diff --git a/pods b/pods
index a0418d66..e71ae00d 160000
--- a/pods
+++ b/pods
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit a0418d66229ec8cbf75ba44bd2abb0cf724deaa7
+Subproject commit e71ae00d032c2af9b1e218835107f243f0ab9049
diff --git a/sci b/sci
index d5ec2099..af30be05 160000
--- a/sci
+++ b/sci
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit d5ec2099315ed8dc0321ba4444ca2b9638e05e6e
+Subproject commit af30be059583c498b5deb65647131ae7b78f5669
diff --git a/src/babashka/impl/pods.clj b/src/babashka/impl/pods.clj
index 28911127..d7e579f2 100644
--- a/src/babashka/impl/pods.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/impl/pods.clj
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 (ns babashka.impl.pods
   {:no-doc true}
   (:refer-clojure :exclude [read])
-  (:require [babashka.pods.sci :as pods]))
+  (:require [babashka.impl.common :refer [ctx]]
+            [babashka.pods.sci :as pods]))
 
 (def pods-namespace
-  {'load-pod (with-meta pods/load-pod
-               {:sci.impl/op :needs-ctx})
+  {'load-pod (fn [& args]
+               (apply pods/load-pod @ctx args))
    'invoke pods/invoke
    'unload-pod pods/unload-pod})
diff --git a/src/babashka/impl/test.clj b/src/babashka/impl/test.clj
index 7ce6acdf..331b72a5 100644
--- a/src/babashka/impl/test.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/impl/test.clj
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 (ns babashka.impl.test
-  (:require  [babashka.impl.clojure.test :as t]
-             [sci.core :as sci]))
+  (:require [babashka.impl.clojure.test :as t]
+            [babashka.impl.common :refer [ctx]]))
 
 (defn macrofy [v]
   (with-meta v {:sci/macro true}))
 
-(defn contextualize [v]
-  (with-meta v {:sci.impl/op :needs-ctx}))
+(defn contextualize [f]
+  (fn [& args]
+    (apply f @ctx args)))
 
 (def clojure-test-namespace
   {'*load-tests* t/load-tests
@@ -33,8 +34,7 @@
                {:sci/macro true})
    ;; assertion macros
    'is (with-meta @#'t/is
-         {;; :sci.impl/op :needs-ctx
-          :sci/macro true})
+         {:sci/macro true})
    'are (macrofy @#'t/are)
    'testing (macrofy @#'t/testing)
    ;; defining tests
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@
    ;; running tests: low level
    'test-var t/test-var
    'test-vars t/test-vars
-   'test-all-vars (with-meta t/test-all-vars {:sci.impl/op :needs-ctx})
-   'test-ns (with-meta t/test-ns {:sci.impl/op :needs-ctx})
+   'test-all-vars (contextualize t/test-all-vars)
+   'test-ns (contextualize t/test-ns)
    ;; running tests: high level
    'run-tests (contextualize t/run-tests)
    'run-all-tests (contextualize t/run-all-tests)
diff --git a/src/babashka/main.clj b/src/babashka/main.clj
index 89cc05b6..d2d5f123 100644
--- a/src/babashka/main.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/main.clj
@@ -308,15 +308,12 @@ If neither -e, -f, or --socket-repl are specified, then the first argument that
 
 (def reflection-var (sci/new-dynamic-var '*warn-on-reflection* false))
 
-(def load-file*
-  (with-meta
-    (fn [sci-ctx f]
-      (let [f (io/file f)
-            s (slurp f)]
-        (sci/with-bindings {sci/ns @sci/ns
-                            sci/file (.getAbsolutePath f)}
-          (sci/eval-string* sci-ctx s))))
-    {:sci.impl/op :needs-ctx}))
+(defn load-file* [f]
+  (let [f (io/file f)
+        s (slurp f)]
+    (sci/with-bindings {sci/ns @sci/ns
+                        sci/file (.getAbsolutePath f)}
+      (sci/eval-string* @common/ctx s))))
 
 (defn start-socket-repl! [address ctx]
   (socket-repl/start-repl! address ctx)
@@ -544,10 +541,9 @@ If neither -e, -f, or --socket-repl are specified, then the first argument that
                                                      (when-not stream?
                                                        {:sci.impl/deref! true}))] input-var)
                                   (assoc-in ['clojure.main 'repl]
-                                            ^{:sci.impl/op :needs-ctx}
-                                            (fn [ctx & opts]
+                                            (fn [& opts]
                                               (let [opts (apply hash-map opts)]
-                                                (repl/start-repl! ctx opts)))))
+                                                (repl/start-repl! @common/ctx opts)))))
                   :env env
                   :features #{:bb :clj}
                   :classes classes/class-map
diff --git a/test/babashka/main_test.clj b/test/babashka/main_test.clj
index 68c6e29b..2890309c 100644
--- a/test/babashka/main_test.clj
+++ b/test/babashka/main_test.clj
@@ -465,7 +465,10 @@
       (is v))))
 
 (deftest download-and-extract-test
-  (is (try (= 6 (bb nil (io/file "test" "babashka" "scripts" "download_and_extract_zip.bb")))
+  ;; Disabled because Github throttles bandwidth and this makes for a very slow test.
+  ;; TODO: refactor into individual unit tests
+  ;; One for downloading a small file and one for unzipping.
+  #_(is (try (= 6 (bb nil (io/file "test" "babashka" "scripts" "download_and_extract_zip.bb")))
            (catch Exception e
              (is (str/includes? (str e) "timed out"))))))