Previously I could do the following \starttext \startMPenvironment[+]\switchtobodyfont[small]\stopMPenvironment \startMPpage % metafont code \stopMPpage \stoptext \endinput This is called by context --run --once etc. producing the figure and in this case modifying the font to a smaller size. Note, the context call occurs on the fly inside a \directlua{{os.execute(..)}. You may find this complicated, but it works for me and I would rather like not having to change may things all over the place. Now I learn from the ConTeXtgarden that startMPenvironment is deprecated and that I should use defineMPinstance and setupMPinstance instead. Thus I tried \defineMPinstance[mp:local][metafun][setups=mp:smallfont,textcolor=red] \startsetups mp:smallfont \switchtobodyfont[small] \stopsetups \startMPpage and also \startMPpage[mp:local] % metafont code \stopMPpage \stoptext \endinput But nothing happens. How do I get the effect earlier obtained with startMPenvironment without having to rely an a deprecated macro? Hans van der Meer