diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/brainglobe_atlasapi.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/brainglobe_atlasapi.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..288dc344
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmarks/brainglobe_atlasapi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import json
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from brainglobe_workflows.brainglobe_atlasapi.create_mouse_atlas import (
+    create_mouse_atlas,
+)
+
+
+class TimeBenchmark:
+    # Timing attributes
+    timeout = 3600  # default: 60 s
+
+    def setup(self):
+        # read input config: environment variable if it exists, else default
+        input_config_path = os.getenv(
+            "ATLAS_CONFIG_PATH",
+            default=str(
+                Path(__file__).parents[2]
+                / "brainglobe_workflows"
+                / "configs"
+                / "brainglobe_atlasapi_small.json"
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assert Path(input_config_path).exists()
+
+        # read as dict
+        with open(input_config_path) as cfg:
+            config_dict = json.load(cfg)
+
+        # pass dict to class
+        self.config = config_dict
+
+    def time_create_mouse_atlas(self):
+        create_mouse_atlas(**self.config)
diff --git a/brainglobe_workflows/brainglobe_atlasapi/__init__.py b/brainglobe_workflows/brainglobe_atlasapi/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/brainglobe_workflows/brainglobe_atlasapi/create_mouse_atlas.py b/brainglobe_workflows/brainglobe_atlasapi/create_mouse_atlas.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a52f96b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/brainglobe_workflows/brainglobe_atlasapi/create_mouse_atlas.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+from brainglobe_atlasapi import BrainGlobeAtlas
+
+
+def create_mouse_atlas(atlas_name):
+    atlas = BrainGlobeAtlas(atlas_name)
+    print(atlas.atlas_name)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    create_mouse_atlas("allen_mouse_100um")
diff --git a/brainglobe_workflows/configs/brainglobe_atlasapi_large.json b/brainglobe_workflows/configs/brainglobe_atlasapi_large.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a999d569
--- /dev/null
+++ b/brainglobe_workflows/configs/brainglobe_atlasapi_large.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+    "atlas_name": "allen_mouse_10um"
+}
diff --git a/brainglobe_workflows/configs/brainglobe_atlasapi_small.json b/brainglobe_workflows/configs/brainglobe_atlasapi_small.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a41a627a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/brainglobe_workflows/configs/brainglobe_atlasapi_small.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+    "atlas_name": "allen_mouse_100um"
+}