diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dbe664e..704e253 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,9 +12,12 @@ Initial release.
 
 ### Added
 
-- `withUtf8StdHandles`
-- `hSetEncoding`
-- `hWithEncoding`
+- `withUtf8`
+- `withStdTerminalHandles`
+- `setHandleEncoding`
+- `withHandle`
+- `setTerminalHandleEncoding`
+- `withTerminalHandle`
 - `openFile`
 - `withFile`
 - `readFile`
diff --git a/lib/Data/Text/IO/Utf8.hs b/lib/Data/Text/IO/Utf8.hs
index 4099bd4..626f8ce 100644
--- a/lib/Data/Text/IO/Utf8.hs
+++ b/lib/Data/Text/IO/Utf8.hs
@@ -24,12 +24,12 @@ import qualified System.IO as IO
 import qualified System.IO.Utf8 as Utf8
 
 
--- | Like @readFile@, but assumes the file is encoded in UTF-8, regardless
+-- | Like 'T.readFile', but assumes the file is encoded in UTF-8, regardless
 -- of the current locale.
 readFile :: MonadIO m => IO.FilePath -> m Text
 readFile path = Utf8.openFile path IO.ReadMode >>= liftIO . T.hGetContents
 
--- | Like @writeFile@, but encodes the data in UTF-8, regardless
+-- | Like 'T.writeFile', but encodes the data in UTF-8, regardless
 -- of the current locale.
 writeFile :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => IO.FilePath -> Text -> m ()
 writeFile path = Utf8.withFile path IO.WriteMode . (liftIO .) . flip T.hPutStr
diff --git a/lib/Main/Utf8.hs b/lib/Main/Utf8.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ceec02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Main/Utf8.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+{- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Serokell <https://serokell.io/>
+ -
+ - SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+ -}
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- |
+--
+-- Functions in this module will help you make your /executable/ work
+-- correctly with encodings of text files and standard handles.
+--
+-- /Note: if you are developing a library, see "System.IO.Utf8"./
+--
+-- = Quick start
+--
+-- Wrap a call to 'withUtf8' around your @main@:
+--
+-- @
+-- import Main.Utf8 (withUtf8)
+--
+-- main :: IO ()
+-- main = 'withUtf8' $ do
+--   putStrLn "Hello, мир!"
+-- @
+--
+-- Basically, this is all you have to do for a program that uses
+-- @stdin@ and @stdout@ to interact with the user. However, some
+-- programs read input from and write output to files and,
+-- at the same time, allow the user to redirect @stdin@ and @stdout@
+-- instead of providing explicit file names.
+--
+-- If this is the case for your executable, you should also wrap
+-- @Utf8.@'System.IO.Utf8.withHandle' around the code that passes
+-- the handle to a third-party library. It is not necessary to do
+-- when passing it to your own library, assuming that it follows
+-- the recommendations from the documentation of "System.IO.Utf8".
+module Main.Utf8
+  ( withUtf8
+  , withStdTerminalHandles
+  ) where
+
+import Control.Exception.Safe (MonadMask, bracket)
+import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO, liftIO)
+import GHC.IO.Encoding (getLocaleEncoding, setLocaleEncoding, utf8)
+import System.IO (stderr, stdin, stdout)
+
+import System.IO.Utf8 (withTerminalHandle)
+
+
+-- | Make standard handles safe to write anything to them and change
+-- program-global default file handle encoding to UTF-8.
+--
+-- This function will:
+--
+--   1. Adjust the encoding of 'stdin', 'stdout', and 'stderr' to
+--      enable transliteration, like 'withStdTerminalHandles' does.
+--   2. Call 'setLocaleEncoding' to change the program-global locale
+--      encoding to UTF-8.
+--   3. Undo everything when the wrapped action finishes.
+withUtf8 :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => m r -> m r
+withUtf8 act = withStdTerminalHandles $
+  bracket
+    (liftIO $ getLocaleEncoding <* setLocaleEncoding utf8)
+    (liftIO . setLocaleEncoding)
+    (\_ -> act)
+
+-- | Make standard handles safe to write anything to them.
+--
+-- This function will for each of 'stdin', 'stdout', 'stderr' do:
+--
+--   1. Tweak the existing encoding so that unrepresentable characters
+--      will get approximated (aka transliterated) by visually similar
+--      ones or question marks.
+--   2. Restore the original encoding when the wrapped action finishes.
+--
+-- Use this function only if you do not want to change the program-global
+-- locale encoding. Otherwise prefer 'withUtf8'.
+withStdTerminalHandles :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => m r -> m r
+withStdTerminalHandles
+  = withTerminalHandle stdin
+  . withTerminalHandle stdout
+  . withTerminalHandle stderr
diff --git a/lib/System/IO/Utf8.hs b/lib/System/IO/Utf8.hs
index cc0331f..ea6c1f5 100644
--- a/lib/System/IO/Utf8.hs
+++ b/lib/System/IO/Utf8.hs
@@ -5,12 +5,13 @@
 
