diff --git a/earwigbot/bot.py b/earwigbot/bot.py
index 42f3b89..a005ac6 100644
--- a/earwigbot/bot.py
+++ b/earwigbot/bot.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ from earwigbot.commands import CommandManager
 from earwigbot.config import BotConfig
 from earwigbot.irc import Frontend, Watcher
 from earwigbot.tasks import TaskManager
+from earwigbot.wiki import SitesDBManager
 
 __all__ = ["Bot"]
 
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ class Bot(object):
         self.logger = logging.getLogger("earwigbot")
         self.commands = CommandManager(self)
         self.tasks = TaskManager(self)
+        self.wiki = SitesDBManager(self.config)
         self.frontend = None
         self.watcher = None
 
@@ -100,12 +102,13 @@ class Bot(object):
             sleep(5)
 
     def run(self):
-        self.config.load()
-        self.config.decrypt(config.wiki, "password")
-        self.config.decrypt(config.wiki, "search", "credentials", "key")
-        self.config.decrypt(config.wiki, "search", "credentials", "secret")
-        self.config.decrypt(config.irc, "frontend", "nickservPassword")
-        self.config.decrypt(config.irc, "watcher", "nickservPassword")       
+        config = self.config
+        config.load()
+        config.decrypt(config.wiki, "password")
+        config.decrypt(config.wiki, "search", "credentials", "key")
+        config.decrypt(config.wiki, "search", "credentials", "secret")
+        config.decrypt(config.irc, "frontend", "nickservPassword")
+        config.decrypt(config.irc, "watcher", "nickservPassword")
         self.commands.load()
         self.tasks.load()
         self._start_irc_components()
@@ -121,6 +124,7 @@ class Bot(object):
             self._start_irc_components()
 
     def stop(self):
-        self._stop_irc_components()
+        with self.component_lock:
+            self._stop_irc_components()
         self._keep_looping = False
         sleep(3)  # Give a few seconds to finish closing IRC connections
diff --git a/earwigbot/commands/__init__.py b/earwigbot/commands/__init__.py
index a22fcf6..ba09eac 100644
--- a/earwigbot/commands/__init__.py
+++ b/earwigbot/commands/__init__.py
@@ -58,9 +58,10 @@ class BaseCommand(object):
         super(Command, self).__init__() first.
         """
         self.bot = bot
+        self.config = bot.config
         self.logger = bot.commands.getLogger(self.name)
 
-    def _execute(self, data):
+    def _wrap_process(self, data):
         """Make a quick connection alias and then process() the message."""
         self.connection = self.bot.frontend
         self.process(data)
@@ -158,7 +159,7 @@ class CommandManager(object):
                 if hook in command.hooks:
                     if command.check(data):
                         try:
-                            command._execute(data)
+                            command._wrap_process(data)
                         except Exception:
                             e = "Error executing command '{0}':"
                             self.logger.exception(e.format(data.command))
diff --git a/earwigbot/commands/afc_status.py b/earwigbot/commands/afc_status.py
index a475caf..f03bf98 100644
--- a/earwigbot/commands/afc_status.py
+++ b/earwigbot/commands/afc_status.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import re
 
 from earwigbot import wiki
 from earwigbot.commands import BaseCommand
-from earwigbot.config import config
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     """Get the number of pending AfC submissions, open redirect requests, and
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
         try:
             if data.line[1] == "JOIN" and data.chan == "#wikipedia-en-afc":
-                if data.nick != config.irc["frontend"]["nick"]:
+                if data.nick != self.config.irc["frontend"]["nick"]:
                     return True
         except IndexError:
             pass
diff --git a/earwigbot/commands/chanops.py b/earwigbot/commands/chanops.py
index dd59353..1bec2d6 100644
--- a/earwigbot/commands/chanops.py
+++ b/earwigbot/commands/chanops.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 # SOFTWARE.
 
 from earwigbot.commands import BaseCommand
-from earwigbot.config import config
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     """Voice, devoice, op, or deop users in the channel."""
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
             self.connection.reply(data, msg)
             return
 
