Methods and apparatuses relating to pipelined runtime services in spatial arrays are described. In one embodiment, a processor includes processing elements; an interconnect network between the processing elements; a first configuration controller coupled to a first subset of the processing elements; and a second configuration controller coupled to a second, different subset of the processing elements, the first configuration controller and the second configuration controller are to configure the first subset and the second, different subset according to configuration information for a first context, and, for a context switch, the first configuration controller is to configure the first subset according to configuration information for a second context after pending operations of the first context are completed in the first subset and block second context dataflow into the second, different subset's input from the first subset's output until pending operations of the first context are completed in the second, different subset.