diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ec750928247..463009d2729 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ option(WHISPER_ALL_WARNINGS_3RD_PARTY "whisper: enable all compiler warnings in
 option(WHISPER_FATAL_WARNINGS  "whisper: enable -Werror flag"               OFF)
 option(WHISPER_USE_SYSTEM_GGML "whisper: use system-installed GGML library" OFF)
 
+# flat bindings
+option(BINDINGS_FLAT      "Add extra flat definitions to Whisper + GGML" OFF)
+option(GGML_BINDINGS_FLAT "Add extra flat definitions to Examples" ${BINDINGS_FLAT})
+
 # sanitizers
 option(WHISPER_SANITIZE_THREAD    "whisper: enable thread sanitizer"    OFF)
 option(WHISPER_SANITIZE_ADDRESS   "whisper: enable address sanitizer"   OFF)
@@ -226,7 +230,9 @@ if (MSVC)
         /wd4996  # Function or variable may be unsafe/deprecated
     )
     function(disable_msvc_warnings target_name)
-        target_compile_options(${target_name} PRIVATE ${MSVC_WARNING_FLAGS})
+        if(TARGET ${target_name})
+            target_compile_options(${target_name} PRIVATE ${MSVC_WARNING_FLAGS})
+        endif()
     endfunction()
 
     if (WHISPER_BUILD_EXAMPLES)
@@ -242,4 +248,4 @@ if (MSVC)
         disable_msvc_warnings(whisper-bench)
         disable_msvc_warnings(quantize)
     endif()
-endif()
+endif()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
index e4265affe97..0adebb5b6ab 100644
--- a/examples/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ target_include_directories(json_cpp INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
 
 # examples
 
+if(BINDINGS_FLAT)
+    message(STATUS "Adding FLAT binding to examples")
+    add_compile_options(-DBINDINGS_FLAT)
+endif()
+
+
 include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
 
 if (EMSCRIPTEN)
diff --git a/examples/bench/bench.cpp b/examples/bench/bench.cpp
index 54f73110d42..9547735127a 100644
--- a/examples/bench/bench.cpp
+++ b/examples/bench/bench.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 #include "whisper.h"
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+#endif
 
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <cstring>
@@ -61,6 +64,10 @@ void whisper_print_usage(int /*argc*/, char ** argv, const whisper_params & para
 static int whisper_bench_full(const whisper_params & params) {
     // whisper init
 
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    whisper_flat_backend_load_all();
+    #endif
+
     struct whisper_context_params cparams = whisper_context_default_params();
 
     cparams.use_gpu    = params.use_gpu;
diff --git a/examples/cli/cli.cpp b/examples/cli/cli.cpp
index 4b2b3521b80..52459de4d38 100644
--- a/examples/cli/cli.cpp
+++ b/examples/cli/cli.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 #include "common-whisper.h"
 
 #include "whisper.h"
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+#endif
 #include "grammar-parser.h"
 
 #include <cmath>
@@ -1004,6 +1007,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     // whisper init
 
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    whisper_flat_backend_load_all();
+    #endif
+
     struct whisper_context_params cparams = whisper_context_default_params();
 
     cparams.use_gpu    = params.use_gpu;
diff --git a/examples/command/command.cpp b/examples/command/command.cpp
index 9dc8f629995..33a4c289d9c 100644
--- a/examples/command/command.cpp
+++ b/examples/command/command.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 #include "common-sdl.h"
 #include "common.h"
 #include "whisper.h"
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+#endif
 #include "grammar-parser.h"
 
 #include <algorithm>
@@ -692,6 +695,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     // whisper init
 
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    whisper_flat_backend_load_all();
+    #endif
+
     struct whisper_context_params cparams = whisper_context_default_params();
 
     cparams.use_gpu    = params.use_gpu;
diff --git a/examples/server/server.cpp b/examples/server/server.cpp
index c790c9557fb..25f7132d658 100644
--- a/examples/server/server.cpp
+++ b/examples/server/server.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 #include "common-whisper.h"
 
 #include "whisper.h"
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+#endif
 #include "httplib.h"
 #include "json.hpp"
 
@@ -544,6 +547,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         check_ffmpeg_availibility();
     }
     // whisper init
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    whisper_flat_backend_load_all();
+    #endif
+
     struct whisper_context_params cparams = whisper_context_default_params();
 
     cparams.use_gpu    = params.use_gpu;
diff --git a/examples/stream/stream.cpp b/examples/stream/stream.cpp
index 65c6587db92..085a44fd9ef 100644
--- a/examples/stream/stream.cpp
+++ b/examples/stream/stream.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 #include "common.h"
 #include "common-whisper.h"
 #include "whisper.h"
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+#endif
 
 #include <chrono>
 #include <cstdio>
@@ -155,6 +158,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         exit(0);
     }
 
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    whisper_flat_backend_load_all();
+    #endif
+
     struct whisper_context_params cparams = whisper_context_default_params();
 
     cparams.use_gpu    = params.use_gpu;
diff --git a/examples/talk-llama/talk-llama.cpp b/examples/talk-llama/talk-llama.cpp
index 9097c491b61..21d3a950a8a 100644
--- a/examples/talk-llama/talk-llama.cpp
+++ b/examples/talk-llama/talk-llama.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 #include "common.h"
 #include "common-whisper.h"
 #include "whisper.h"
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+#endif
 #include "llama.h"
 
 #include <chrono>
@@ -287,6 +290,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     // whisper init
 
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    whisper_flat_backend_load_all();
+    #endif
+
     struct whisper_context_params cparams = whisper_context_default_params();
 
     cparams.use_gpu    = params.use_gpu;
diff --git a/examples/wchess/wchess.cmd/wchess.cmd.cpp b/examples/wchess/wchess.cmd/wchess.cmd.cpp
index 4d049976315..a1a154a9dcc 100644
--- a/examples/wchess/wchess.cmd/wchess.cmd.cpp
+++ b/examples/wchess/wchess.cmd/wchess.cmd.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 
 #include "WChess.h"
 #include "common-sdl.h"
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+#endif
 #include <iostream>
 
 #include <memory>
@@ -182,6 +185,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     // whisper init
 
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    whisper_flat_backend_load_all();
+    #endif
+
     struct whisper_context_params cparams = whisper_context_default_params();
 
     cparams.use_gpu    = params.use_gpu;
diff --git a/ggml/CMakeLists.txt b/ggml/CMakeLists.txt
index e632af010c7..703a2f694b9 100644
--- a/ggml/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ggml/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -361,17 +361,20 @@ install(FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ggml-config.cmake
               ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ggml-version.cmake
         DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/ggml)
 
-if (MSVC)
-    set(MSVC_WARNING_FLAGS
-        /wd4005  # Macro redefinition
-        /wd4244  # Conversion from one type to another type, possible loss of data
-        /wd4267  # Conversion from 'size_t' to a smaller type, possible loss of data
-    )
-    function(disable_msvc_warnings target_name)
-        target_compile_options(${target_name} PRIVATE ${MSVC_WARNING_FLAGS})
-    endfunction()
-
-    disable_msvc_warnings(ggml-base)
-    disable_msvc_warnings(ggml)
-    disable_msvc_warnings(ggml-cpu)
+### The following breaks GGML_CPU_ALL_VARIANTS ###
+if(NOT DEFINED GGML_CPU_ALL_VARIANTS)
+    if (MSVC)
+        set(MSVC_WARNING_FLAGS
+            /wd4005  # Macro redefinition
+            /wd4244  # Conversion from one type to another type, possible loss of data
+            /wd4267  # Conversion from 'size_t' to a smaller type, possible loss of data
+        )
+        function(disable_msvc_warnings target_name)
+            target_compile_options(${target_name} PRIVATE ${MSVC_WARNING_FLAGS})
+        endfunction()
+
+        disable_msvc_warnings(ggml-base)
+        disable_msvc_warnings(ggml)
+        disable_msvc_warnings(ggml-cpu)
+    endif()
 endif()
diff --git a/ggml/include/ggml-backend.h b/ggml/include/ggml-backend.h
index 64671495b38..65b7c14d64e 100644
--- a/ggml/include/ggml-backend.h
+++ b/ggml/include/ggml-backend.h
@@ -348,6 +348,7 @@ extern "C" {
     // CPU buffer types are always available
     GGML_API ggml_backend_buffer_t      ggml_backend_cpu_buffer_from_ptr(void * ptr, size_t size);
     GGML_API ggml_backend_buffer_type_t ggml_backend_cpu_buffer_type(void);
+    
 
