diff --git a/doc/api.rst b/doc/api.rst
index bce4e0d1c8e..ff708dc4c1b 100644
--- a/doc/api.rst
+++ b/doc/api.rst
@@ -522,6 +522,13 @@ GroupByObjects
    core.groupby.DatasetGroupBy.apply
    core.groupby.DatasetGroupBy.reduce
 
+Custom Indexes
+==============
+.. autosummary::
+   :toctree: generated/
+
+   CFTimeIndex
+
 Plotting
 ========
 
diff --git a/xarray/__init__.py b/xarray/__init__.py
index 1a2bf3fe283..94e8029edbb 100644
--- a/xarray/__init__.py
+++ b/xarray/__init__.py
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 
 from .conventions import decode_cf, SerializationWarning
 
+from .coding.cftimeindex import CFTimeIndex
+
 try:
     from .version import version as __version__
 except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
diff --git a/xarray/coding/cftimeindex.py b/xarray/coding/cftimeindex.py
index fb51ace5d69..5fca14ddbb1 100644
--- a/xarray/coding/cftimeindex.py
+++ b/xarray/coding/cftimeindex.py
@@ -135,6 +135,10 @@ def assert_all_valid_date_type(data):
 
 
 class CFTimeIndex(pd.Index):
+    """Custom Index for working with CF calendars and dates
+
+    All elements of a CFTimeIndex must be cftime.datetime objects.
+    """
     year = _field_accessor('year', 'The year of the datetime')
     month = _field_accessor('month', 'The month of the datetime')
     day = _field_accessor('day', 'The days of the datetime')