diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 7e89ae4..6d168f6 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ Suggests:
     knitr,
     rmarkdown,
     dendroextras,
-    tidyr
+    tidyr,
+    vfbconnectr
 Enhances:
     malecns (>= 0.3)
 Remotes: 
@@ -54,8 +55,9 @@ Remotes:
     natverse/neuprintr,
     catmaid=natverse/rcatmaid,
     natverse/nat.h5reg,
-    natverse/coconat
-RoxygenNote: 7.3.1
+    natverse/coconat,
+    natverse/vfbconnectr
+RoxygenNote: 7.3.2
 URL: https://github.com/flyconnectome/coconatfly,
     https://flyconnectome.github.io/coconatfly/
 BugReports: https://github.com/flyconnectome/coconatfly/issues
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index d11b4ad..d898f8d 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ export(cf_ids)
 export(cf_meta)
 export(cf_partner_summary)
 export(cf_partners)
+export(cf_vfb_ids)
 export(dr_coconatfly)
 export(keys)
 export(keys2df)
diff --git a/R/vfb.R b/R/vfb.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..258809f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/vfb.R
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#' Find VFB ids for individual neurons
+#'
+#' @param keys A character vector of keys (like \code{hb:10001}) or a data frame
+#'   containing \code{id} and \code{dataset} columns.
+#'
+#' @return A data frame containing a \code{vfb_id} column if \code{keys} was a
+#'   data frame, a character vector otherwise.
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @examples
+#' \donttest{
+#' dnm=cf_meta(cf_ids(manc='/type:DNa0[1-3]', hemibrain = '/type:DNa0[1-3]'))
+#' cf_vfb_ids(mbonmeta)
+#' # nb this function needs keys as input
+#' cf_vfb_ids(cf_ids(manc='/type:DNa0[1-3]', keys=TRUE))
+#' }
+cf_vfb_ids <- function(keys) {
+  wasdf=is.data.frame(keys)
+  kdf=keys2df(keys)
+  kdf$vfb_database=vfb_databases(kdf$dataset)
+  kdf2 <- kdf %>%
+    group_by(dataset) %>%
+    mutate(vfb_id=case_when(
+      is.na(vfb_database) ~ NA_character_,
+      T ~ xref2vfb(id, db=vfb_database)
+    ))
+
+  if(wasdf) {
+    keys$vfb_id=kdf2$vfb_id
+    keys
+  } else {
+    kdf2$vfb_id
+  }
+}
+
+check_vfbconnect <- function() {
+  if(!requireNamespace('vfbconnectr')) {
+    stop("Please install vfbconnectr using:\n",
+         "natmanager::install(pkgs = 'vfbconnectr')")
+  }
+  vc=vfbconnectr::VfbConnect()
+}
+
+xref2vfb <- function(ids, db=NULL) {
+  db=unique(db)
+  vc=check_vfbconnect()
+  res=vc$neo_query_wrapper$xref_2_vfb_id(as.list(ids),db=db)
+  if(is.null(res) || length(res)==0) {
+    rep(NA_character_, length(ids))
+  } else {
+    rdf=vfbconnectr::vc_df(res)
+    if(!"vfb_id" %in% names(rdf))
+      rdf$vfb_id=NA_character_
+    rdf$id=names(res)
+    # make sure we are in the order that we started
+    lj=left_join(data.frame(id=ids), rdf, by='id')
+    lj$vfb_id
+  }
+}
+
+# map cf datasets to vfb "databases"
+vfb_databases <- function(dataset) {
+  # ds=cf_datasets()
+  cfds=c("flywire", "malecns", "manc", "fanc", "hemibrain", "opticlobe")
+  vfbdbs=c(
+    "flywire783",
+    NA_character_,
+    "neuprint_JRC_Manc",
+    NA_character_,
+    "neuprint_JRC_Hemibrain_1point1",
+    "neuprint_JRC_OpticLobe_v1_0"
+  )
+  names(vfbdbs)=cfds
+  vfbdbs[dataset]
+}
+
diff --git a/man/cf_vfb_ids.Rd b/man/cf_vfb_ids.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be8bee5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/cf_vfb_ids.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/vfb.R
+\name{cf_vfb_ids}
+\alias{cf_vfb_ids}
+\title{Find VFB ids for individual neurons}
+\usage{
+cf_vfb_ids(keys)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{keys}{A character vector of keys (like \code{hb:10001}) or a data frame
+containing \code{id} and \code{dataset} columns.}
+}
+\value{
+A data frame containing a \code{vfb_id} column if \code{keys} was a
+  data frame, a character vector otherwise.
+}
+\description{
+Find VFB ids for individual neurons
+}
+\examples{
+\donttest{
+dnm=cf_meta(cf_ids(manc='/type:DNa0[1-3]', hemibrain = '/type:DNa0[1-3]'))
+cf_vfb_ids(mbonmeta)
+# nb this function needs keys as input
+cf_vfb_ids(cf_ids(manc='/type:DNa0[1-3]', keys=TRUE))
+}
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-vfb.R b/tests/testthat/test-vfb.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af68205
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-vfb.R
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+test_that("vfb id mapping works", {
+  skip_if_not_installed('vfbconnectr')
+  dnm=cf_meta(cf_ids(manc='/type:DNa0[1-3]', hemibrain = '/type:DNa0[1-3]'))
+  expect_s3_class(df <- cf_vfb_ids(dnm), 'data.frame')
+  expect_equal(df$vfb_id, cf_vfb_ids(dnm$key))
+  expect_equal(df$vfb_id,
+               c("VFB_jrchjtfe", "VFB_jrchjtff", "VFB_jrchjtfg", "VFB_jrcv08an",
+                 "VFB_jrcv08aw", "VFB_jrcv07ta", "VFB_jrcv07t2", "VFB_jrcv0kf2",
+                 "VFB_jrcv0jtf"))
+})