diff --git a/examples/tree_traversals.rs b/examples/tree_traversals.rs
index 5cd89faa3..1d4c58743 100644
--- a/examples/tree_traversals.rs
+++ b/examples/tree_traversals.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,19 @@ fn traverse_upwards_with_iterator(tree: &tskit::Tree) {
 }
 
 fn preorder_traversal(tree: &tskit::Tree) {
-    for _ in tree.traverse_nodes(tskit::NodeTraversalOrder::Preorder) {}
+    // Iterate over nodes.
+    // For preorder traversal, this avoids allocation.
+    // (But we collect the data for this example, which does allocate.)
+    let nodes_from_iter = tree
+        .traverse_nodes(tskit::NodeTraversalOrder::Preorder)
+        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    // Get a COPY of all nodes as a boxed slice
+    let nodes_as_slice = tree.nodes(tskit::NodeTraversalOrder::Preorder).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(nodes_as_slice.len(), nodes_from_iter.len());
+    nodes_from_iter
+        .iter()
+        .zip(nodes_as_slice.iter())
+        .for_each(|(i, j)| assert_eq!(i, j));
 }
 
 #[derive(clap::Parser)]
diff --git a/src/sys/tree.rs b/src/sys/tree.rs
index e79628214..84b51cf94 100644
--- a/src/sys/tree.rs
+++ b/src/sys/tree.rs
@@ -156,6 +156,46 @@ impl<'treeseq> LLTree<'treeseq> {
         }
     }
 
+    pub fn nodes(&self, order: NodeTraversalOrder) -> Result<Box<[NodeId]>, TskitError> {
+        let mut nodes: Vec<NodeId> = vec![
+            NodeId::NULL;
+            unsafe { super::bindings::tsk_tree_get_size_bound(self.as_ll_ref()) }
+                as usize
+        ];
+
+        let mut num_nodes: super::bindings::tsk_size_t = 0;
+        let ptr = std::ptr::addr_of_mut!(num_nodes);
+        unsafe {
+            super::bindings::tsk_tree_preorder(
+                self.as_ll_ref(),
+                nodes.as_mut_ptr() as *mut super::bindings::tsk_id_t,
+                ptr,
+            );
+        }
+
+        let code = match order {
+            NodeTraversalOrder::Preorder => unsafe {
+                super::bindings::tsk_tree_preorder(
+                    self.as_ll_ref(),
+                    nodes.as_mut_ptr() as *mut super::bindings::tsk_id_t,
+                    ptr,
+                )
+            },
+            NodeTraversalOrder::Postorder => unsafe {
+                super::bindings::tsk_tree_preorder(
+                    self.as_ll_ref(),
+                    nodes.as_mut_ptr() as *mut super::bindings::tsk_id_t,
+                    ptr,
+                )
+            },
+        };
+        if code == 0 {
+            nodes.resize(num_nodes as usize, NodeId::NULL);
+        }
+
+        handle_tsk_return_value!(code, nodes.into_boxed_slice())
+    }
+
     pub fn children(&self, u: NodeId) -> impl Iterator<Item = NodeId> + '_ {
         NodeIteratorAdapter(ChildIterator::new(self, u))
     }
diff --git a/src/trees/tree.rs b/src/trees/tree.rs
index 5891acd54..ee06b677a 100644
--- a/src/trees/tree.rs
+++ b/src/trees/tree.rs
@@ -313,6 +313,12 @@ impl<'treeseq> Tree<'treeseq> {
         self.inner.traverse_nodes(order)
     }
 
+    pub fn nodes(
+        &self,
+        order: crate::NodeTraversalOrder,
+    ) -> Result<Box<[NodeId]>, TskitError> {
+    }
+
     /// Return an [`Iterator`] over the children of node `u`.
     /// # Returns
     ///