diff --git a/@types/automerge/index.d.ts b/@types/automerge/index.d.ts
index e279ce3a2..59b5ec8f0 100644
--- a/@types/automerge/index.d.ts
+++ b/@types/automerge/index.d.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ declare module 'automerge' {
   function getAllChanges<T>(doc: Doc<T>): Uint8Array[]
   function getChanges<T>(olddoc: Doc<T>, newdoc: Doc<T>): Uint8Array[]
   function getConflicts<T>(doc: Doc<T>, key: keyof T): any
+  function getCursorIndex<T>(doc: Doc<T>, cursor: Cursor, findClosest?: boolean): number
   function getHistory<D, T = Proxy<D>>(doc: Doc<T>): State<T>[]
   function getMissingDeps<T>(doc: Doc<T>): Hash[]
   function getObjectById<T>(doc: Doc<T>, objectId: OpId): any
@@ -74,6 +75,8 @@ declare module 'automerge' {
   class Text extends List<string> {
     constructor(text?: string | string[])
     get(index: number): string
+    getCursorAt(index: number): Cursor
+    getElemId(index: number): string
     toSpans<T>(): (string | T)[]
   }
 
@@ -92,6 +95,11 @@ declare module 'automerge' {
     value: number
   }
 
+  interface Cursor {
+    objectId: string
+    elemId: string
+  }
+
   // Readonly variants
 
   type ReadonlyTable<T> = ReadonlyArray<T> & Table<T>
diff --git a/backend/index.js b/backend/index.js
index 7d88d83c5..ca34b23f0 100644
--- a/backend/index.js
+++ b/backend/index.js
@@ -267,7 +267,17 @@ function getMissingDeps(backend) {
   }
 }
 
+function getListIndex(backend, objectId, elemId) {
+  const opSet = backendState(backend).get('opSet')
+  return OpSet.getListIndex(opSet, objectId, elemId)
+}
+
+function getPrecedingListIndex(backend, objectId, elemId) {
+  const opSet = backendState(backend).get('opSet')
+  return OpSet.getPrecedingListIndex(opSet, objectId, elemId)
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   init, clone, free, applyChanges, applyLocalChange, save, load, loadChanges, getPatch,
-  getHeads, getChanges, getMissingDeps
+  getHeads, getChanges, getMissingDeps, getListIndex, getPrecedingListIndex
 }
diff --git a/backend/op_set.js b/backend/op_set.js
index 320078f47..9567b0718 100644
--- a/backend/op_set.js
+++ b/backend/op_set.js
@@ -71,6 +71,29 @@ function applyInsert(opSet, op) {
     .setIn(['byObject', objectId, '_insertion', opId], op)
 }
 
+// Finds the index of the list element with a given ID.
+// Returns -1 if the element does not exist or has been deleted.
+function getListIndex(opSet, objectId, elemId) {
+  return opSet.getIn(['byObject', objectId, '_elemIds']).indexOf(elemId)
+}
+
+// Find the index of the closest visible list element that precedes the given element ID.
+// Returns -1 if there is no such element.
+function getPrecedingListIndex(opSet, objectId, elemId) {
+  const elemIds = opSet.getIn(['byObject', objectId, '_elemIds'])
+
+  let prevId = elemId, index
+  while (true) {
+    index = -1
+    prevId = getPrevious(opSet, objectId, prevId)
+    if (!prevId) break
+    index = elemIds.indexOf(prevId)
+    if (index >= 0) break
+  }
+
+  return index
+}
+
 function updateListElement(opSet, objectId, elemId, patch) {
   const ops = getFieldOps(opSet, objectId, elemId)
   let elemIds = opSet.getIn(['byObject', objectId, '_elemIds'])
@@ -87,21 +110,9 @@ function updateListElement(opSet, objectId, elemId, patch) {
     } else {
       elemIds = elemIds.setValue(elemId, ops.first().get('value'))
     }
-
   } else {
     if (ops.isEmpty()) return opSet // deleting a non-existent element = no-op
-
-    // find the index of the closest preceding list element
-    let prevId = elemId
-    while (true) {
-      index = -1
-      prevId = getPrevious(opSet, objectId, prevId)
-      if (!prevId) break
-      index = elemIds.indexOf(prevId)
-      if (index >= 0) break
-    }
-
-    index += 1
+    index = getPrecedingListIndex(opSet, objectId, elemId) + 1
     elemIds = elemIds.insertIndex(index, elemId, ops.first().get('value'))
     if (patch) patch.edits.push({action: 'insert', index, elemId})
   }
@@ -631,5 +642,6 @@ function constructObject(opSet, objectId) {
 
 module.exports = {
   init, addChange, addLocalChange, getHeads, getMissingChanges, getMissingDeps,
-  constructObject, getFieldOps, getOperationKey, finalizePatch
+  constructObject, getFieldOps, getOperationKey, finalizePatch,
+  getListIndex, getPrecedingListIndex
 }
diff --git a/frontend/text.js b/frontend/text.js
index da2df269c..02dd407f6 100644
--- a/frontend/text.js
+++ b/frontend/text.js
@@ -27,6 +27,18 @@ class Text {
     return this.elems[index].elemId
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns a cursor that points to a specific point in the text.
+   * For now, represented by a plain object.
+   */
+  getCursorAt (index) {
+    return {
+      // todo: are there any points in the lifecycle where the Text object doesn't have an ID?
+      objectId: this[OBJECT_ID],
+      elemId: this.getElemId(index)
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Iterates over the text elements character by character, including any
    * inline objects.
diff --git a/src/automerge.js b/src/automerge.js
index 49f17e1eb..90d5e5698 100644
--- a/src/automerge.js
+++ b/src/automerge.js
@@ -123,10 +123,33 @@ function setDefaultBackend(newBackend) {
   backend = newBackend
 }
 
