diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index a995943..7d9c196 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ S3method(hyper_tbl_cube,tidync)
 S3method(hyper_tibble,character)
 S3method(hyper_tibble,tidync)
 S3method(hyper_transforms,default)
+S3method(nc_get,NetCDF)
+S3method(nc_get,character)
+S3method(nc_get,ncdf4)
 S3method(print,tidync)
 S3method(print,tidync_data)
 S3method(tidync,character)
@@ -32,6 +35,7 @@ export(hyper_tbl_cube)
 export(hyper_tibble)
 export(hyper_transforms)
 export(hyper_vars)
+export(nc_get)
 export(tidync)
 importFrom(RNetCDF,close.nc)
 importFrom(RNetCDF,open.nc)
diff --git a/R/netcdf-utils.R b/R/netcdf-utils.R
index d7c6655..156f25b 100644
--- a/R/netcdf-utils.R
+++ b/R/netcdf-utils.R
@@ -1,12 +1,24 @@
+#' Helper to get a variable from NetCDF. 
+#' 
+#' This exists so we can (internally) use a file path, uri, or open
+#' NetCDF connection (ncdf4 or RNetCDF) in a simpler way. 
+#' 
+#' This function just reads the whole array. It is equivalent to the 
+#' angstroms package function 'rawdata(x, varname)'. 
+#' @param x file path, uri, or NetCDF connection
+#'
+#' @param v variable name
+#' @param test if true we make sure the connection can be open, not applied for connections themselves
+#'
 #' @importFrom ncdf4 nc_open nc_close ncvar_get
 #' @importFrom RNetCDF open.nc close.nc var.get.nc
 #' @importFrom purrr safely
-#' @noRd
-nc_get <- function(x, v, test = FALSE, ...) {
+#' @export
+nc_get <- function(x, v, test = FALSE) {
   UseMethod("nc_get")
 }
-#' @noRd
-nc_get.character <- function(x, v, test = FALSE, ...) {
+#' @export
+nc_get.character <- function(x, v, test = FALSE) {
   if (!test) {
     con <- RNetCDF::open.nc(x)
     on.exit(RNetCDF::close.nc(con), add = TRUE)
@@ -33,12 +45,12 @@ nc_get.character <- function(x, v, test = FALSE, ...) {
   stop(sprintf("no variable found %s", v))
 }
 
-#' @noRd
-nc_get.NetCDF <- function(x, v) {
+#' @export
+nc_get.NetCDF <- function(x, v, test = FALSE) {
   RNetCDF::var.get.nc(x, v)
 }
 
-#' @noRd
-nc_get.ncdf4 <- function(x, v) {
+#' @export
+nc_get.ncdf4 <- function(x, v, test = FALSE) {
   ncdf4::ncvar_get(x, v)
 }
diff --git a/man/nc_get.Rd b/man/nc_get.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..772dc2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/nc_get.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/netcdf-utils.R
+\name{nc_get}
+\alias{nc_get}
+\title{Helper to get a variable from NetCDF.}
+\usage{
+nc_get(x, v, test = FALSE)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{x}{file path, uri, or NetCDF connection}
+
+\item{v}{variable name}
+
+\item{test}{if true we make sure the connection can be open}
+}
+\description{
+This exists so we can (internally) use a file path, uri, or open
+NetCDF connection (ncdf4 or RNetCDF) in a simpler way.
+}
+\details{
+This function just reads the whole array. It is equivalent to the
+angstroms package function 'rawdata(x, varname)'.
+}