 {-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase   #-}
 
--- | System IO for the modern world.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- |
 --
 -- Standard IO functions assume that the character encoding of the data
 -- they read or write is the same as the one used by current locale. In many
 -- situtations this assumption is wrong, as tools work with files, and
--- the files nowadays are mostly UTF-8 encoded, regardless of the locale.
+-- files nowadays are mostly UTF-8 encoded, regardless of the locale.
 -- Therefore, it is almost always a good idea to switch the encoding of
 -- file handles to UTF-8.
 --
@@ -18,12 +19,58 @@
 -- there is an edge-case: if they are attached to a terminal, and the
 -- encoding is not UTF-8, using UTF-8 might actually be unsafe.
 --
--- Functions in this module help deal with all these issues.
+-- If you are developing an executable, in most cases, it is enough to
+-- configure the environment accordingly on program start, see the
+-- "Main.Utf8" for functions that help with this.
+-- However, if you are a library author, you should avoid modifying the
+-- global environment.
+--
+-- = Quick start
+--
+-- == Opening new files
+--
+-- If you need to open a text file, use @Utf8.@'withFile'
+-- (or @Utf8.@'openFile'). These will not only open the file, but also
+-- set the handle’s encoding to UTF-8, regardless of the user’s locale.
+--
+-- == Working with existing handles
+--
+-- Suppose you are creating a function which produces some text and writes
+-- it to a file handle that is passed to it from the outside.
+-- Ask yourself this question: do I want to encode this text in UTF-8
+-- or using the encoding from the user’s locale?
+--
+-- In many cases this question is easy to answer. For example, if your
+-- function produces Haskell code, then you always want it in UTF-8,
+-- because that is what all other tools (including GHC) expect.
+--
+-- In some cases it is not that clear. What you can do then is consider
+-- what the user is going to do with the data produced.
+-- If it is, primarily, meant to be displayed on their screen and then
+-- forgotten, you don’t need UTF-8. On the other hand, if it is meant
+-- to be saved somewhere and then used or edited by other tools, then
+-- you need UTF-8.
+--
+-- If you decided that your function needs to try to switch the handle
+-- to UTF-8, it is very easy to achieve:
+--
+-- @
+-- import qualified System.IO.Utf8 as Utf8
+--
+-- writeData :: 'IO.Handle' -> InputDataType -> IO ()
+-- writeData hOut inData = Utf8.'withHandle' hOut $ do
+--   {- ... write the data ...  -}
+-- @
+--
+-- If you decided that you don’t need to try to switch it to UTF-8,
+-- replace @withHandle@ with 'withTerminalHandle' to only make the
+-- handle safe to write to without runtime errors.
 module System.IO.Utf8
-  ( withUtf8StdHandles
+  ( withHandle
+  , withTerminalHandle
 
-  , hSetEncoding
-  , hWithEncoding
+  , setHandleEncoding
+  , setTerminalHandleEncoding
 