-        if data.host not in config.irc["permissions"]["admins"]:
+        if data.host not in self.config.irc["permissions"]["admins"]:
             msg = "you must be a bot admin to use this command."
             self.connection.reply(data, msg)
             return
diff --git a/earwigbot/commands/ctcp.py b/earwigbot/commands/ctcp.py
index 80b56e2..6641d7e 100644
--- a/earwigbot/commands/ctcp.py
+++ b/earwigbot/commands/ctcp.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import time
 
 from earwigbot import __version__
 from earwigbot.commands import BaseCommand
-from earwigbot.config import config
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     """Not an actual command, this module is used to respond to the CTCP
@@ -63,7 +62,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
         elif command == "VERSION":
             default = "EarwigBot - $1 - Python/$2 https://github.com/earwig/earwigbot"
-            vers = config.irc.get("version", default)
+            vers = self.config.irc.get("version", default)
             vers = vers.replace("$1", __version__)
             vers = vers.replace("$2", platform.python_version())
             self.connection.notice(target, "\x01VERSION {0}\x01".format(vers))
diff --git a/earwigbot/commands/git.py b/earwigbot/commands/git.py
index dfd9aba..c86ff70 100644
--- a/earwigbot/commands/git.py
+++ b/earwigbot/commands/git.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import subprocess
 import re
 
 from earwigbot.commands import BaseCommand
-from earwigbot.config import config
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     """Commands to interface with the bot's git repository; use '!git' for a
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
     def process(self, data):
         self.data = data
-        if data.host not in config.irc["permissions"]["owners"]:
+        if data.host not in self.config.irc["permissions"]["owners"]:
             msg = "you must be a bot owner to use this command."
             self.connection.reply(data, msg)
             return
diff --git a/earwigbot/commands/restart.py b/earwigbot/commands/restart.py
index 7456e4b..8756fe1 100644
--- a/earwigbot/commands/restart.py
+++ b/earwigbot/commands/restart.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 # SOFTWARE.
 
 from earwigbot.commands import BaseCommand
-from earwigbot.config import config
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     """Restart the bot. Only the owner can do this."""
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         return data.is_command and data.command in commands
 
     def process(self, data):
-        if data.host not in config.irc["permissions"]["owners"]:
+        if data.host not in self.config.irc["permissions"]["owners"]:
             msg = "you must be a bot owner to use this command."
             self.connection.reply(data, msg)
             return
diff --git a/earwigbot/commands/threads.py b/earwigbot/commands/threads.py
index 7cf70ae..976eb71 100644
--- a/earwigbot/commands/threads.py
+++ b/earwigbot/commands/threads.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import threading
 import re
 
 from earwigbot.commands import BaseCommand
-from earwigbot.config import config
 from earwigbot.irc import KwargParseException
 from earwigbot.tasks import task_manager
 
@@ -40,7 +39,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
     def process(self, data):
         self.data = data
-        if data.host not in config.irc["permissions"]["owners"]:
+        if data.host not in self.config.irc["permissions"]["owners"]:
             msg = "you must be a bot owner to use this command."
             self.connection.reply(data, msg)
             return
@@ -80,7 +79,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
             if tname == "MainThread":
                 t = "\x0302MainThread\x0301 (id {1})"
                 normal_threads.append(t.format(thread.ident))
-            elif tname in config.components:
+            elif tname in self.config.components:
                 t = "\x0302{0}\x0301 (id {1})"
                 normal_threads.append(t.format(tname, thread.ident))
             elif tname.startswith("reminder"):
diff --git a/earwigbot/tasks/__init__.py b/earwigbot/tasks/__init__.py
index dcd963c..7c268f9 100644
--- a/earwigbot/tasks/__init__.py
+++ b/earwigbot/tasks/__init__.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ class BaseTask(object):
         (or if you do, remember super(Task, self).__init()) - use setup().
         """
         self.bot = bot
+        self.config = bot.config
         self.logger = bot.tasks.logger.getLogger(self.name)
         self.setup()
 
diff --git a/earwigbot/tasks/afc_copyvios.py b/earwigbot/tasks/afc_copyvios.py
index 0956b43..552654c 100644
--- a/earwigbot/tasks/afc_copyvios.py
+++ b/earwigbot/tasks/afc_copyvios.py
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ from threading import Lock
 import oursql
 
 from earwigbot import wiki
-from earwigbot.config import config
 from earwigbot.tasks import BaseTask
 
 class Task(BaseTask):
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ class Task(BaseTask):
     number = 1
 
     def setup(self):
-        cfg = config.tasks.get(self.name, {})
+        cfg = self.config.tasks.get(self.name, {})
         self.template = cfg.get("template", "AfC suspected copyvio")
         self.ignore_list = cfg.get("ignoreList", [])
         self.min_confidence = cfg.get("minConfidence", 0.5)
diff --git a/earwigbot/tasks/afc_history.py b/earwigbot/tasks/afc_history.py
index 9e146f9..e59a5c0 100644
--- a/earwigbot/tasks/afc_history.py
+++ b/earwigbot/tasks/afc_history.py
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ from numpy import arange
 import oursql
 
 from earwigbot import wiki
-from earwigbot.config import config
 from earwigbot.tasks import BaseTask
 
