diff --git a/docs/usage/session.rst b/docs/usage/session.rst
index 1a731ac4..6dd1b151 100644
--- a/docs/usage/session.rst
+++ b/docs/usage/session.rst
@@ -338,6 +338,18 @@ To define a different session config for a given URL pattern, install
 
 .. autofunction:: scrapy_zyte_api.session_config
 
+If in a session config implementation or in any other Scrapy component you need
+to tell whether a request is a :ref:`session initialization request
+<session-init>` or not, use :func:`~scrapy_zyte_api.is_session_init_request`:
+
+.. autofunction:: scrapy_zyte_api.is_session_init_request
+
+Classes decorated with :func:`~scrapy_zyte_api.session_config` are registered
+into :data:`~scrapy_zyte_api.session_config_registry`:
+
+.. autodata:: scrapy_zyte_api.session_config_registry
+    :annotation:
+
 .. _session-cookies:
 
 Cookie handling
diff --git a/scrapy_zyte_api/__init__.py b/scrapy_zyte_api/__init__.py
index 8767d177..de1ff8e1 100644
--- a/scrapy_zyte_api/__init__.py
+++ b/scrapy_zyte_api/__init__.py
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@
 from ._session import (
     ScrapyZyteAPISessionDownloaderMiddleware,
     SessionConfig,
+    is_session_init_request,
     session_config,
 )
+from ._session import session_config_registry as _session_config_registry
 from .addon import Addon
 from .handler import ScrapyZyteAPIDownloadHandler
 
@@ -37,3 +39,7 @@
 #: .. note:: When using python-zyte-api 0.5.2 or lower, this is the same as
 #:           :data:`~scrapy_zyte_api.SESSION_DEFAULT_RETRY_POLICY`.
 SESSION_AGGRESSIVE_RETRY_POLICY = _SESSION_AGGRESSIVE_RETRY_POLICY
+
+#: Instance of :class:`web_poet.rules.RulesRegistry` that holds :ref:`session
+#: configs <session-configs>`.
+session_config_registry = _session_config_registry
diff --git a/scrapy_zyte_api/_session.py b/scrapy_zyte_api/_session.py
index 5245ac8a..90123fbd 100644
--- a/scrapy_zyte_api/_session.py
+++ b/scrapy_zyte_api/_session.py
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@
 ZYTE_API_META_KEYS = ("zyte_api", "zyte_api_automap", "zyte_api_provider")
 
 
+def is_session_init_request(request):
+    """Return ``True`` if the request is a :ref:`session initialization request
+    <session-init>` or ``False`` otherwise."""
+    return request.meta.get(SESSION_INIT_META_KEY, False) is True
+
+
 class SessionRetryFactory(RetryFactory):
     temporary_download_error_stop = stop_after_attempt(1)
 
@@ -338,6 +344,10 @@ def params(self, request: Request) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                     "url": "https://example.com/new-session",
                     "httpResponseBody": True,
                 }
+
+        The returned parameters do not need to include :http:`request:url`. If
+        missing, it is picked from the request :ref:`triggering a session
+        initialization request <pool-size>`.
         """
         if location := self.location(request):
             return {
@@ -358,6 +368,10 @@ def check(self, response: Response, request: Request) -> bool:
 
         The default implementation checks the outcome of the ``setLocation``
         action if a location was defined, as described in :ref:`session-check`.
+
+        If you need to tell whether *request* is a :ref:`session initialization
+        request <session-init>` or not, use
+        :func:`~scrapy_zyte_api.is_session_init_request`.
         """
         if self._checker:
             return self._checker.check(response, request)
diff --git a/tests/test_sessions.py b/tests/test_sessions.py
index f4d5a6e6..d7baa0c9 100644
--- a/tests/test_sessions.py
+++ b/tests/test_sessions.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
     SESSION_AGGRESSIVE_RETRY_POLICY,
     SESSION_DEFAULT_RETRY_POLICY,
     SessionConfig,
+    is_session_init_request,
     session_config,
 )
 from scrapy_zyte_api._session import SESSION_INIT_META_KEY, session_config_registry
@@ -2649,3 +2650,16 @@ def parse(self, response):
         }
     if reason is not None:
         assert reason in caplog.text
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("meta", "expected"),
+    (
+        ({}, False),
+        ({SESSION_INIT_META_KEY: False}, False),
+        ({SESSION_INIT_META_KEY: True}, True),
+    ),
+)
+def test_is_session_init_request(meta, expected):
+    actual = is_session_init_request(Request("https://example.com", meta=meta))
+    assert expected == actual