diff --git a/include/weaseljson.h b/include/weaseljson.h
index 1442376..93d734b 100644
--- a/include/weaseljson.h
+++ b/include/weaseljson.h
@@ -36,13 +36,18 @@ enum WeaselJsonStatus {
 
 typedef struct WeaselJsonParser WeaselJsonParser;
 
+enum WeaselJsonFlags {
+  /** Do not unescape strings or write to the supplied buffer at all. */
+  WeaselJsonRaw = 1,
+};
+
 /** Create a parser. Increasing stack size increases memory usage but also
  * increases the depth of nested json accepted. `callbacks` and `userdata` must
  * outlive the returned parser. Returns null if there's insufficient available
  * memory */
 WeaselJsonParser *WeaselJsonParser_create(int stackSize,
                                           const WeaselJsonCallbacks *callbacks,
-                                          void *userdata);
+                                          void *userdata, int flags);
 
 /** Restore the parser to its newly-created state */
 void WeaselJsonParser_reset(WeaselJsonParser *parser);
diff --git a/src/fuzz.cpp b/src/fuzz.cpp
index af3afdf..713c9f1 100644
--- a/src/fuzz.cpp
+++ b/src/fuzz.cpp
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ std::pair<std::string, WeaselJsonStatus> runStreaming(std::string copy,
   SerializeState state;
   auto c = serializeCallbacks();
   std::unique_ptr<WeaselJsonParser, decltype(&WeaselJsonParser_destroy)> parser{
-      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
+      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
   if (stride == 0) {
     auto s = WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser.get(), copy.data(), copy.size());
     if (s != WeaselJson_AGAIN) {
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ std::pair<std::string, WeaselJsonStatus> runBatch(std::string copy) {
   SerializeState state;
   auto c = serializeCallbacks();
   std::unique_ptr<WeaselJsonParser, decltype(&WeaselJsonParser_destroy)> parser{
-      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
+      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
   auto s = WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser.get(), copy.data(), copy.size());
   if (s != WeaselJson_AGAIN) {
     return {state.result, s};
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ std::pair<std::string, WeaselJsonStatus> runPrefix(std::string copy,
   SerializeState state;
   auto c = serializeCallbacks();
   std::unique_ptr<WeaselJsonParser, decltype(&WeaselJsonParser_destroy)> parser{
-      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
+      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
   auto s = WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser.get(), copy.data(), prefix);
   if (s != WeaselJson_AGAIN) {
     return {state.result, s};
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ void compareWithSimdjson(std::string const &json) {
     auto copy = json;
     auto c = noopCallbacks();
     std::unique_ptr<WeaselJsonParser, decltype(&WeaselJsonParser_destroy)>
-        parser{WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr),
+        parser{WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr, 0),
                WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
     ours = WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser.get(), copy.data(), copy.size());
     if (ours == WeaselJson_AGAIN) {
diff --git a/src/json_value.h b/src/json_value.h
index 496ed35..76b79f9 100644
--- a/src/json_value.h
+++ b/src/json_value.h
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ inline std::optional<JsonValue> toValue(std::string copy, int stride) {
   ReadValueState state;
   auto c = readValueCallbacks();
   std::unique_ptr<WeaselJsonParser, decltype(&WeaselJsonParser_destroy)> parser{
-      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
+      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
   if (stride == 0) {
     if (WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser.get(), copy.data(), copy.size()) !=
         WeaselJson_AGAIN) {
diff --git a/src/lib.cpp b/src/lib.cpp
index 24040f5..8b8b277 100644
--- a/src/lib.cpp
+++ b/src/lib.cpp
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ extern "C" {
 
