diff --git a/jax/experimental/multihost_utils.py b/jax/experimental/multihost_utils.py
index 560b5c5cc2f4..541f74b9c7c7 100644
--- a/jax/experimental/multihost_utils.py
+++ b/jax/experimental/multihost_utils.py
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@
 from jax.sharding import PartitionSpec as P
 from jax._src import distributed
 from jax._src.util import safe_zip
+from jax._src import xla_bridge
+from jax._src.lib import xla_client
 import numpy as np
 
 
@@ -470,3 +472,80 @@ def gtl_abstract_eval(arr, *, global_mesh, pspec):
 def _gtl_lowering(ctx, x, *, global_mesh, pspec):
   return [x]
 mlir.register_lowering(global_array_to_host_local_array_p, _gtl_lowering)
+
+
+def live_devices(devices: list[xla_client.Device]) -> list[xla_client.Device]:
+  """Returns the subset of the provided devices that are live and healthy.
+
+  `live_devices` is a low-level fault tolerance primitive that can be used to
+  implement fault tolerant multi-process JAX programs.
+
+  Barrier Semantics
+
+  It's important that every process agrees on which devices are live to avoid
+  the processes' behavior from diverging. For example, imagine a set of
+  processes trying to run an AllGather, but they all disagree on which devices
+  should be participating in the AllGather. This is buggy.
+
+  To ensure that every process agrees on the set of live devices, the
+  `live_devices` function has barrier-like semantics. Consider an invocation
+  `live_devices(devices)` where `devices` includes devices across a set of
+  processes P. The invocation acts as a barrier, waiting for every process in P
+  to call `live_devices(devices)`. Afterwards, `live_devices` returns the same
+  set of live devices `A` to all the processes in P. This ensures that every
+  process agrees on the set of live devices.
+
+  Note that `live_devices` does not actually act as a barrir for *every*
+  process in P because some processes in P might have failed. Instead, the
+  `live_devices` function waits only for the processes with a device in the
+  returned set of live devices A.
+
+  An Example
+
+  Imagine we have four processes, each with two devices:
+
+    Process A: Devices 1 and 2
+    Process B: Devices 3 and 4
+    Process C: Devices 5 and 6
+    Process D: Devices 7 and 8
+
+  Further imagine that process D fails and that every process calls
+  `live_devices(jax.devices())`. The invocation returns devices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
+  and 6. Because these devices are hosted by processes A, B, and C, the call to
+  `live_devices` acts as a barrier across processes A, B, and C. Process D,
+  which failed, is ignored.
+
+  Args:
+    devices: A list of devices. Note that the provided devices must include at
+      least one local device.
+
+  Returns:
+    The subset of the provided devices that are live and healthy.
+
+  Raises:
+    RuntimeError: If the distributed runtime was not initialized.
+    ValueError: If no local devices are provided.
+  """
+  client = distributed.global_state.client
+  if client is None:
+    raise RuntimeError('Distributed JAX not initialized.')
+
+  if not devices:
+    # TODO(mwhittaker): Make devices optional. If it's not provided, use
+    # jax.devices() as a default.
+    raise ValueError('No devices provided.')
+
+  process_ids = {d.process_index for d in devices}
+  if xla_bridge.process_index() not in process_ids:
+    # A process can only participate in an live_devices call if it hosts some
+    # of the provided devices.
+    raise ValueError('Provided devices do not have any local devices.')
+
+  if len(process_ids) == 1:
+    # If the provided devices are hosted by a single process (this one), then we
+    # don't have to perform any distributed computation. We know our local
+    # devices are all live.
+    return devices
+
+  live_process_ids = client.get_live_nodes(list(process_ids))
+  return [d for d in devices if d.process_index in live_process_ids]