 #ifdef  __cplusplus
 }
diff --git a/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt b/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 43d9fc4fe25..3fd0d93ef5e 100644
--- a/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -208,8 +208,22 @@ if (GGML_BACKEND_DL)
     target_compile_definitions(ggml-base PUBLIC GGML_BACKEND_DL)
 endif()
 
+set(GGML_LIBRARY_SOURCES
+    ggml-backend-reg.cpp)
+    
+if(BINDINGS_FLAT)
+    message(STATUS "Adding FLAT GGML binding extras")
+
+    set(FLAT_GGML_SOURCES
+       ggml-flat.cpp
+       )
+    list(APPEND GGML_LIBRARY_SOURCES ${FLAT_GGML_SOURCES})
+    add_compile_options(-DGGML_BINDINGS_FLAT)
+endif()
+
 add_library(ggml
-            ggml-backend-reg.cpp)
+            ${GGML_LIBRARY_SOURCES}
+            )
 
 target_link_libraries(ggml PUBLIC ggml-base)
 
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp
index 405d8e31514..183c5d68eeb 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@
 #    include <unistd.h>
 #endif
 
+#ifdef GGML_BINDINGS_FLAT
+#include "ggml-flat.h"
+#endif
+
 // Backend registry
 #ifdef GGML_USE_CPU
 #include "ggml-cpu.h"
@@ -105,6 +109,9 @@ struct dl_handle_deleter {
 
 static dl_handle * dl_load_library(const fs::path & path) {
     // suppress error dialogs for missing DLLs
+    #ifdef GGML_BINDINGS_FLAT // sbdbg
+    fprintf(stderr, "dl_load_library()%s",path.wstring().c_str()); // sbdbg
+    #endif // sbdbg
     DWORD old_mode = SetErrorMode(SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
     SetErrorMode(old_mode | SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
 
@@ -584,3 +591,11 @@ void ggml_backend_load_all_from_path(const char * dir_path) {
         ggml_backend_load(backend_path);
     }
 }
+
+#ifdef GGML_BINDINGS_FLAT
+ggml_backend_reg_t ggml_backend_try_load_best(const char * name, const char * dir_path) {
+    bool silent = true;
+    fprintf(stderr, "Performing ggml_backend_try_load_best(%s)\n", name);
+    return ggml_backend_load_best(name, silent, dir_path);
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-flat.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-flat.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3aa22e7ee3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-flat.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#ifndef NOMINMAX
+#   define NOMINMAX
+#endif
+#include <windows.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "ggml-backend.h"
+#include "ggml-backend-impl.h"
+#include "ggml-alloc.h"
+#include "ggml-impl.h"
+
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <limits.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+#include <algorithm>
+
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/sysctl.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "ggml-flat.h"
+
+#ifdef GGML_BINDINGS_FLAT
+//    ggml_backend_reg_t ggml_backend_try_load_best(const char * name, const char * dir_path);
+
+#endif
+
+
+
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-flat.h b/ggml/src/ggml-flat.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bb6bb1c055a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-flat.h
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+#endif
+
+#ifdef GGML_SHARED
+#    if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__MINGW32__)
+#        ifdef GGML_BUILD
+#            define GGML_FLAT_API __declspec(dllexport) extern
+#        else
+#            define GGML_FLAT_API __declspec(dllimport) extern
+#        endif
+#    else
+#        define GGML_FLAT_API __attribute__ ((visibility ("default"))) extern
+#    endif
+#else
+#    define GGML_FLAT_API extern
+#endif
+
+#ifdef  __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+    #ifdef GGML_BINDINGS_FLAT
+    GGML_FLAT_API ggml_backend_reg_t ggml_backend_try_load_best(const char * name, const char * dir_path);
+    #endif
+
+#ifdef  __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-opencl/ggml-opencl.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-opencl/ggml-opencl.cpp
index 05a2f4e630a..b2c5c3a4979 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-opencl/ggml-opencl.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-opencl/ggml-opencl.cpp
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@
 #define CL_USE_DEPRECATED_OPENCL_1_2_APIS
 
 // suppress warnings in CL headers for GCC and Clang
-#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Woverlength-strings"
-#ifdef __clang__
-#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wgnu-anonymous-struct"
+#ifndef _MSC_VER
+    #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Woverlength-strings"
+    #ifdef __clang__
+    #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wgnu-anonymous-struct"
+    #endif
 #endif
 