 __attribute__((visibility("default"))) WeaselJsonParser *
 WeaselJsonParser_create(int stackSize, const WeaselJsonCallbacks *callbacks,
-                        void *userdata) {
+                        void *userdata, int flags) {
   auto *buf = malloc(sizeof(Parser3) + stackSize * sizeof(*Parser3::stackPtr));
   if (buf == nullptr) {
     return nullptr;
diff --git a/src/test.cpp b/src/test.cpp
index ee8f1d7..a263009 100644
--- a/src/test.cpp
+++ b/src/test.cpp
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ void testStreaming(std::string const &json) {
   auto c = serializeCallbacks();
   {
     auto copy = json;
-    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &streaming);
+    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &streaming, 0);
     for (size_t i = 0; i < copy.size(); ++i) {
       REQUIRE(WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser, copy.data() + i, 1) ==
               WeaselJson_AGAIN);
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ void testStreaming(std::string const &json) {
   }
   {
     auto copy = json;
-    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &batch);
+    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &batch, 0);
     REQUIRE(WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser, copy.data(), copy.size()) ==
             WeaselJson_AGAIN);
     REQUIRE(WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser, nullptr, 0) == WeaselJson_OK);
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ TEST_CASE("parser3") {
   SerializeState state;
   {
     auto copy = json;
-    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state);
+    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0);
     for (size_t i = 0; i < copy.size(); ++i) {
       REQUIRE(WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser, copy.data() + i, 1) ==
               WeaselJson_AGAIN);
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ TEST_CASE("parser3") {
   }
   {
     std::string copy = "{\"x\": [], \"y\": {}}";
-    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state);
+    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0);
     for (size_t i = 0; i < copy.size(); ++i) {
       REQUIRE(WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser, copy.data() + i, 1) ==
               WeaselJson_AGAIN);
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ TEST_CASE("parser3") {
   {
     auto c = noopCallbacks();
     std::string copy = "{\"a\":\"a";
-    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state);
+    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0);
     for (size_t i = 0; i < copy.size(); ++i) {
       REQUIRE(WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser, copy.data() + i, 1) ==
               WeaselJson_AGAIN);
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ TEST_CASE("parser3") {
   {
     auto c = noopCallbacks();
     std::string copy = "[";
-    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state);
+    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &state, 0);
     for (size_t i = 0; i < copy.size(); ++i) {
       REQUIRE(WeaselJsonParser_parse(parser, copy.data() + i, 1) ==
               WeaselJson_AGAIN);
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ void doTestUnescapingUtf8(std::string const &escaped,
     auto &s = *(std::string *)p;
     s.append(buf, len);
   };
-  auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &result);
+  auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, &result, 0);
   auto copy = escaped;
   for (size_t i = 0; i < copy.size(); i += stride) {
     CAPTURE(i);
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ TEST_CASE("bench3") {
   ankerl::nanobench::Bench bench;
   bench.batch(json.size());
   bench.unit("byte");
-  auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr);
+  auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr, 0);
   for (size_t stride = 128; stride <= json.size(); stride *= 2) {
     bench.run("parser3 (stride: " + std::to_string(stride) + ")", [&]() {
       auto copy = json;
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ TEST_CASE("bench input types") {
       bench.doNotOptimizeAway(doc);
     });
 
-    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr);
+    auto *parser = WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr, 0);
     bench.run("parser3 " + name, [&]() {
       auto copy = json;
       WeaselJsonParser_reset(parser);
diff --git a/src/validate.cpp b/src/validate.cpp
index 42425da..abbd2fa 100644
--- a/src/validate.cpp
+++ b/src/validate.cpp
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   }
   auto c = noopCallbacks();
   std::unique_ptr<WeaselJsonParser, decltype(&WeaselJsonParser_destroy)> parser{
-      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
+      WeaselJsonParser_create(1024, &c, nullptr, 0), WeaselJsonParser_destroy};
   for (;;) {
     char buf[1024];
     int l = read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
diff --git a/weaseljson.py b/weaseljson.py
index 405e10c..a39d953 100644
--- a/weaseljson.py
+++ b/weaseljson.py
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ class WeaselJsonParser:
             ctypes.c_int,
             ctypes.POINTER(WeaselJsonCallbacks),
             ctypes.c_void_p,
+            ctypes.c_int,
         )
         self._lib.WeaselJsonParser_create.restype = ctypes.c_void_p
         self._lib.WeaselJsonParser_reset.argtypes = (ctypes.c_void_p,)
@@ -110,6 +111,7 @@ class WeaselJsonParser:
             stackSize,
             c_callbacks,
             self.voidp_callbacks,
+            0,
         )
 
     def parse(self, data: bytes) -> WeaselJsonStatus: