diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir-c/IR.h b/mlir/include/mlir-c/IR.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir-c/IR.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir-c/IR.h
@@ -84,8 +84,19 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 /// Creates an MLIR context and transfers its ownership to the caller.
+/// This sets the default multithreading option (enabled).
 MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED MlirContext mlirContextCreate(void);
 
+/// Creates an MLIR context with an explicit setting of the multithreading
+/// setting and transfers its ownership to the caller.
+MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED MlirContext
+mlirContextCreateWithThreading(bool threadingEnabled);
+
+/// Creates an MLIR context, setting the multithreading setting explicitly and
+/// pre-loading the dialects from the provided DialectRegistry.
+MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED MlirContext mlirContextCreateWithRegistry(
+    MlirDialectRegistry registry, bool threadingEnabled);
+
 /// Checks if two contexts are equal.
 MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED bool mlirContextEqual(MlirContext ctx1, MlirContext ctx2);
 
@@ -144,6 +155,13 @@
 MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED bool mlirContextIsRegisteredOperation(MlirContext context,
                                                          MlirStringRef name);
 
+/// Sets the thread pool of the context explicitly, enabling multithreading in
+/// the process. This API should be used to avoid re-creating thread pools in
+/// long-running applications that perform multiple compilations, see
+/// the C++ documentation for MLIRContext for details.
+MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED void mlirContextSetThreadPool(MlirContext context,
+                                                 MlirLlvmThreadPool threadPool);
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Dialect API.
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir-c/Support.h b/mlir/include/mlir-c/Support.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir-c/Support.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir-c/Support.h
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@
   };                                                                           \
   typedef struct name name
 
+/// Re-export llvm::ThreadPool so as to avoid including the LLVM C API directly.
+DEFINE_C_API_STRUCT(MlirLlvmThreadPool, void);
 DEFINE_C_API_STRUCT(MlirTypeID, const void);
 DEFINE_C_API_STRUCT(MlirTypeIDAllocator, void);
 
@@ -138,6 +140,17 @@
   return res;
 }
 
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+// MlirLlvmThreadPool.
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+/// Create an LLVM thread pool. This is reexported here to avoid directly
+/// pulling in the LLVM headers directly.
+MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED MlirLlvmThreadPool mlirLlvmThreadPoolCreate(void);
+
+/// Destroy an LLVM thread pool.
+MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED void mlirLlvmThreadPoolDestroy(MlirLlvmThreadPool pool);
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // TypeID API.
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/Support.h b/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/Support.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/Support.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/Support.h
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
 #include "mlir/Support/TypeID.h"
 #include "llvm/ADT/StringRef.h"
 
+namespace llvm {
+class ThreadPool;
+} // namespace llvm
+
 /// Converts a StringRef into its MLIR C API equivalent.
 inline MlirStringRef wrap(llvm::StringRef ref) {
   return mlirStringRefCreate(ref.data(), ref.size());
@@ -41,6 +45,7 @@
   return mlir::success(mlirLogicalResultIsSuccess(res));
 }
 
+DEFINE_C_API_PTR_METHODS(MlirLlvmThreadPool, llvm::ThreadPool)
 DEFINE_C_API_METHODS(MlirTypeID, mlir::TypeID)
 DEFINE_C_API_PTR_METHODS(MlirTypeIDAllocator, mlir::TypeIDAllocator)
 
diff --git a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp
@@ -39,6 +39,23 @@
   return wrap(context);
 }
 
+static inline MLIRContext::Threading toThreadingEnum(bool threadingEnabled) {
+  return threadingEnabled ? MLIRContext::Threading::ENABLED
+                          : MLIRContext::Threading::DISABLED;
+}
+
+MlirContext mlirContextCreateWithThreading(bool threadingEnabled) {
+  auto *context = new MLIRContext(toThreadingEnum(threadingEnabled));
+  return wrap(context);
+}
+
+MlirContext mlirContextCreateWithRegistry(MlirDialectRegistry registry,
+                                          bool threadingEnabled) {
+  auto *context =
+      new MLIRContext(*unwrap(registry), toThreadingEnum(threadingEnabled));
+  return wrap(context);
+}
+
 bool mlirContextEqual(MlirContext ctx1, MlirContext ctx2) {
   return unwrap(ctx1) == unwrap(ctx2);
 }
@@ -84,6 +101,11 @@
   unwrap(context)->loadAllAvailableDialects();
 }
 
+void mlirContextSetThreadPool(MlirContext context,
+                              MlirLlvmThreadPool threadPool) {
+  unwrap(context)->setThreadPool(*unwrap(threadPool));
+}
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Dialect API.
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/Support.cpp b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/Support.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/Support.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/Support.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 #include "mlir/CAPI/Support.h"
 #include "llvm/ADT/StringRef.h"
+#include "llvm/Support/ThreadPool.h"
 
 #include <cstring>
 
@@ -20,6 +21,17 @@
          llvm::StringRef(other.data, other.length);
 }
 
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+// LLVM ThreadPool API.
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+MlirLlvmThreadPool mlirLlvmThreadPoolCreate() {
+  return wrap(new llvm::ThreadPool());
+}
+
+void mlirLlvmThreadPoolDestroy(MlirLlvmThreadPool threadPool) {
+  delete unwrap(threadPool);
+}
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // TypeID API.
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/test/CAPI/ir.c b/mlir/test/CAPI/ir.c
--- a/mlir/test/CAPI/ir.c
+++ b/mlir/test/CAPI/ir.c
@@ -2210,6 +2210,18 @@
   return 0;
 }
 
+void testExplicitThreadPools(void) {
+  MlirLlvmThreadPool threadPool = mlirLlvmThreadPoolCreate();
+  MlirDialectRegistry registry = mlirDialectRegistryCreate();
+  mlirRegisterAllDialects(registry);
+  MlirContext context =
+      mlirContextCreateWithRegistry(registry, /*threadingEnabled=*/false);
+  mlirContextSetThreadPool(context, threadPool);
+  mlirContextDestroy(context);
+  mlirDialectRegistryDestroy(registry);
+  mlirLlvmThreadPoolDestroy(threadPool);
+}
+
 void testDiagnostics(void) {
   MlirContext ctx = mlirContextCreate();
   MlirDiagnosticHandlerID id = mlirContextAttachDiagnosticHandler(
@@ -2310,6 +2322,7 @@
 
   mlirContextDestroy(ctx);
 
+  testExplicitThreadPools();
   testDiagnostics();
   return 0;
 }