diff --git a/coffea/processor/executor.py b/coffea/processor/executor.py
index 5c64d7cede..9133d88d3f 100644
--- a/coffea/processor/executor.py
+++ b/coffea/processor/executor.py
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ def chunks(self, target_chunksize, align_clusters, dynamic_chunksize):
                 return target_chunksize
 
 
-@dataclass(unsafe_hash=True)
+@dataclass(unsafe_hash=True, frozen=True)
 class WorkItem:
     dataset: str
     filename: str
@@ -216,6 +216,42 @@ def __call__(self, items):
         return accumulate(items)
 
 
+class FuturesHolder:
+    def __init__(self, futures, refresh=2):
+        self.futures = set(futures)
+        self.merges = set()
+        self.completed = set()
+        self.done = {"futures": 0, "merges": 0}
+        self.refresh = refresh
+
+    def update(self, refresh=None):
+        if refresh is None:
+            refresh = self.refresh
+        if self.futures:
+            completed, self.futures = concurrent.futures.wait(
+                self.futures,
+                timeout=refresh,
+                return_when=concurrent.futures.FIRST_COMPLETED,
+            )
+            self.completed.update(completed)
+            self.done["futures"] += len(completed)
+
+        if self.merges:
+            completed, self.merges = concurrent.futures.wait(
+                self.merges,
+                timeout=refresh,
+                return_when=concurrent.futures.FIRST_COMPLETED,
+            )
+            self.completed.update(completed)
+            self.done["merges"] += len(completed)
+
+    def fetch(self, N):
+        return [
+            self.completed.pop().result() for _ in range(N) if len(self.completed) > 0
+        ]
+
+
+
 def _futures_handler(futures, timeout):
     """Essentially the same as concurrent.futures.as_completed
     but makes sure not to hold references to futures any longer than strictly necessary,
@@ -530,6 +566,11 @@ class FuturesExecutor(ExecutorBase):
         compression : int, optional
             Compress accumulator outputs in flight with LZ4, at level specified (default 1)
             Set to ``None`` for no compression.
+        recoverable : bool
+        merging : bool | tuple(int, int, int), optional
+            Enables intermediate merges in jobs. Format is (n_batches, min_batch_size, max_batch_size)
+            Passing ``True`` will use default: (5, 4, 100)
+        checkpoints : bool
         tailtimeout : int, optional
             Timeout requirement on job tails. Cancel all remaining jobs if none have finished
             in the timeout window.
@@ -537,6 +578,8 @@ class FuturesExecutor(ExecutorBase):
 
     pool: Union[Callable[..., concurrent.futures.Executor], concurrent.futures.Executor] = concurrent.futures.ProcessPoolExecutor  # fmt: skip
     workers: int = 1
+    recoverable: bool = True
+    merging: bool = False
     tailtimeout: Optional[int] = None
 
     def __getstate__(self):
@@ -552,24 +595,84 @@ def __call__(
             return accumulator
         if self.compression is not None:
             function = _compression_wrapper(self.compression, function)
+        reducer = _reduce(self.compression)
 
         def processwith(pool):
-            gen = _futures_handler(
-                {pool.submit(function, item) for item in items}, self.tailtimeout
+            FH = FuturesHolder(
+                set(pool.submit(function, item) for item in items), refresh=2
             )
+
+            if isinstance(self.merging, tuple) and len(self.merging) == 3:
+                nparts, minred, maxred = self.merging
+            else:
+                nparts, minred, maxred = 5, 4, 100
+
             try:
+                pbar = tqdm(disable=not self.status, unit=self.unit, total=len(items),
+                            desc=self.desc, position=0, ascii=True)
+                if self.merging:
+                    mbar = tqdm(disable=not self.status, total=1, desc="Merging", 
+                                position=1, ascii=True)
+
+                while len(FH.futures) + len(FH.merges) > 0:
+                    FH.update()
+                    reduce = min(maxred, max(len(FH.completed) // nparts + 1, minred))
+
+                    pbar.update(FH.done["futures"] - pbar.n)
+                    pbar.refresh()
+
+                    if self.merging:
+                        mbar.update(FH.done["merges"] - mbar.n)
+                        mbar.refresh()
+                        while len(FH.completed) > 1:
+                            batch = [b for b in FH.fetch(reduce)]
+                            FH.merges.add(pool.submit(reducer, batch))
+                            mbar.total += 1
+                            mbar.refresh()
+
+                    # Add checkpointing
+                    # if FH.done["futures"]% 100 == 0:
+                        # accumulate([future.result() for future in FH.completed])
+                        # dump to pickle 
+
+                pbar.close()
+                if self.merging:
+                    mbar.update(1)  # last one
+                    mbar.refresh()    
+                    mbar.close()
+                    merged = FH.completed.pop().result()
+                else:
+                    merged = reducer(FH.fetch(len(FH.completed)))
+
                 return accumulate(
-                    tqdm(
-                        gen if self.compression is None else map(_decompress, gen),
-                        disable=not self.status,
-                        unit=self.unit,
-                        total=len(items),
-                        desc=self.desc,
-                    ),
-                    accumulator,
-                )
-            finally:
-                gen.close()
+                    [merged if self.compression is None else _decompress(last_out)], accumulator
+                ), 0
+
+            except Exception as e:
+                if self.recoverable:
+                    print(f"Exception '{type(e)}' occured, recovering progress.")
+                    for job in FH.futures:
+                        job.cancel()
+
+                    if self.merging:
+                        with tqdm(disable=not self.status, total=len(FH.merges), desc="Recovering finished jobs", position=1, ascii=True) as mbar:
+                            while len(FH.merges) > 0:
+                                FH.update()
+                                mbar.update(FH.done["merges"] - mbar.n)
+                                mbar.refresh()
+
+                    def is_good(future):
+                        return future.done() and not future.cancelled() and future.exception() is None
+
+                    FH.update()
+                    recovered = [future.result() for future in FH.completed if is_good(future)]
+
+                    return accumulate(
+                        [item if self.compression is None else _decompress(item) for item in recovered], accumulator
+                    ), (e, sys.exc_info())
+
+                else:
+                    raise type(e)(str(e)).with_traceback(sys.exc_info()[2]) from None
 
