Denis Maier via ntg-context schrieb am 15.11.2022 um 13:22:
>
> Hi,
>
> if I process an XML buffer, I’ve noticed I need to wrap the 
> \xmlprocessbuffer in a \starttext ... \stoptext pair.
>
> [...]
>
> However, if I have the XML and the setups in dedicated files, there 
> seems to be no need for \starttext ... \stoptext.
>
> [...]
>
> Running
>
> context text.xml –environment=setups.tex
>
> gives me a proper PDF without errors.
>
> Therefore my question:
>
> Does the use –environment automatically wrap the processed file in 
> \starttext ... stoptext ?
>
> If not, what’s the reason for this behaviour? Am I missing something?
>

ConTeXt uses the file extension to decide who it should handle document,
in your case the extension is xml and the file is processed as

\starttext
\xmlprocess{main}{...}{}
\stoptext

The same thing happens when you have CLD document and use cld as file 
extension.

For more details you can look at the processjob function in cont-run.lmt.

Wolfgang