   , openFile
   , withFile
@@ -32,8 +79,7 @@ module System.IO.Utf8
 import Control.Exception.Safe (MonadMask, bracket)
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO, liftIO)
 import Data.Functor (void)
-import GHC.IO.Encoding (mkTextEncoding)
-import System.IO (stderr, stdin, stdout)
+import GHC.IO.Encoding (mkTextEncoding, utf8)
 
 import qualified System.IO as IO
 
@@ -49,60 +95,74 @@ type EncRestoreAction m = IO.Handle -> m ()
 -- If the handle is not attached to a terminal, sets UTF-8.
 -- Otherwise, keeps its current encoding, but augments it to transliterate
 -- unsupported characters.
-hSetBestUtf8Enc :: MonadIO m => IO.Handle -> m (EncRestoreAction m)
-hSetBestUtf8Enc h = liftIO $ do
-    IO.hGetEncoding h >>= chooseBestEnc h >>= \case
+hSetBestUtf8Enc
+  :: MonadIO m
+  => (IO.Handle -> IO Bool)
+  -> IO.Handle
+  -> m (EncRestoreAction m)
+hSetBestUtf8Enc hIsTerm h = liftIO $ do
+    IO.hGetEncoding h >>= chooseBestEnc h hIsTerm >>= \case
       Keep -> pure (\_ -> pure ())
       ChangeFromTo enc newName -> do
         mkTextEncoding newName >>= IO.hSetEncoding h
         pure $ liftIO . flip IO.hSetEncoding enc
 
--- | Configures the encodings of the three standard handles (stdin, stdout, stderr)
--- to work with UTF-8 encoded data and runs the specified IO action.
--- After the action finishes, restores the original encodings.
-withUtf8StdHandles :: IO a -> IO a
-withUtf8StdHandles action =
-    hWithEncoding stdin $
-    hWithEncoding stdout $
-    hWithEncoding stderr $
-      action
-
 
 -- | Set handle encoding to the best possible.
 --
--- It is safe to call this function on any kind of handle whatsoever.
---
---   * If the handle is in binary mode, it will do nothing.
---   * If the handle is a terminal, it will use the same encoding, but switch
---     it to Unicode approximation mode so it won't throw errors on invalid
---     byte sequences, but instead try to approximate unecodable characters
---     with visually similar encodable ones.
---   * For regular files it will always choose UTF-8, of course.
---
--- You probably shouldn't be using this function. If you open the file
--- yourself, use 'openFile' (or, even better, 'withFile') instead.
--- If you get the handle from somewhere else, use 'hWithEncoding',
--- which will restore the previous encoding when you are done.
-hSetEncoding :: MonadIO m => IO.Handle -> m ()
-hSetEncoding = liftIO . void . hSetBestUtf8Enc
+-- See 'withHandle' for description and prefer it, if possible.
+setHandleEncoding :: MonadIO m => IO.Handle -> m ()
+setHandleEncoding = liftIO . void . hSetBestUtf8Enc IO.hIsTerminalDevice
 
 -- | Temporarily set handle encoding to the best possible.
 --
--- This is like 'hSetEncoding', but it will restore the encoding
--- to the previous one when the action is done.
-hWithEncoding :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => IO.Handle -> m r -> m r
-hWithEncoding h = bracket (hSetBestUtf8Enc h) ($ h) . const
+-- “Best possible” means UTF-8, unless the handle points to a terminal
+-- device, in which case the encoding will be left the same, but tweaked
+-- to approximate unencodable characters.
+--
+-- This function is safe to call on handles open in binary mode and it will
+-- do nothing on them.
+--
+-- To sum up:
+--
+--   * If the handle is in binary mode, do nothing.
+--   * If the handle points to a terminal device, act like 'withTerminalHandle'.
+--   * For regular files always choose UTF-8, of course.
+withHandle :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => IO.Handle -> m r -> m r
+withHandle h = bracket (hSetBestUtf8Enc IO.hIsTerminalDevice h) ($ h) . const
+
+-- | Make a handle safe to write any text to.
+--
+-- See 'withTerminalHandle' for description and prefer it, if possible.
+setTerminalHandleEncoding :: MonadIO m => IO.Handle -> m ()
+setTerminalHandleEncoding = liftIO . void . hSetBestUtf8Enc (const $ pure True)
+
+-- | Temporarily make a handle safe to write any text to.
+--
+-- If the handle is not using UTF-8, adjust the encoding to remain the same
+-- as before, but approximate unencodable characters. When the action is done,
+-- restore it back to the previous one.
+--
+-- Use this function only if you are sure you want to treat this handle as
+-- a terminal (that is, you will be using it to interact with the user
+-- and to write user-visible messages, rather than something that can
+-- be reasonable expected to go to a file).
+--
+-- This function is safe to call on handles open in binary mode and it will
+-- do nothing on them.
+withTerminalHandle :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => IO.Handle -> m r -> m r
+withTerminalHandle h = bracket (hSetBestUtf8Enc (const $ pure True) h) ($ h) . const
 