         if isinstance(self.pool, concurrent.futures.Executor):
             return processwith(pool=self.pool)
@@ -1078,7 +1181,7 @@ def _preprocess_fileset(self, fileset: Dict) -> None:
                 self.skipbadfiles,
                 partial(self.metadata_fetcher, self.xrootdtimeout, self.align_clusters),
             )
-            out = pre_executor(to_get, closure, out)
+            out, _ = pre_executor(to_get, closure, out)
             while out:
                 item = out.pop()
                 self.metadata_cache[item] = item.metadata
@@ -1257,14 +1360,15 @@ def _work_function(
                         metrics["columns"] = set(events.materialized)
                         metrics["entries"] = events.size
                     metrics["processtime"] = toc - tic
-                    return {"out": out, "metrics": metrics}
-                return {"out": out}
+                    return {"out": out, "metrics": metrics, "processed": set([item])}
+                return {"out": out, "processed": set([item])}
 
     def __call__(
         self,
         fileset: Dict,
         treename: str,
         processor_instance: ProcessorABC,
+        prepro_only=False,
     ) -> Accumulatable:
         """Run the processor_instance on a given fileset
 
@@ -1281,26 +1385,35 @@ def __call__(
                 An instance of a class deriving from ProcessorABC
         """
 
+        meta = False
         if not isinstance(fileset, (Mapping, str)):
-            raise ValueError(
-                "Expected fileset to be a mapping dataset: list(files) or filename"
-            )
+            if isinstance(fileset[0], WorkItem):
+                meta = True
+            else:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "Expected fileset to be a mapping dataset: list(files) or filename"
+                )
         if not isinstance(processor_instance, ProcessorABC):
             raise ValueError("Expected processor_instance to derive from ProcessorABC")
 
-        if self.format == "root":
-            fileset = list(self._normalize_fileset(fileset, treename))
-            for filemeta in fileset:
-                filemeta.maybe_populate(self.metadata_cache)
+        if meta:
+            chunks = fileset
+        else:
+            if self.format == "root":
+                fileset = list(self._normalize_fileset(fileset, treename))
+                for filemeta in fileset:
+                    filemeta.maybe_populate(self.metadata_cache)
 
-            self._preprocess_fileset(fileset)
-            fileset = self._filter_badfiles(fileset)
+                self._preprocess_fileset(fileset)
+                fileset = self._filter_badfiles(fileset)
 
-            # reverse fileset list to match the order of files as presented in version
-            # v0.7.4. This fixes tests using maxchunks.
-            fileset.reverse()
+                # reverse fileset list to match the order of files as presented in version
+                # v0.7.4. This fixes tests using maxchunks.
+                fileset.reverse()
 
-        chunks = self._chunk_generator(fileset, treename)
+            chunks = self._chunk_generator(fileset, treename)
+            if prepro_only:
+                return [c for c in chunks]
 
         if self.processor_compression is None:
             pi_to_send = processor_instance
@@ -1363,13 +1476,21 @@ def __call__(
         )
 
         executor = self.executor.copy(**exe_args)
-        wrapped_out = executor(chunks, closure, None)
 
-        processor_instance.postprocess(wrapped_out["out"])
+        wrapped_out, e_state = executor(chunks, closure, None)
+        if e_state != 0:
+            print(e_state)
+            print("FIXME parse exception")
+        if wrapped_out is None:
+            raise ValueError("No chunks were processed, veryify ``processor`` instance structure.")
+        else:
+            processor_instance.postprocess(wrapped_out["out"])
         if self.savemetrics and not self.use_dataframes:
             wrapped_out["metrics"]["chunks"] = len(chunks)
-            return wrapped_out["out"], wrapped_out["metrics"]
-        return wrapped_out["out"]
+            return wrapped_out["out"], list(wrapped_out['processed']), wrapped_out["metrics"]
+        return wrapped_out["out"], list(wrapped_out['processed'])
+
+
 
 
 def run_spark_job(