 # Valid submission statuses:
@@ -58,7 +57,7 @@ class Task(BaseTask):
     name = "afc_history"
 
     def setup(self):
-        cfg = config.tasks.get(self.name, {})
+        cfg = self.config.tasks.get(self.name, {})
         self.num_days = cfg.get("days", 90)
         self.categories = cfg.get("categories", {})
 
diff --git a/earwigbot/tasks/afc_statistics.py b/earwigbot/tasks/afc_statistics.py
index 79070ae..0fcbec4 100644
--- a/earwigbot/tasks/afc_statistics.py
+++ b/earwigbot/tasks/afc_statistics.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ from time import sleep
 import oursql
 
 from earwigbot import wiki
-from earwigbot.config import config
 from earwigbot.tasks import BaseTask
 
 # Chart status number constants:
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ class Task(BaseTask):
     number = 2
 
     def setup(self):
-        self.cfg = cfg = config.tasks.get(self.name, {})
+        self.cfg = cfg = self.config.tasks.get(self.name, {})
 
         # Set some wiki-related attributes:
         self.pagename = cfg.get("page", "Template:AFC statistics")
diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/__init__.py b/earwigbot/wiki/__init__.py
index e48be82..00b5dd4 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/__init__.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/__init__.py
@@ -27,7 +27,11 @@ This is a collection of classes and functions to read from and write to
 Wikipedia and other wiki sites. No connection whatsoever to python-wikitools
 written by Mr.Z-man, other than a similar purpose. We share no code.
 
-Import the toolset with `from earwigbot import wiki`.
+Import the toolset directly with `from earwigbot import wiki`. If using the
+built-in integration with the rest of the bot, that's usually not necessary:
+Bot() objects contain a `wiki` attribute containing a SitesDBManager object
+tied to the sites.db file located in the same directory as config.yml. That
+object has the principal methods get_site, add_site, and remove_site.
 """
 
 import logging as _log
@@ -40,5 +44,5 @@ from earwigbot.wiki.exceptions import *
 from earwigbot.wiki.category import Category
 from earwigbot.wiki.page import Page
 from earwigbot.wiki.site import Site
-from earwigbot.wiki.sitesdb import get_site, add_site, remove_site
+from earwigbot.wiki.sitesdb import SitesDBManager
 from earwigbot.wiki.user import User
diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/sitesdb.py b/earwigbot/wiki/sitesdb.py
index 0bd5c76..a5c9fe7 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/sitesdb.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/sitesdb.py
@@ -29,11 +29,10 @@ import stat
 import sqlite3 as sqlite
 
 from earwigbot import __version__
-from earwigbot.config import config
 from earwigbot.wiki.exceptions import SiteNotFoundError
 from earwigbot.wiki.site import Site
 
-__all__ = ["SitesDBManager", "get_site", "add_site", "remove_site"]
+__all__ = ["SitesDBManager"]
 
 class SitesDBManager(object):
     """
@@ -47,31 +46,19 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
     remove_site     -- removes a site from the database, given its name
 
