diff --git a/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/__init__.py b/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98bb440c81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# This file is part of daf_butler.
+#
+# Developed for the LSST Data Management System.
+# This product includes software developed by the LSST Project
+# (http://www.lsst.org).
+# See the COPYRIGHT file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# for details of code ownership.
+#
+# This software is dual licensed under the GNU General Public License and also
+# under a 3-clause BSD license. Recipients may choose which of these licenses
+# to use; please see the files gpl-3.0.txt and/or bsd_license.txt,
+# respectively.  If you choose the GPL option then the following text applies
+# (but note that there is still no warranty even if you opt for BSD instead):
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+from ._remote_butler import RemoteButler
diff --git a/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/_config.py b/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cdb41d4a4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# This file is part of daf_butler.
+#
+# Developed for the LSST Data Management System.
+# This product includes software developed by the LSST Project
+# (http://www.lsst.org).
+# See the COPYRIGHT file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# for details of code ownership.
+#
+# This software is dual licensed under the GNU General Public License and also
+# under a 3-clause BSD license. Recipients may choose which of these licenses
+# to use; please see the files gpl-3.0.txt and/or bsd_license.txt,
+# respectively.  If you choose the GPL option then the following text applies
+# (but note that there is still no warranty even if you opt for BSD instead):
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+from pydantic import AnyHttpUrl
+from .._compat import _BaseModelCompat
+
+
+class RemoteButlerOptionsModel(_BaseModelCompat):
+    url: AnyHttpUrl
+
+
+class RemoteButlerConfigModel(_BaseModelCompat):
+    remote_butler: RemoteButlerOptionsModel
diff --git a/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/_remote_butler.py b/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/_remote_butler.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ffd792dcc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/lsst/daf/butler/remote_butler/_remote_butler.py
@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+# This file is part of daf_butler.
+#
+# Developed for the LSST Data Management System.
+# This product includes software developed by the LSST Project
+# (http://www.lsst.org).
+# See the COPYRIGHT file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# for details of code ownership.
+#
+# This software is dual licensed under the GNU General Public License and also
+# under a 3-clause BSD license. Recipients may choose which of these licenses
+# to use; please see the files gpl-3.0.txt and/or bsd_license.txt,
+# respectively.  If you choose the GPL option then the following text applies
+# (but note that there is still no warranty even if you opt for BSD instead):
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+from collections.abc import Collection, Iterable, Sequence
+from contextlib import AbstractContextManager
+from typing import Any, TextIO
+
+from lsst.resources import ResourcePath, ResourcePathExpression
+
+from .._butler import Butler
+from .._butler_config import ButlerConfig
+from .._config import Config
+from .._dataset_existence import DatasetExistence
+from .._dataset_ref import DatasetIdGenEnum, DatasetRef
+from .._dataset_type import DatasetType
+from .._deferredDatasetHandle import DeferredDatasetHandle
+from .._file_dataset import FileDataset
+from .._limited_butler import LimitedButler
+from .._storage_class import StorageClass
+from ..datastore import DatasetRefURIs
+from ..dimensions import DataId, DimensionUniverse
+from ..registry import Registry
+from ..transfers import RepoExportContext
+from ._config import RemoteButlerConfigModel
+
+
+class RemoteButler(Butler):
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        config: Config | ResourcePathExpression | None = None,
+        searchPaths: Sequence[ResourcePathExpression] | None = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ):
+        butler_config = ButlerConfig(config, searchPaths, without_datastore=True)
+        self._config = RemoteButlerConfigModel.model_validate(butler_config)
+
+    def isWriteable(self) -> bool:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        return False
+
+    @property
+    def dimensions(self) -> DimensionUniverse:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def transaction(self) -> AbstractContextManager[None]:
+        """This method will always raise NotImplementedError -- transactions are not supported by RemoteButler."""