 #include "ggml-opencl.h"
diff --git a/include/whisper.h b/include/whisper.h
index 1e1375033ad..bcd448b8240 100644
--- a/include/whisper.h
+++ b/include/whisper.h
@@ -668,6 +668,30 @@ extern "C" {
     // Get the no_speech probability for the specified segment
     WHISPER_API float whisper_full_get_segment_no_speech_prob           (struct whisper_context * ctx, int i_segment);
     WHISPER_API float whisper_full_get_segment_no_speech_prob_from_state(struct whisper_state * state, int i_segment);
+
+    // For whisper-flat.cpp to expose
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    struct whisper_activity {
+        float sample_ms;
+        float encode_ms;
+        float decode_ms;
+        float batchd_ms;
+        float prompt_ms;
+        int32_t n_sample = 0; // number of tokens sampled
+        int32_t n_encode = 0; // number of encoder calls
+        int32_t n_decode = 0; // number of decoder calls with n_tokens == 1  (text-generation)
+        int32_t n_batchd = 0; // number of decoder calls with n_tokens <  16 (batch decoding)
+        int32_t n_prompt = 0; // number of decoder calls with n_tokens >  1  (prompt encoding)
+    };
+
+    const char * whisper_get_system_info_json(void);
+    struct whisper_state * whisper_get_state_from_context(struct whisper_context * ctx);
+    struct whisper_activity * whisper_get_activity_with_state(struct whisper_state * state);
+    ggml_backend_t whisper_get_preferred_backend(struct whisper_state * state);
+    ggml_backend_t whisper_get_indexed_backend(struct whisper_state* state, size_t i);
+    size_t whisper_get_backend_count(struct whisper_state* state);
+    #endif
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index a091e66a25f..2509517ce99 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -100,10 +100,25 @@ endif()
 
 # whisper
 
+set(WHISPER_LIBRARY_SOURCES
+    ../include/whisper.h
+    whisper-arch.h
+    whisper.cpp
+    )
+    
+if(BINDINGS_FLAT)
+    message(STATUS "Adding FLAT Whisper binding extras")
+
+    set(FLAT_WHISPER_SOURCES
+       whisper-flat.cpp
+       )
+       
+    list(APPEND WHISPER_LIBRARY_SOURCES ${FLAT_WHISPER_SOURCES})
+    set(WHISPER_EXTRA_FLAGS ${WHISPER_EXTRA_FLAGS} -DBINDINGS_FLAT)
+endif()
+
 add_library(whisper
-            ../include/whisper.h
-            whisper-arch.h
-            whisper.cpp
+            ${WHISPER_LIBRARY_SOURCES}
             )
 
 # Set the version numbers
diff --git a/src/whisper-flat.cpp b/src/whisper-flat.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9b8474af9f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/whisper-flat.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+#include "whisper.h"
+#include "whisper-arch.h"
+
+#include "ggml.h"
+#include "ggml-cpp.h"
+#include "ggml-alloc.h"
+#include "ggml-backend.h"
+
+#include <atomic>
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <cassert>
+#define _USE_MATH_DEFINES
+#include <cmath>
+#include <climits>
+#include <codecvt>
+#include <cstdarg>
+#include <cstdio>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <functional>
+#include <map>
+#include <mutex>
+#include <random>
+#include <regex>
+#include <set>
+#include <string>
+#include <thread>
+#include <vector>
+
+#include "whisper-flat.h"
+
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+void whisper_flat_backend_load_all(void) {
+    ggml_backend_load_all();
+}
+
+const char * whisper_flat_get_system_info_json(void) {
+    return whisper_get_system_info_json();
+}
+
+struct whisper_state * whisper_flat_get_state_from_context(struct whisper_context * ctx) {
+    return whisper_get_state_from_context(ctx);
+}
+
+struct whisper_activity * whisper_flat_get_activity_with_state(struct whisper_state * state) {
+    return whisper_get_activity_with_state(state);
+}
+
+ggml_backend_t whisper_flat_get_preferred_backend(struct whisper_state * state) {
+    return whisper_get_preferred_backend(state);
+}
+
+ggml_backend_t whisper_flat_get_indexed_backend(struct whisper_state* state, size_t i) {
+    return whisper_get_indexed_backend(state, i);
+}
+
+size_t whisper_flat_get_backend_count(struct whisper_state* state) {
+    return whisper_get_backend_count(state);
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/src/whisper-flat.h b/src/whisper-flat.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..39429405211
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/whisper-flat.h
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#ifdef WHISPER_SHARED
+#    ifdef _WIN32
+#        ifdef WHISPER_BUILD
+#            define WHISPER_FLAT_API __declspec(dllexport)
+#        else
+#            define WHISPER_FLAT_API __declspec(dllimport)
+#        endif
+#    else
+#        define WHISPER_FLAT_API __attribute__ ((visibility ("default")))
+#    endif
+#else
+#    define WHISPER_FLAT_API
+#endif
+
+#include "whisper.h"
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+    #ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+    WHISPER_FLAT_API void whisper_flat_backend_load_all(void);
+    WHISPER_FLAT_API struct whisper_activity * whisper_flat_get_activity_with_state(struct whisper_state * state);
+    WHISPER_FLAT_API struct whisper_state * whisper_flat_get_state_from_context(struct whisper_context * ctx);
+    WHISPER_FLAT_API const char * whisper_flat_get_system_info_json(void);
+    WHISPER_FLAT_API ggml_backend_t whisper_flat_get_preferred_backend(struct whisper_state * state);
+    WHISPER_FLAT_API ggml_backend_t whisper_flat_get_indexed_backend(struct whisper_state* state, size_t i);
+    WHISPER_FLAT_API size_t whisper_flat_get_backend_count(struct whisper_state* state);
+    #endif
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
diff --git a/src/whisper.cpp b/src/whisper.cpp
index 53b0759238d..0da8350d6cc 100644
--- a/src/whisper.cpp
+++ b/src/whisper.cpp
@@ -208,14 +208,14 @@ static bool ggml_graph_compute_helper(
     return t;
 }
 
