diff --git a/examples/snap/lammps_utils.py b/examples/snap/lammps_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ea74459a74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/snap/lammps_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import numpy as np
+import ctypes
+
+def set_cmdlinevars(cmdargs, argdict):
+    for key in argdict.keys():
+        cmdargs += ["-var",key,f"{argdict[key]}"]
+    return cmdargs
+
+def extract_commands(string):
+    return [x for x in string.splitlines() if x.strip() != '']
+
+def extract_compute_np(lmp,name,compute_type,result_type,array_shape):
+    """                                                                                                               
+    Convert a lammps compute to a numpy array.                                                                        
+    Assumes the compute returns a floating point numbers.                                                             
+    Note that the result is a view into the original memory.                                                          
+    If the result type is 0 (scalar) then conversion to numpy is skipped and a python float is returned.              
+    """
+    ptr = lmp.extract_compute(name, compute_type, result_type)  # 1,2: Style (1) is per-atom compute, returns array type (2).
+    if result_type == 0: return ptr # No casting needed, lammps.py already works                                      
+    if result_type == 2: ptr = ptr.contents
+    total_size = np.prod(array_shape)
+    buffer_ptr = ctypes.cast(ptr, ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_double * total_size))
+    array_np = np.frombuffer(buffer_ptr.contents, dtype=float)
+    array_np.shape = array_shape
+    return array_np