Described embodiments process multiple threads of commands in a network processor. One or more tasks are generated corresponding to each received packet, and the tasks are provided to a packet processor module (MPP). A scheduler associates each received task with a command flow. A thread updater writes state data corresponding to the flow to a context memory. The scheduler determines an order of processing of the command flows. When a processing thread of a multi-thread processor is available, the thread updater loads, from the context memory, state data for at least one scheduled flow to one of the multi-thread processors. The multi-thread processor processes a next command of the flow based on the loaded state data. If the processed command requires operation of a co-processor module, the multi-thread processor sends a co-processor request and switches command processing from the first flow to a second flow.