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def put(
+        self,
+        obj: Any,
+        datasetRefOrType: DatasetRef | DatasetType | str,
+        /,
+        dataId: DataId | None = None,
+        *,
+        run: str | None = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ) -> DatasetRef:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def getDeferred(
+        self,
+        datasetRefOrType: DatasetRef | DatasetType | str,
+        /,
+        dataId: DataId | None = None,
+        *,
+        parameters: dict | None = None,
+        collections: Any = None,
+        storageClass: str | StorageClass | None = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ) -> DeferredDatasetHandle:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def get(
+        self,
+        datasetRefOrType: DatasetRef | DatasetType | str,
+        /,
+        dataId: DataId | None = None,
+        *,
+        parameters: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
+        collections: Any = None,
+        storageClass: StorageClass | str | None = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ) -> Any:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def getURIs(
+        self,
+        datasetRefOrType: DatasetRef | DatasetType | str,
+        /,
+        dataId: DataId | None = None,
+        *,
+        predict: bool = False,
+        collections: Any = None,
+        run: str | None = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ) -> DatasetRefURIs:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def getURI(
+        self,
+        datasetRefOrType: DatasetRef | DatasetType | str,
+        /,
+        dataId: DataId | None = None,
+        *,
+        predict: bool = False,
+        collections: Any = None,
+        run: str | None = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ) -> ResourcePath:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def retrieveArtifacts(
+        self,
+        refs: Iterable[DatasetRef],
+        destination: ResourcePathExpression,
+        transfer: str = "auto",
+        preserve_path: bool = True,
+        overwrite: bool = False,
+    ) -> list[ResourcePath]:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def exists(
+        self,
+        dataset_ref_or_type: DatasetRef | DatasetType | str,
+        /,
+        data_id: DataId | None = None,
+        *,
+        full_check: bool = True,
+        collections: Any = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ) -> DatasetExistence:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def _exists_many(
+        self,
+        refs: Iterable[DatasetRef],
+        /,
+        *,
+        full_check: bool = True,
+    ) -> dict[DatasetRef, DatasetExistence]:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def removeRuns(self, names: Iterable[str], unstore: bool = True) -> None:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def ingest(
+        self,
+        *datasets: FileDataset,
+        transfer: str | None = "auto",
+        run: str | None = None,
+        idGenerationMode: DatasetIdGenEnum | None = None,
+        record_validation_info: bool = True,
+    ) -> None:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def export(
+        self,
+        *,
+        directory: str | None = None,
+        filename: str | None = None,
+        format: str | None = None,
+        transfer: str | None = None,
+    ) -> AbstractContextManager[RepoExportContext]:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def import_(
+        self,
+        *,
+        directory: ResourcePathExpression | None = None,
+        filename: ResourcePathExpression | TextIO | None = None,
+        format: str | None = None,
+        transfer: str | None = None,
+        skip_dimensions: set | None = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def transfer_from(
+        self,
+        source_butler: LimitedButler,
+        source_refs: Iterable[DatasetRef],
+        transfer: str = "auto",
+        skip_missing: bool = True,
+        register_dataset_types: bool = False,
+        transfer_dimensions: bool = False,
+    ) -> Collection[DatasetRef]:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def validateConfiguration(
+        self,
+        logFailures: bool = False,
+        datasetTypeNames: Iterable[str] | None = None,
+        ignore: Iterable[str] | None = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    @property
+    def collections(self) -> Sequence[str]:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    @property
+    def run(self) -> str | None:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    @property
+    def registry(self) -> Registry:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def pruneDatasets(
+        self,
+        refs: Iterable[DatasetRef],
+        *,
+        disassociate: bool = True,
+        unstore: bool = False,
+        tags: Iterable[str] = (),
+        purge: bool = False,
+    ) -> None:
+        # Docstring inherited.
+        raise NotImplementedError()
diff --git a/tests/test_remote_butler.py b/tests/test_remote_butler.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..24ae1fb697
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_remote_butler.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# This file is part of daf_butler.
+#
+# Developed for the LSST Data Management System.
+# This product includes software developed by the LSST Project
+# (http://www.lsst.org).
+# See the COPYRIGHT file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# for details of code ownership.
+#
+# This software is dual licensed under the GNU General Public License and also
+# under a 3-clause BSD license. Recipients may choose which of these licenses
+# to use; please see the files gpl-3.0.txt and/or bsd_license.txt,
+# respectively.  If you choose the GPL option then the following text applies
+# (but note that there is still no warranty even if you opt for BSD instead):
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+import unittest
+
+from lsst.daf.butler import Butler
+from lsst.daf.butler.remote_butler import RemoteButler
+from pydantic import ValidationError
+
+
+class RemoteButlerConfigTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_instantiate_via_butler(self):
+        butler = Butler(
+            {
+                "cls": "lsst.daf.butler.remote_butler.RemoteButler",
+                "remote_butler": {"url": "https://validurl.example"},
+            }
+        )
+        assert isinstance(butler, RemoteButler)
+
+    def test_bad_config(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(ValidationError):
+            Butler({"cls": "lsst.daf.butler.remote_butler.RemoteButler", "remote_butler": {"url": "!"}})