 
--- | Like @openFile@, but sets the file encoding to UTF-8, regardless
+-- | Like 'System.IO.openFile', but sets the file encoding to UTF-8, regardless
 -- of the current locale.
 openFile :: MonadIO m => IO.FilePath -> IO.IOMode -> m IO.Handle
-openFile path mode = do
-  h <- liftIO $ IO.openFile path mode
-  hSetEncoding h
+openFile path mode = liftIO $ do
+  h <- IO.openFile path mode
+  IO.hSetEncoding h utf8
   pure h
 
--- | Like @withFile@, but sets the file encoding to UTF-8, regardless
+-- | Like 'System.IO.withFile', but sets the file encoding to UTF-8, regardless
 -- of the current locale.
 withFile
   :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m)
diff --git a/lib/System/IO/Utf8/Internal.hs b/lib/System/IO/Utf8/Internal.hs
index 9243e11..4329c0e 100644
--- a/lib/System/IO/Utf8/Internal.hs
+++ b/lib/System/IO/Utf8/Internal.hs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ data EncodingAction
   | ChangeFromTo TextEncoding String
     -- ^ Change the first encoding to the second.
 
--- | Pure version of 'chooseBestUtf8Enc'.
+-- | Pure version of 'chooseBestEnc'.
 --
 -- This function is not actually used in the library. It exists only
 -- for documentation purposes to demonstrate the logic.
@@ -68,15 +68,19 @@ chooseBestEncPure True (Just name)
 --    (e.g. to be able to restore it), so we avoid repeating the query.
 -- 2. It first checks for the cases where it doesn't care whether the device
 --    is a terminal or not, so the query will be made only if really necessary.
-chooseBestEnc :: IO.Handle -> Maybe TextEncoding -> IO EncodingAction
-chooseBestEnc _ Nothing = pure Keep
-chooseBestEnc h (Just enc) = case textEncodingName enc of
+chooseBestEnc
+  :: IO.Handle  -- ^ Handle to choose encoding for
+  -> (IO.Handle -> IO Bool)  -- ^ @hIsTerminalDevice@
+  -> Maybe TextEncoding  -- ^ Current encoding.
+  -> IO EncodingAction
+chooseBestEnc _ _ Nothing = pure Keep
+chooseBestEnc h hIsTerm (Just enc) = case textEncodingName enc of
   "UTF-8" -> pure Keep
   name
     -- XXX: The first branch is actually never used, because the encoding
     --      loses the @//TRANSLIT@ suffix after it is being created.
     -- TODO: Find a way to detect that the encoding is already trasliterating.
     | "//TRANSLIT" `isSuffixOf` name -> pure Keep
-    | otherwise -> IO.hIsTerminalDevice h >>= \case
+    | otherwise -> hIsTerm h >>= \case
         False -> pure $ ChangeFromTo enc (textEncodingName utf8)
         True -> pure $ ChangeFromTo enc (name ++ "//TRANSLIT")
diff --git a/test/Test.hs b/test/Test.hs
index ca6664a..6176daf 100644
--- a/test/Test.hs
+++ b/test/Test.hs
@@ -8,14 +8,13 @@ module Main
   ) where
 
 import GHC.IO.Encoding (mkTextEncoding, setLocaleEncoding)
+import Main.Utf8 (withUtf8)
 import Test.Tasty (defaultMain)
 
