diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index f31a2101..131cf5a9 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: orderly2
 Title: Orderly Next Generation
-Version: 1.99.12
+Version: 1.99.13
 Authors@R: c(person("Rich", "FitzJohn", role = c("aut", "cre"),
                     email = "rich.fitzjohn@gmail.com"),
              person("Robert", "Ashton", role = "aut"),
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Description: Reimplementation of orderly based on outpack.
 License: MIT + file LICENSE
 Encoding: UTF-8
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
-RoxygenNote: 7.2.3
+RoxygenNote: 7.3.1
 URL: https://github.com/mrc-ide/orderly2
 BugReports: https://github.com/mrc-ide/orderly2/issues
 Imports:
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 1b22cabf..4c96b240 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ export(orderly_metadata_extract)
 export(orderly_metadata_read)
 export(orderly_new)
 export(orderly_parameters)
+export(orderly_parse_expr)
+export(orderly_parse_file)
 export(orderly_plugin_add_metadata)
 export(orderly_plugin_context)
 export(orderly_plugin_register)
diff --git a/R/read.R b/R/read.R
index 3faa6edf..e16da060 100644
--- a/R/read.R
+++ b/R/read.R
@@ -1,11 +1,35 @@
 orderly_read <- function(path, call = NULL) {
   entrypoint_filename <- find_entrypoint_filename(path)
-  orderly_read_r(file.path(path, entrypoint_filename), entrypoint_filename)
+  orderly_parse_file(file.path(path, entrypoint_filename))
 }
 
 
-orderly_read_r <- function(path, entrypoint_filename) {
+#' Parse the orderly entrypoint script
+#'
+#' For expert use only.
+#'
+#' Parses details of any calls to the orderly_ in-script functions
+#' into intermediate representation for downstream use. Also validates
+#' that any calls to `orderly_*` in-script functions are well-formed.
+#'
+#' @param path Path to `orderly_*` script
+#'
+#' @return Parsed orderly entrypoint script
+#' @export
+orderly_parse_file <- function(path) {
+  assert_file_exists(path)
   exprs <- parse(file = path)
+  orderly_parse_expr(exprs, basename(path))
+}
+
+
+#' @param exprs Parsed AST from `orderly_*` script
+#' @param filename Name of `orderly_*` file to include in metadata
+#'
+#' @rdname orderly_parse_file
+#' @export
+orderly_parse_expr <- function(exprs, filename) {
+  assert_is(exprs, "expression")
 
   inputs <- list()
   artefacts <- list()
@@ -50,7 +74,7 @@ orderly_read_r <- function(path, entrypoint_filename) {
   ## Rename to make things easier below:
   names(dat) <- sub("^orderly_", "", names(dat))
 
-  ret <- list(entrypoint_filename = entrypoint_filename)
+  ret <- list(entrypoint_filename = filename)
   if (length(dat$strict_mode) > 0) {
     ret$strict <- dat$strict_mode[[1]]
   } else {
@@ -76,7 +100,7 @@ orderly_read_r <- function(path, entrypoint_filename) {
 
   if (length(dat$resource) > 0) {
     ret$resources <- setdiff(unique(unlist(dat$resource, TRUE, FALSE)),
-                             entrypoint_filename)
+                             filename)
   }
   if (length(dat$artefact) > 0) {
     ret$artefacts <- dat$artefact
diff --git a/_pkgdown.yml b/_pkgdown.yml
index 4a9ead98..72bbe997 100644
--- a/_pkgdown.yml
+++ b/_pkgdown.yml
@@ -86,3 +86,5 @@ reference:
       - orderly_validate_archive
       - orderly_hash_data
       - orderly_hash_file
+      - orderly_parse_file
+      - orderly_parse_expr
diff --git a/man/orderly_parse_file.Rd b/man/orderly_parse_file.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e15f05cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/orderly_parse_file.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/read.R
+\name{orderly_parse_file}
+\alias{orderly_parse_file}
+\alias{orderly_parse_expr}
+\title{Parse the orderly entrypoint script}
+\usage{
+orderly_parse_file(path)
+
+orderly_parse_expr(exprs, filename)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{path}{Path to \verb{orderly_*} script}
+
+\item{exprs}{Parsed AST from \verb{orderly_*} script}
+
+\item{filename}{Name of \verb{orderly_*} file to include in metadata}
+}
+\value{
+Parsed orderly entrypoint script
+}
+\description{
+For expert use only.
+}
+\details{
+Parses details of any calls to the orderly_ in-script functions
+into intermediate representation for downstream use. Also validates
+that any calls to \verb{orderly_*} in-script functions are well-formed.
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-read.R b/tests/testthat/test-read.R
index 77f9c480..8f0ec350 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-read.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-read.R
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
-test_that("can read file with no helpers", {
-  expect_equal(orderly_read_r("examples/implicit/implicit.R", "implicit.R"),
+test_that("can parse file with no helpers", {
+  expect_equal(orderly_parse_file("examples/implicit/implicit.R"),
                list(entrypoint_filename = "implicit.R",
                     strict = list(enabled = FALSE)))
 })
 
 
-test_that("can read file with helpers", {
-  dat <- orderly_read_r("examples/explicit/explicit.R", "explicit.R")
+test_that("can parse file with helpers", {
+  dat <- orderly_parse_file("examples/explicit/explicit.R")
   expect_setequal(names(dat),
                   c("entrypoint_filename", "strict", "resources", "artefacts"))
   expect_equal(dat$strict, list(enabled = FALSE))
@@ -17,9 +17,15 @@ test_that("can read file with helpers", {
 })
 
 
+test_that("can parse file from expression", {
+  exprs <- parse(file = "examples/explicit/explicit.R")
+  dat <- orderly_parse_expr(exprs = exprs, filename = "explicit.R")
+  expect_equal(dat, orderly_parse_file("examples/explicit/explicit.R"))
+})
+
+
 test_that("Skip over computed resources", {
-  dat <- orderly_read_r("examples/computed-resource/computed-resource.R",
-                        "computed-resource.R")
+  dat <- orderly_parse_file("examples/computed-resource/computed-resource.R")
   expect_null(dat$resources)
 })