diff --git a/src/bcf/index.rs b/src/bcf/index.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..332fa215e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bcf/index.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+use crate::{htslib, utils};
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct BcfBuildError {
+    pub msg: String,
+}
+
+/// Index type to build.
+pub enum Type {
+    /// Tabix index
+    Tbx,
+    /// CSI index, with given minimum shift
+    Csi(u32),
+}
+
+impl Type {
+    fn min_shift(&self) -> i32 {
+        match self {
+            Self::Tbx => 0,
+            Self::Csi(x) => *x as i32,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl BcfBuildError {
+    pub fn error_message(error: i32) -> &'static str {
+        match error {
+            -1 => "indexing failed",
+            -2 => "opening @fn failed",
+            -3 => "format not indexable",
+            -4 => "failed to create and/or save the index",
+            _ => "unknown error",
+        }
+    }
+}
+impl std::error::Error for BcfBuildError {}
+
+impl std::fmt::Display for BcfBuildError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "BcfBuildError{{msg: {}}}", self.msg)
+    }
+}
+
+/// Build a bcf or vcf.gz index.
+/// Builds tbi or csi depending on index_type.
+///
+///```
+/// // Index a sorted bcf file with csi.
+/// let bcf_path = concat!(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/test/test_multi.bcf");
+/// rust_htslib::bcf::index::build(&bcf_path, Some(&"built_test.csi"), /*n_threads=*/ 4u32, rust_htslib::bcf::index::Type::Csi(14)).expect("Failed to build csi index for bcf file.");
+/// assert!(std::path::Path::new(&"built_test.csi").exists());
+///
+/// // Index a bgzip-compresed vcf file with tabix.
+/// let vcf_path = concat!(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/test/test_left.vcf.gz");
+/// rust_htslib::bcf::index::build(&vcf_path, Some(&"built_test_vcf.tbx"), /*n_threads=*/ 4u32, rust_htslib::bcf::index::Type::Tbx).expect("Failed to build tbx index for vcf file.");
+/// assert!(std::path::Path::new(&"built_test_vcf.tbx").exists());
+///
+/// // Cannot build a tbi index for a bcf file: returns an Err(BcfBuildError).
+/// assert!(std::panic::catch_unwind(|| rust_htslib::bcf::index::build(bcf_path, Some("built_test.tbi"), 4u32, rust_htslib::bcf::index::Type::Tbx).unwrap()).is_err());
+///
+/// // Cannot built a csi index for a vcf file: returns an Err(BcfBuildError).
+/// let vcf_path = concat!(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/test/test_various.vcf");
+/// assert!(std::panic::catch_unwind(|| rust_htslib::bcf::index::build(&vcf_path, Some(&"built_test_vcf.csi"), /*n_threads=*/ 4u32, rust_htslib::bcf::index::Type::Csi(14)).expect("Failed to build csi index for vcf file.")).is_err());
+///```
+///
+pub fn build<P: AsRef<std::path::Path>>(
+    bcf_path: P,
+    idx_path: Option<P>,
+    n_threads: u32,
+    index_type: Type,
+) -> Result<(), BcfBuildError> {
+    let min_shift = index_type.min_shift();
+    let idx_path_cstr = idx_path.and_then(|x| utils::path_to_cstring(&x));
+    let bcf_path = utils::path_to_cstring(&bcf_path).ok_or(BcfBuildError {
+        msg: format!(
+            "Failed to format bcf_path to cstring: {:?}",
+            bcf_path.as_ref().display()
+        ),
+    })?;
+    let return_code = unsafe {
+        htslib::bcf_index_build3(
+            bcf_path.as_ptr(),
+            idx_path_cstr
+                .as_ref()
+                .map_or(std::ptr::null(), |p| p.as_ptr()),
+            min_shift,
+            n_threads as i32,
+        )
+    };
+    if return_code == 0 {
+        Ok(())
+    } else {
+        Err(BcfBuildError {
+            msg: format!(
+                "Failed to build  bcf index. Error: {return_code:?}/{}",
+                BcfBuildError::error_message(return_code)
+            ),
+        })
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/bcf/mod.rs b/src/bcf/mod.rs
index e09521599..ef19bfb9c 100644
--- a/src/bcf/mod.rs
+++ b/src/bcf/mod.rs
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ use url::Url;
 
 pub mod buffer;
 pub mod header;
+pub mod index;
 pub mod record;
 
 use crate::bcf::header::{HeaderView, SampleSubset};