diff --git a/src/lib/plugin_apis/nvme.api b/src/lib/plugin_apis/nvme.api
index 44f8bf73..2f17e0c9 100644
--- a/src/lib/plugin_apis/nvme.api
+++ b/src/lib/plugin_apis/nvme.api
@@ -66,6 +66,17 @@ typedef enum {
     BD_NVME_TECH_MODE_INITIATOR    = 1 << 2,
 } BDNVMETechMode;
 
+/**
+ * bd_nvme_is_tech_avail:
+ * @tech: the queried tech
+ * @mode: a bit mask of queried modes of operation (#BDNVMETechMode) for @tech
+ * @error: (out) (nullable): place to store error (details about why the @tech-@mode combination is not available)
+ *
+ * Returns: whether the @tech-@mode combination is available -- supported by the
+ *          plugin implementation and having all the runtime dependencies available
+ */
+gboolean bd_nvme_is_tech_avail (BDNVMETech tech, G_GNUC_UNUSED guint64 mode, GError **error);
+
 
 /* BpG-skip */
 /**
diff --git a/tests/nvme_test.py b/tests/nvme_test.py
index 3c760ca4..6e62bd95 100644
--- a/tests/nvme_test.py
+++ b/tests/nvme_test.py
@@ -44,6 +44,14 @@ class NVMePluginVersionTestCase(NVMeTest):
     def test_plugin_version(self):
        self.assertEqual(BlockDev.get_plugin_soname(BlockDev.Plugin.NVME), "libbd_nvme.so.3")
 
+    @tag_test(TestTags.NOSTORAGE)
+    def test_availability(self):
+        avail = BlockDev.nvme_is_tech_avail(BlockDev.NVMETech.NVME, 0)
+        self.assertTrue(avail)
+
+        avail = BlockDev.nvme_is_tech_avail(BlockDev.NVMETech.FABRICS, 0)
+        self.assertTrue(avail)
+
 
 class NVMeTestCase(NVMeTest):
     def setUp(self):