diff --git a/docs/python/readwrite.rst b/docs/python/readwrite.rst
index 402e0be9d9f4c6ee7a7645ad1fff4e55ca3eb511..2f4e5afe3e44e1f27e118532e14739afa52155ae 100644
--- a/docs/python/readwrite.rst
+++ b/docs/python/readwrite.rst
@@ -111,4 +111,16 @@ References
 
 .. autofunction:: read_phys_origin
 
-.. autofunction:: write_genericio
\ No newline at end of file
+.. autofunction:: write_genericio
+
+.. autoclass:: FileIO
+   :noindex:
+
+.. autoclass:: MismatchBehavior
+   :noindex:
+
+.. autofunction:: setDefaultShouldCompress
+
+.. autofunction:: setNaturalDefaultPartition
+
+.. autofunction:: setCollectiveMPIIOThreshold
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/python/genericio.cpp b/python/genericio.cpp
index 089951b3030966e489ebbe87cd12827706e8b939..53df6f5502cec0c448fe6eb2b86e38315c10fc57 100644
--- a/python/genericio.cpp
+++ b/python/genericio.cpp
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ PYBIND11_MODULE(pygio, m) {
 
   py::class_<PyGenericIO> pyGenericIO(m, "PyGenericIO");
 
+  // ENUMS
   py::enum_<PyGenericIO::FileIO>(pyGenericIO, "FileIO")
     .value("FileIOMPI", PyGenericIO::FileIO::FileIOMPI)
     .value("FileIOPOSIX", PyGenericIO::FileIO::FileIOPOSIX)
@@ -369,8 +370,12 @@ PYBIND11_MODULE(pygio, m) {
       .def("read_variable_names", &PyGenericIO::read_variable_names)
       .def("read_variable_dtypes", &PyGenericIO::read_variable_dtypes)
       .def("get_source_ranks", &PyGenericIO::getSourceRanks)
+      .def_static("setDefaultShouldCompress", &PyGenericIO::setDefaultShouldCompress)
+      .def_static("setNaturalDefaultPartition", &PyGenericIO::setNaturalDefaultPartition)
+      .def_static("setDefaultFileIOType", &PyGenericIO::setDefaultFileIOType)
 #ifndef GENERICIO_NO_MPI
       .def("rebalance_source_ranks", &PyGenericIO::rebalanceSourceRanks)
+      .def_static("setCollectiveMPIIOThreshold", &PyGenericIO::setCollectiveMPIIOThreshold)
 #endif
       ;
 
diff --git a/python/pygio/__init__.py b/python/pygio/__init__.py
index 17ea2496000907a2e0df98cf6f9f13f8129b320b..ce4f4fbd7658223b197b333cd2b928aa52e0d4a9 100644
--- a/python/pygio/__init__.py
+++ b/python/pygio/__init__.py
@@ -2,19 +2,39 @@ from __future__ import print_function
 import os
 
 _GENERICIO_NO_MPI = False
-if 'GENERICIO_NO_MPI' in os.environ:
-    _GENERICIO_NO_MPI = os.environ['GENERICIO_NO_MPI'].lower() in ['true', 'yes', 'y']
+if "GENERICIO_NO_MPI" in os.environ:
+    _GENERICIO_NO_MPI = os.environ["GENERICIO_NO_MPI"].lower() in ["true", "yes", "y"]
 
 if _GENERICIO_NO_MPI:
-    print("WARNING: the pygio module without MPI support has been loaded (due to the GENERICIO_NO_MPI env variable). Writing GenericIO files not supported.")
+    print(
+        "WARNING: the pygio module without MPI support has been loaded (due to the GENERICIO_NO_MPI env variable). Writing GenericIO files not supported."
+    )
     from .pygio_nompi import *
 
 else:
     # try to load the MPI library (or the no-mpi library, in case of missing MPI during compilation)
     from . import pygio as _pygio
+
     try:
         _pygio._init_mpi()
     except:
-        print("WARNING: The pygio module has been compiled without MPI support. Writing GenericIO files not supported.")
+        print(
+            "WARNING: The pygio module has been compiled without MPI support. Writing GenericIO files not supported."
+        )
+        _GENERICIO_NO_MPI = True
+    from .pygio import *
+
+
+# move some ENUMs and static functions up to the module namespace
+FileIO = PyGenericIO.FileIO
+MismatchBehavior = PyGenericIO.MismatchBehavior
+setDefaultShouldCompress = PyGenericIO.setDefaultShouldCompress
+setNaturalDefaultPartition = PyGenericIO.setNaturalDefaultPartition
+setDefaultFileIOType = PyGenericIO.setDefaultFileIOType
+if not _GENERICIO_NO_MPI:
+    setCollectiveMPIIOThreshold = PyGenericIO.setCollectiveMPIIOThreshold
 
-    from .pygio import *
\ No newline at end of file
+# sensible defaults?
+if not _GENERICIO_NO_MPI:
+    setNaturalDefaultPartition()
+    setDefaultFileIOType(FileIO.FileIOMPICollective)