-import System.IO.Utf8 (withUtf8StdHandles)
-
 import Tree (tests)
 
 main :: IO ()
-main = withUtf8StdHandles $ do
+main = withUtf8 $ do
   -- The issue only shows up when current locale encoding is ASCII.
   -- Realistically, very often when running this test this will not be
   -- the case, so we unset locale encoding manually.
diff --git a/test/Test/Utf8/Choice.hs b/test/Test/Utf8/Choice.hs
index 2136326..927e28f 100644
--- a/test/Test/Utf8/Choice.hs
+++ b/test/Test/Utf8/Choice.hs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import qualified System.IO as IO
 import Test.HUnit (Assertion, assertFailure)
 import Test.Tasty.HUnit ((@=?))
 
+import System.IO (hIsTerminalDevice)
 import System.IO.Utf8.Internal (EncodingAction (..), chooseBestEnc, chooseBestEncPure)
 
 import qualified System.IO.Utf8 as Utf8
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ verifyOn h = do
   enc <- IO.hGetEncoding h
 
   let pureResult = chooseBestEncPure isTerm (textEncodingName <$> enc)
-  realResult <- chooseBestEnc h enc
+  realResult <- chooseBestEnc h hIsTerminalDevice enc
 
   case (pureResult, realResult) of
     (Nothing, Keep) -> pure ()
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ unit_term_idempotent :: Assertion
 unit_term_idempotent = withTerminalIn char8 $ \h -> do
   Just enc <- IO.hGetEncoding h
   "ISO-8859-1" @=? textEncodingName enc  -- sanity check
-  Utf8.hWithEncoding h $ do
+  Utf8.withHandle h $ do
     -- XXX: Actually not true, there is no suffix in the name
     -- Just enc' <- IO.hGetEncoding h
     -- "ISO-8859-1//TRANSLIT" @=? textEncodingName enc'  -- sanity check
diff --git a/test/Test/Utf8/ReadWrite.hs b/test/Test/Utf8/ReadWrite.hs
index 70124d6..904217c 100644
--- a/test/Test/Utf8/ReadWrite.hs
+++ b/test/Test/Utf8/ReadWrite.hs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import Control.Exception.Safe (MonadMask, try)
 import Control.Monad ((>=>))
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO, liftIO)
 import Data.Text (Text)
+import GHC.IO.Encoding (utf8)
 import System.IO (FilePath)
 import System.IO.Temp (withSystemTempFile)
 
@@ -33,9 +34,7 @@ import qualified Hedgehog.Range as R
 -- | Helper that writes Text to a temp file.
 withTestFile :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => Text -> (FilePath -> m r) -> m r
 withTestFile t act = withSystemTempFile "utf8.txt" $ \fp h -> do
-    Utf8.hSetEncoding h
-    liftIO $ T.hPutStr h t
-    liftIO $ IO.hClose h
+    liftIO $ IO.hSetEncoding h utf8 *> T.hPutStr h t *> IO.hClose h
     act fp
 
 
diff --git a/test/Test/Utf8/Set.hs b/test/Test/Utf8/Set.hs
index 2352215..191d922 100644
--- a/test/Test/Utf8/Set.hs
+++ b/test/Test/Utf8/Set.hs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import qualified System.IO as IO
 import Test.HUnit (Assertion)
 import Test.Tasty.HUnit ((@=?))
 
+import System.IO (hIsTerminalDevice)
 import System.IO.Utf8.Internal (EncodingAction (..), chooseBestEnc)
 
 import qualified System.IO.Utf8 as Utf8
@@ -23,9 +24,9 @@ import Test.Util (withTmpFileIn)
 verifyOn :: IO.Handle -> Assertion
 verifyOn h = do
   menc <- IO.hGetEncoding h
-  act <- chooseBestEnc h menc
+  act <- chooseBestEnc h hIsTerminalDevice menc
 
-  Utf8.hWithEncoding h $ do
+  Utf8.withHandle h $ do
     menc' <- IO.hGetEncoding h
     case act of
       Keep ->