+/**
+ * Finds the latest integer index of a cursor object.
+ * If the character was deleted, returns -1.
+ *
+ * todos:
+ * - consider returning the closest character if deleted
+ * - consider optimizing the linear search
+ */
+function getCursorIndex(doc, cursor, findClosest = false) {
+  if (cursor.objectId === undefined || cursor.elemId === undefined) {
+    throw new TypeError('Invalid cursor object')
+  }
+
+  const state = Frontend.getBackendState(doc)
+  let index = backend.getListIndex(state, cursor.objectId, cursor.elemId)
+
+  if (index === -1 && findClosest) {
+    index = backend.getPrecedingListIndex(state, cursor.objectId, cursor.elemId)
+  }
+  return index
+}
+
+
 module.exports = {
   init, from, change, emptyChange, clone, free,
   load, save, merge, getChanges, getAllChanges, applyChanges, getMissingDeps,
-  encodeChange, decodeChange, equals, getHistory, uuid,
+  encodeChange, decodeChange, equals, getHistory, getCursorIndex, uuid,
   Frontend, setDefaultBackend,
   get Backend() { return backend }
 }
diff --git a/test/text_test.js b/test/text_test.js
index a737f0a20..61125fb6b 100644
--- a/test/text_test.js
+++ b/test/text_test.js
@@ -363,6 +363,52 @@ describe('Automerge.Text', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  describe('cursors', () => {
+    let s1
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      s1 = Automerge.change(Automerge.init(), doc => {
+        doc.text = new Automerge.Text('hello world')
+        doc.cursor = doc.text.getCursorAt(2)
+      })
+    })
+
+    it('can retrieve the initial index on the cursor', () => {
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(Automerge.getCursorIndex(s1, s1.cursor), 2)
+    })
+
+    it('updates the cursor index when text is updated', () => {
+      s1 = Automerge.change(s1, doc => {
+        doc.text.insertAt(0, 'a', 'b', 'c')
+      })
+
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(Automerge.getCursorIndex(s1, s1.cursor), 5)
+    })
+
+    it('throws an error if a non-cursor is passed in', () => {
+      s1 = Automerge.change(s1, doc => {
+        doc.value = "random string"
+      })
+
+      assert.throws(() => Automerge.getCursorIndex(s1, s1.value), /Invalid cursor object/)
+    })
+
+    it('returns -1 by default if character was deleted', () => {
+      s1 = Automerge.change(s1, doc => {
+        doc.text.deleteAt(2)
+      })
+
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(Automerge.getCursorIndex(s1, s1.cursor), -1)
+    })
+
+    it('returns closest index if character was deleted and findClosest is set to true', () => {
+      s1 = Automerge.change(s1, doc => {
+        doc.text.deleteAt(2)
+      })
+
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(Automerge.getCursorIndex(s1, s1.cursor, true), 1)
+    })
+  })
+
   describe('non-textual control characters', () => {
     let s1
     beforeEach(() => {
diff --git a/test/typescript_test.ts b/test/typescript_test.ts
index 7f3afb22a..d26fe5bad 100644
--- a/test/typescript_test.ts
+++ b/test/typescript_test.ts
@@ -379,6 +379,41 @@ describe('TypeScript support', () => {
         assert.deepStrictEqual(elemIds, [`2@${Automerge.getActorId(doc)}`, `3@${Automerge.getActorId(doc)}`])
       })
     })
+
+    describe('cursors API', () => {
+      interface CursorPerUser {
+        [userName: string]: Automerge.Cursor
+      }
+      interface TextDocWithCursors {
+        text: Automerge.Text
+        cursors: CursorPerUser
+      }
+  
+      beforeEach(() => {
+        doc = Automerge.change(doc, doc => doc.text.insertAt(0, 'a', 'b'))
+      })
+
+      it('should convert between cursor and index', () => {
+        const cursor = doc.text.getCursorAt(1)
+        assert.strictEqual(cursor.objectId, Automerge.getObjectId(doc.text))
+        assert.strictEqual(cursor.elemId, `3@${Automerge.getActorId(doc)}`)
+        assert.strictEqual(Automerge.getCursorIndex(doc, cursor), 1)
+      })
+
+      it('should allow cursors to be stored in a document', () => {
+        let doc = Automerge.from<TextDocWithCursors>({
+          text: new Automerge.Text(),
+          cursors: {}
+        })
+        doc = Automerge.change(doc, doc => {
+          doc.text.insertAt(0, 'a', 'b', 'c')
+          doc.cursors['user1'] = doc.text.getCursorAt(1)
+        })
+        assert.strictEqual(doc.cursors.user1.objectId, Automerge.getObjectId(doc.text))
+        assert.strictEqual(doc.cursors.user1.elemId, `4@${Automerge.getActorId(doc)}`)
+        assert.strictEqual(Automerge.getCursorIndex(doc, doc.cursors.user1, true), 1)
+      })
+    })
   })
 
   describe('Automerge.Table', () => {