+#ifndef BINDINGS_FLAT
 static void whisper_load_backends() {
-#ifdef GGML_BACKEND_DL
     static std::once_flag flag;
     std::call_once(flag, []() {
         ggml_backend_load_all();
     });
-#endif
 }
+#endif
 
 // TODO: move these functions to ggml-base with support for ggml-backend?
 
@@ -1313,14 +1313,19 @@ static size_t aheads_masks_nbytes(struct whisper_aheads_masks & aheads_masks) {
 static ggml_backend_t whisper_backend_init_gpu(const whisper_context_params & params) {
     ggml_log_set(g_state.log_callback, g_state.log_callback_user_data);
 
+    #ifndef BINDINGS_FLAT
     whisper_load_backends();
-
+    #endif
+    
     ggml_backend_dev_t dev = nullptr;
 
     int cnt = 0;
     if (params.use_gpu) {
         for (size_t i = 0; i < ggml_backend_dev_count(); ++i) {
             ggml_backend_dev_t dev_cur = ggml_backend_dev_get(i);
+            if(dev_cur == nullptr) {
+                continue;
+            }
             if (ggml_backend_dev_type(dev_cur) == GGML_BACKEND_DEVICE_TYPE_GPU) {
                 if (cnt == 0 || cnt == params.gpu_device) {
                     dev = dev_cur;
@@ -1359,6 +1364,9 @@ static std::vector<ggml_backend_t> whisper_backend_init(const whisper_context_pa
     // ACCEL backends
     for (size_t i = 0; i < ggml_backend_dev_count(); ++i) {
         ggml_backend_dev_t dev = ggml_backend_dev_get(i);
+        if(dev == nullptr) {
+            continue;
+        }
         if (ggml_backend_dev_type(dev) == GGML_BACKEND_DEVICE_TYPE_ACCEL) {
             WHISPER_LOG_INFO("%s: using %s backend\n", __func__, ggml_backend_dev_name(dev));
             ggml_backend_t backend = ggml_backend_dev_init(dev, nullptr);
@@ -1390,6 +1398,9 @@ static buft_list_t make_buft_list(whisper_context_params & params) {
         int cnt = 0;
         for (size_t i = 0; i < ggml_backend_dev_count(); ++i) {
             ggml_backend_dev_t dev = ggml_backend_dev_get(i);
+            if(dev == nullptr) {
+                continue;
+            }
             if (ggml_backend_dev_type(dev) == GGML_BACKEND_DEVICE_TYPE_GPU) {
                 if (cnt == 0 || cnt == params.gpu_device) {
                     auto * buft = ggml_backend_dev_buffer_type(dev);
@@ -4321,7 +4332,9 @@ static int whisper_has_openvino(void) {
 const char * whisper_print_system_info(void) {
     static std::string s;
 