     There's usually no need to use this class directly. All public methods
-    here are available as earwigbot.wiki.get_site(), earwigbot.wiki.add_site(),
-    and earwigbot.wiki.remove_site(), which use a sites.db file located in the
-    same directory as our config.yml file. Lower-level access can be achieved
+    here are available as bot.wiki.get_site(), bot.wiki.add_site(), and
+    bot.wiki.remove_site(), which use a sites.db file located in the same
+    directory as our config.yml file. Lower-level access can be achieved
     by importing the manager class
-    (`from earwigbot.wiki.sitesdb import SitesDBManager`).
+    (`from earwigbot.wiki import SitesDBManager`).
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, db_file):
-        """Set up the manager with an attribute for the sitesdb filename."""
+    def __init__(self, config):
+        """Set up the manager with an attribute for the BotConfig object."""
+        self.config = config
+        self._sitesdb = path.join(config.root_dir, "sitesdb")
+        self._cookie_file = path.join(config.root_dir, ".cookies")
         self._cookiejar = None
-        self._sitesdb = db_file
-
-    def _load_config(self):
-        """Load the bot's config.
-
-        Called by a config-requiring function, such as get_site(), when config
-        has not been loaded. This will usually happen only if we're running
-        code directly from Python's interpreter and not the bot itself, because
-        bot.py and earwigbot.runner will already call these functions.
-        """
-        is_encrypted = config.load()
-        if is_encrypted:  # Passwords in the config file are encrypted
-            key = getpass("Enter key to unencrypt bot passwords: ")
-            config._decryption_key = key
-            config.decrypt(config.wiki, "password")
 
     def _get_cookiejar(self):
         """Return a LWPCookieJar object loaded from our .cookies file.
@@ -89,8 +76,7 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
         if self._cookiejar:
             return self._cookiejar
 
-        cookie_file = path.join(config.root_dir, ".cookies")
-        self._cookiejar = LWPCookieJar(cookie_file)
+        self._cookiejar = LWPCookieJar(self._cookie_file)
 
         try:
             self._cookiejar.load()
@@ -163,10 +149,12 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
         This calls _load_site_from_sitesdb(), so SiteNotFoundError will be
         raised if the site is not in our sitesdb.
         """
+        cookiejar = self._get_cookiejar()
         (name, project, lang, base_url, article_path, script_path, sql,
          namespaces) = self._load_site_from_sitesdb(name)
+
+        config = self.config
         login = (config.wiki.get("username"), config.wiki.get("password"))
-        cookiejar = self._get_cookiejar()
         user_agent = config.wiki.get("userAgent")
         use_https = config.wiki.get("useHTTPS", False)
         assert_edit = config.wiki.get("assert")
@@ -265,9 +253,6 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
         cannot be found in the sitesdb, SiteNotFoundError will be raised. An
         empty sitesdb will be created if none is found.
         """
-        if not config.is_loaded():
-            self._load_config()
-
         # Someone specified a project without a lang, or vice versa:
         if (project and not lang) or (not project and lang):
             e = "Keyword arguments 'lang' and 'project' must be specified together."
@@ -276,7 +261,7 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
         # No args given, so return our default site:
         if not name and not project and not lang:
             try:
-                default = config.wiki["defaultSite"]
+                default = self.config.wiki["defaultSite"]
             except KeyError:
                 e = "Default site is not specified in config."
                 raise SiteNotFoundError(e)
@@ -322,17 +307,15 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
         site info). Raises SiteNotFoundError if not enough information has
         been provided to identify the site (e.g. a project but not a lang).
         """
-        if not config.is_loaded():
-            self._load_config()
-
         if not base_url:
             if not project or not lang:
                 e = "Without a base_url, both a project and a lang must be given."
                 raise SiteNotFoundError(e)
             base_url = "//{0}.{1}.org".format(lang, project)
+        cookiejar = self._get_cookiejar()
 
+        config = self.config
         login = (config.wiki.get("username"), config.wiki.get("password"))
-        cookiejar = self._get_cookiejar()
         user_agent = config.wiki.get("userAgent")
         use_https = config.wiki.get("useHTTPS", False)
         assert_edit = config.wiki.get("assert")
@@ -358,9 +341,6 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
         was given but not a language, or vice versa. Will create an empty
         sitesdb if none was found.
         """
-        if not config.is_loaded():
-            self._load_config()
-
         # Someone specified a project without a lang, or vice versa:
         if (project and not lang) or (not project and lang):
             e = "Keyword arguments 'lang' and 'project' must be specified together."
@@ -381,12 +361,3 @@ class SitesDBManager(object):
                 return self._remove_site_from_sitesdb(name)
 
         return False
-
-_root = path.split(path.split(path.dirname(path.abspath(__file__)))[0])[0]
-_dbfile = path.join(_root, "sites.db")
-_manager = SitesDBManager(_dbfile)
-del _root, _dbfile
-
-get_site = _manager.get_site
-add_site = _manager.add_site
-remove_site = _manager.remove_site