
+int* tids;
+
+void initialize_work_stealing(int nthreads) {
   // Check that top and bottom are 64-bit so they never overflow
   assert(sizeof(atomic_size_t) == 8);
-  pthread_t threads[nthreads];
-  int tids[nthreads];
+  the_threads = (pthread_t*) malloc(nthreads * sizeof(pthread_t));
+  tids = (int*) malloc(nthreads * sizeof(int));
   thread_queues = (Deque*) malloc(nthreads * sizeof(Deque));
-  int nprints = 10;
-  atomic_store(&done, false);
-  Work* done_work = (Work*) malloc(sizeof(Work));
-  done_work->code = &done_task;
-  done_work->join_count = nthreads * nprints;
   for (int i = 0; i < nthreads; ++i) {
     tids[i] = i;
     init(&thread_queues[i], 8);
-    for (int j = 0; j < nprints; ++j) {
-      Work* work = (Work*) malloc(sizeof(Work) + 2 * sizeof(int*));
-      work->code = &print_task;
-      work->join_count = 0;
-      int* payload = malloc(sizeof(int));
-      *payload = 1000 * i + j;
-      work->args[0] = payload;
-      work->args[1] = done_work;
-      push(&thread_queues[i], work);
-    }
   }
-  for (int i = 0; i < nthreads; ++i) {
-    if (pthread_create(&threads[i], NULL, thread, &tids[i]) != 0) {
+  thread_count = nthreads;
+}
+
+void execute_top_block(GenBlock body, void** env) {
+  Work* job = (Work*) malloc(sizeof(Work) + 2 * sizeof(int*));
+  job->code = &run_gen_block;
+  job->join_count = 0;
+  job->args[0] = body;
+  job->args[1] = env;
+  atomic_store(&done, false);
+  push(&thread_queues[0], job);
+  // TODO: Do we really want to start and kill all the threads for every top
+  // level block, or is there a way to suspend and reuse them?
+  for (int i = 0; i < thread_count; ++i) {
+    if (pthread_create(&the_threads[i], NULL, thread, &tids[i]) != 0) {
       perror("failed to start the thread");
       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
   }
-  for (int i = 0; i < nthreads; ++i) {
-    if (pthread_join(threads[i], NULL) != 0) {
+  for (int i = 0; i < thread_count; ++i) {
+    if (pthread_join(the_threads[i], NULL) != 0) {
       perror("failed to join the thread");
       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
   }
-  printf("Expect %d lines of output (including this one)\n", 2 * nthreads * nprints + nthreads + 2);
+  // We expect all the queues to be empty at this point.  TODO: Check?
+}
+
+void finish_work_stealing() {
+  atomic_store(&done, true);
+}
+
+////////////////////
+// Client program //
+////////////////////
+
+// A slightly silly program that iterates a single loop a synamic number of
+// times, and has each loop iteration (and the coda) echo the trip count + 1,
+// just to show that data can be mutated.
+
+Work* gen_loop_body(int thread_id, int iteration, void** env) {
+  int* payload = (int*)env[0];
+  int item = *payload;
+  printf("Loop iteration %d on worker %d, payload %d\n",
+         iteration, thread_id, item);
+  return NULL;
+}
+
+Work* end_gen_block(int thread_id, void** env) {
+  int* payload = (int*)env[0];
+  int item = *payload;
+  printf("Finishing on worker %d, payload %d\n", thread_id, item);
+  free(payload);
+  free(env);
+  finish_work_stealing();
+  return NULL;
+}
+
+Work* start_gen_block(int thread_id, void** env) {
+  int* payload = (int*)env[0];
+  int item = *payload;
+  printf("Starting on worker %d, payload %d\n", thread_id, item);
+  *payload = item + 1;
+  return begin_pure_loop(thread_id, gen_loop_body, end_gen_block, env, item);
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv) {
+  initialize_work_stealing(24);
+  void** env = malloc(sizeof(int*));
+  int* payload = malloc(sizeof(int));
+  int num_iters = 200;
+  *payload = num_iters;
+  env[0] = payload;
+  execute_top_block(&start_gen_block, env);
+  int expected_output_lines =
+      1    // "Starting"
+      + 1  // "Finishing"
+      + thread_count  // "Worker n finished"
+      + 1  // Expected line report
+      + num_iters  // Each loop iteration
+      + 1  // "Worker running item" for the entry point
+      + 1  // "Worker running item" for the end
+      + (num_iters - 1)  // "Worker running item" for itermediates in the loop tree
+      ;
+  printf("Expect %d lines of output (including this one)\n",
+         expected_output_lines);
   return 0;
 }