diff --git a/Pipfile b/Pipfile
index e04a3fa4..ff5c9990 100644
--- a/Pipfile
+++ b/Pipfile
@@ -24,3 +24,4 @@ pytest-mypy = "*"
 white = {version = "*"}
 "rfc3986" = "*"
 twisted = {extras = ["tls"]}
+httpcore = {git = "https://github.com/encode/httpcore.git"}
diff --git a/Pipfile.lock b/Pipfile.lock
index 78f2eeaa..81890aed 100644
--- a/Pipfile.lock
+++ b/Pipfile.lock
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "_meta": {
         "hash": {
-            "sha256": "20bb79af8e1c93904021d53336ecce1a0a9e5dedcd1d79e08439bf3f4d9681f9"
+            "sha256": "d16571af6a7c4058f9b33f1af783cc5f0a87de0a4c0badb2b925a19ab8996c69"
         },
         "pipfile-spec": 6,
         "requires": {},
@@ -355,6 +355,10 @@
             "index": "pypi",
             "version": "==0.7.0"
         },
+        "httpcore": {
+            "git": "https://github.com/encode/httpcore.git",
+            "ref": "23252f6cd9e629ae7c513bc24a8c6a1061d61429"
+        },
         "hyperlink": {
             "hashes": [
                 "sha256:4288e34705da077fada1111a24a0aa08bb1e76699c9ce49876af722441845654",
diff --git a/requests3/core/__init__.py b/requests3/core/__init__.py
index 77375bc2..32cd63cc 100644
--- a/requests3/core/__init__.py
+++ b/requests3/core/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,57 @@
-from .api import AsyncPoolManager
-from .api import request, blocking_request
+import trio
+
+from ._http import AsyncPoolManager, PoolManager
+from ._http._backends import TrioBackend
+
 from .import _http
+
+__all__ = ["request", "blocking_request"]
+
+async def request(
+    method,
+    url,
+    timeout,
+    *,
+    body=None,
+    headers=None,
+    preload_content=False,
+    pool=None,
+    **kwargs
+):
+    """Returns a Response object, to be awaited."""
+    if not pool:
+        pool = AsyncPoolManager(backend=TrioBackend())
+    return await pool.urlopen(
+            method=method,
+            url=url,
+            headers=headers,
+            preload_content=preload_content,
+            body=body,
+            **kwargs
+        )
+
+
+def blocking_request(
+    method,
+    url,
+    timeout,
+    *,
+    body=None,
+    headers=None,
+    preload_content=False,
+    pool=None,
+    **kwargs
+):
+    """Returns a Response object."""
+    if not pool:
+        pool = PoolManager()
+    with pool as http:
+        r = http.urlopen(
+            method=method,
+            url=url,
+            headers=headers,
+            preload_content=preload_content,
+            body=body,
+            **kwargs
+        )
+        return r
diff --git a/requests3/core/api.py b/requests3/core/api.py
index 1b692636..e69de29b 100644
--- a/requests3/core/api.py
+++ b/requests3/core/api.py
@@ -1,53 +0,0 @@
-import trio
-
-from ._http import AsyncPoolManager, PoolManager
-from ._http._backends import TrioBackend
-
-async def request(
-    method,
-    url,
-    timeout,
-    *,
-    body=None,
-    headers=None,
-    preload_content=False,
-    pool=None,
-    **kwargs
-):
-    """Returns a Response object, to be awaited."""
-    if not pool:
-        pool = AsyncPoolManager(backend=TrioBackend())
-    return await pool.urlopen(
-            method=method,
-            url=url,
-            headers=headers,
-            preload_content=preload_content,
-            body=body,
-            **kwargs
-        )
-
-
-def blocking_request(
-    method,
-    url,
-    timeout,
-    *,
-    body=None,
-    headers=None,
-    preload_content=False,
-    pool=None,
-    **kwargs
-):
-    """Returns a Response object."""
-    if not pool:
-        pool = PoolManager()
-    with pool as http:
-        r = http.urlopen(
-            method=method,
-            url=url,
-            headers=headers,
-            preload_content=preload_content,
-            body=body,
-            **kwargs
-        )
-        return r