diff --git a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/cluster/kmeans.pyx b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/cluster/kmeans.pyx
index c2d445f970..edbc30a1f0 100644
--- a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/cluster/kmeans.pyx
+++ b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/cluster/kmeans.pyx
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ from libcpp cimport bool
 from libcpp cimport nullptr
 
 from pylibraft.common import Handle
+from pylibraft.common.handle import auto_sync_handle
 from pylibraft.common.handle cimport handle_t
 from pylibraft.common.input_validation import *
 from pylibraft.distance import DISTANCE_TYPES
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@ cdef extern from "raft_distance/kmeans.hpp" \
         float *weight_per_cluster)
 
 
+@auto_sync_handle
 def compute_new_centroids(X,
                           centroids,
                           labels,
@@ -97,7 +99,7 @@ def compute_new_centroids(X,
                     distances in batches. default: m
     batch_centroids : Optional integer specifying the batch size for centroids
                       to compute distances in batches. default: n_clusters
-    handle : Optional RAFT handle for reusing expensive CUDA resources
+    {handle_docstring}
 
     Examples
     --------
diff --git a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/common/handle.pyx b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/common/handle.pyx
index 83a4676076..3e9ed569ad 100644
--- a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/common/handle.pyx
+++ b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/common/handle.pyx
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
 # cython: embedsignature = True
 # cython: language_level = 3
 
-# import raft
+import functools
+
 from rmm._lib.cuda_stream_view cimport cuda_stream_per_thread
 from rmm._lib.cuda_stream_view cimport cuda_stream_view
 
@@ -87,3 +88,41 @@ cdef class Handle:
 
         self.c_obj.reset(new handle_t(cuda_stream_per_thread,
                                       self.stream_pool))
+
+
+_HANDLE_PARAM_DOCSTRING = """
+     handle : Optional RAFT handle for reusing expensive CUDA resources
+        If a handle isn't supplied, CUDA resources will be allocated
+        inside this function and synchronized before the function exits.
+        If a handle is supplied, you will need to explicitly synchronize
+        yourself by calling `handle.sync()` before accessing the output.
+""".strip()
+
+
+def auto_sync_handle(f):
+    """Decorator to automatically call sync on a raft handle when
+    it isn't passed to a function.
+
+    When a handle=None is passed to the wrapped function, this decorator
+    will automatically create a default handle for the function, and
+    call sync on that handle when the function exits.
+
+    This will also insert the appropriate docstring for the handle parameter
+    """
+
+    @functools.wraps(f)
+    def wrapper(*args, handle=None, **kwargs):
+        sync_handle = handle is None
+        handle = handle if handle is not None else Handle()
+
+        ret_value = f(*args, handle=handle, **kwargs)
+
+        if sync_handle:
+            handle.sync()
+
+        return ret_value
+
+    wrapper.__doc__ = wrapper.__doc__.format(
+        handle_docstring=_HANDLE_PARAM_DOCSTRING
+    )
+    return wrapper
diff --git a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/fused_l2_nn.pyx b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/fused_l2_nn.pyx
index 7abc32119b..7e05e413aa 100644
--- a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/fused_l2_nn.pyx
+++ b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/fused_l2_nn.pyx
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ from cython.operator cimport dereference as deref
 from libcpp cimport bool
 from .distance_type cimport DistanceType
 from pylibraft.common import Handle
+from pylibraft.common.handle import auto_sync_handle
 from pylibraft.common.handle cimport handle_t
 
 
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ cdef extern from "raft_distance/fused_l2_min_arg.hpp" \
         bool sqrt)
 
 
+@auto_sync_handle
 def fused_l2_nn_argmin(X, Y, output, sqrt=True, handle=None):
     """
     Compute the 1-nearest neighbors between X and Y using the L2 distance
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ def fused_l2_nn_argmin(X, Y, output, sqrt=True, handle=None):
     X : CUDA array interface compliant matrix shape (m, k)
     Y : CUDA array interface compliant matrix shape (n, k)
     output : Writable CUDA array interface matrix shape (m, 1)
-    handle : Optional RAFT handle for reusing expensive CUDA resources
+    {handle_docstring}
 
     Examples
     --------
diff --git a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/pairwise_distance.pyx b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/pairwise_distance.pyx
index 0f7626e8d1..40f2fa668c 100644
--- a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/pairwise_distance.pyx
+++ b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/distance/pairwise_distance.pyx
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ from libcpp cimport bool
 from .distance_type cimport DistanceType
 
 from pylibraft.common import Handle
+from pylibraft.common.handle import auto_sync_handle
 from pylibraft.common.handle cimport handle_t
 
 
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@ SUPPORTED_DISTANCES = ["euclidean", "l1", "cityblock", "l2", "inner_product",
                        "hamming", "jensenshannon", "cosine", "sqeuclidean"]
 
 
+@auto_sync_handle
 def distance(X, Y, dists, metric="euclidean", p=2.0, handle=None):
     """
     Compute pairwise distances between X and Y
@@ -108,7 +110,7 @@ def distance(X, Y, dists, metric="euclidean", p=2.0, handle=None):
     dists : Writable CUDA array interface matrix shape (m, n)
     metric : string denoting the metric type (default="euclidean")
     p : metric parameter (currently used only for "minkowski")
-    handle : Optional RAFT handle for reusing expensive CUDA resources
+    {handle_docstring}
 
     Examples
     --------
diff --git a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/random/rmat_rectangular_generator.pyx b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/random/rmat_rectangular_generator.pyx
index cef19295ac..0aa90b6bc4 100644
--- a/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/random/rmat_rectangular_generator.pyx
+++ b/python/pylibraft/pylibraft/random/rmat_rectangular_generator.pyx
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import numpy as np
 from libc.stdint cimport uintptr_t, int64_t
 from cython.operator cimport dereference as deref
 from pylibraft.common import Handle
+from pylibraft.common.handle import auto_sync_handle
 from pylibraft.common.handle cimport handle_t
 from .rng_state cimport RngState
 
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@ cdef extern from "raft_distance/random/rmat_rectangular_generator.hpp" \
                                    RngState& r)
 
 
+@auto_sync_handle
 def rmat(out, theta, r_scale, c_scale, seed=12345, handle=None):
     """
     Generate RMAT adjacency list based on the input distribution.
@@ -88,7 +90,7 @@ def rmat(out, theta, r_scale, c_scale, seed=12345, handle=None):
     r_scale: log2 of number of source nodes
     c_scale: log2 of number of destination nodes
     seed: random seed used for reproducibility
-    handle : Optional RAFT handle for reusing expensive CUDA resources
+    {handle_docstring}
 
     Examples
     --------