+    #ifndef BINDINGS_FLAT
     whisper_load_backends();
+    #endif
 
     s  = "";
     s += "WHISPER : ";
@@ -6776,7 +6789,9 @@ WHISPER_API int whisper_bench_ggml_mul_mat(int n_threads) {
 }
 
 WHISPER_API const char * whisper_bench_ggml_mul_mat_str(int n_threads) {
+    #ifndef BINDINGS_FLAT
     whisper_load_backends();
+    #endif
 
     static std::string s;
     s = "";
@@ -7550,3 +7565,108 @@ static void whisper_log_callback_default(ggml_log_level level, const char * text
     fputs(text, stderr);
     fflush(stderr);
 }
+
+#ifdef BINDINGS_FLAT
+// whisper_get_system_info_json
+// Returns system info as json, useful for language bindings
+// NOTE : While testing features->value always returned an int.
+//        Even though ints are invariably returned they may be
+//        some values that return other types.
+//        This function returns everything quoted (i.e. as a string)
+//        and leaves type-casting to the caller.
+//        This also removes the unlikely but plausible state of
+//        a string being returned unquoted (thus invalidating JSON)
+
+const char * whisper_get_system_info_json(void) {
+    static std::string s;
+
+    s  = "{";
+    s += "\"WHISPER\":{";
+    s += "\"COREML\":\""    + std::to_string(whisper_has_coreml())     + "\",";
+    s += "\"OPENVINO\":\""  + std::to_string(whisper_has_openvino())   + "\"}";
+
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < ggml_backend_reg_count(); i++) {
+        auto * reg = ggml_backend_reg_get(i);
+        auto * get_features_fn = (ggml_backend_get_features_t) ggml_backend_reg_get_proc_address(reg, "ggml_backend_get_features");
+        if (get_features_fn) {
+            ggml_backend_feature * features = get_features_fn(reg);
+            s += ",\"";
+            s += ggml_backend_reg_name(reg);
+            s += "\":{";
+            auto first = true;
+            for (; features->name; features++) {
+                if(first) {
+                    first = false;
+                } else {
+                    s += ",";
+                }
+                s += "\"";
+                s += features->name;
+                s += "\":\"";
+                s += features->value;
+                s += "\"";
+            }
+            s += "}";
+        }
+    }
+    s += "}";
+
+    return s.c_str();
+}
+
+// whisper_get_state_from_context
+// Returns state from supplied context pointer
+// This is mainly a helper for non-C++ language bindings as whisper_context
+// has embedded C++ specific types (e.g. maps and vectors)
+struct whisper_state * whisper_get_state_from_context(struct whisper_context * ctx) {
+    if (!ctx->state) {
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
+    return ctx->state;
+}
+
+// whisper_get_activity_with_state
+// As the data is in a c++ specific struct
+struct whisper_activity * whisper_get_activity_with_state(struct whisper_state * state) {
+    if (state == nullptr) {
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+    whisper_activity * activity = new whisper_activity;
+
+    activity->sample_ms = 1e-3f * state->t_sample_us / std::max(1, state->n_sample);
+    activity->encode_ms = 1e-3f * state->t_encode_us / std::max(1, state->n_encode);
+    activity->decode_ms = 1e-3f * state->t_decode_us / std::max(1, state->n_decode);
+    activity->batchd_ms = 1e-3f * state->t_batchd_us / std::max(1, state->n_batchd);
+    activity->prompt_ms = 1e-3f * state->t_prompt_us / std::max(1, state->n_prompt);
+    activity->n_sample = state->n_sample;
+    activity->n_encode = state->n_encode;
+    activity->n_decode = state->n_decode;
+    activity->n_batchd = state->n_batchd;
+    activity->n_prompt = state->n_prompt;
+
+    return activity;
+}
+
+ggml_backend_t whisper_get_preferred_backend(struct whisper_state * state) {
+    if (state->backends.empty()) {
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+    
+    return state->backends[0];
+}
+
+ggml_backend_t whisper_get_indexed_backend(struct whisper_state* state, size_t i) {
+    if (state->backends.empty()) {
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+    if (i >= state->backends.size()) {
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+    return state->backends[i];
+}
+
+size_t whisper_get_backend_count(struct whisper_state* state) {
+    return state->backends.size();
+}
+#endif