diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4a59461f0cbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# TODO(marun) Document usage of direnv
+
+# contains manually-installed tooling
+PATH_add bin
+# contains avalanchego and xsvm binaries
+PATH_add build
+# contains tool wrappers
+PATH_add tools
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c5a3cad32b13..9fd544a5af0e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -62,3 +62,5 @@ tests/upgrade/upgrade.test
 vendor
 
 **/testdata
+
+.tool-downloads
diff --git a/scripts/ginkgo.sh b/scripts/ginkgo.sh
index 9beef8d73cec..02aade791234 100755
--- a/scripts/ginkgo.sh
+++ b/scripts/ginkgo.sh
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 
 # Run the ginkgo version from go.mod
-go run github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo "${@}"
+AVALANCHE_PATH=$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )"; cd .. && pwd )
+${AVALANCHE_PATH}/scripts/av.sh tool ginkgo "$@"
diff --git a/tests/av/cmd/main.go b/tests/av/cmd/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f52558a97619
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/av/cmd/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2019-2024, Ava Labs, Inc. All rights reserved.
+// See the file LICENSE for licensing terms.
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
+
+	"github.com/ava-labs/avalanchego/tests"
+	"github.com/ava-labs/avalanchego/utils/logging"
+	"github.com/ava-labs/avalanchego/utils/perms"
+)
+
+const (
+	cmdName        = "av"
+	kubectlVersion = "v1.30.2"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	var rawLogFormat string
+	rootCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   cmdName,
+		Short: cmdName + " commands",
+	}
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&rawLogFormat, "log-format", logging.AutoString, logging.FormatDescription)
+
+	toolCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "tool",
+		Short: "configured cli tools",
+		RunE: func(*cobra.Command, []string) error {
+			return fmt.Errorf("please specify a valid tool name")
+		},
+	}
+	rootCmd.AddCommand(toolCmd)
+
+	ginkgoCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "ginkgo",
+		Short: "cli for building and running e2e tests",
+		RunE: func(c *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			cmdArgs := []string{
+				"run",
+				"github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo",
+			}
+			cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, args...)
+			cmd := exec.Command("go", cmdArgs...)
+			cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
+			cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+			cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+			c.SilenceUsage = true
+			c.SilenceErrors = true
+			// TODO(marun) Suppress the duplicated 'exit status X'
+			// caused by passing through the exit code from the
+			// `go run` subcommand
+			return cmd.Run()
+		},
+	}
+	toolCmd.AddCommand(ginkgoCmd)
+
+	tmpnetctlCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "tmpnetctl",
+		Short: "cli for managing temporary networks",
+		RunE: func(c *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			cmdArgs := []string{
+				"run",
+				"github.com/ava-labs/avalanchego/tests/fixture/tmpnet/cmd",
+			}
+			cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, args...)
+			cmd := exec.Command("go", cmdArgs...)
+			cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
+			cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+			cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+			c.SilenceUsage = true
+			c.SilenceErrors = true
+			// TODO(marun) Suppress the duplicated 'exit status X'
+			// caused by passing through the exit code from the
+			// `go run` subcommand
+			return cmd.Run()
+		},
+	}
+	toolCmd.AddCommand(tmpnetctlCmd)
+
+	kubectlCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "kubectl",
+		Short: "cli for interacting with a kubernetes cluster",
+		RunE: func(c *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			log, err := tests.LoggerForFormat("", rawLogFormat)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			downloadDir, err := filepath.Abs(".tool-downloads")
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			// Ensure the download directory exists
+			if info, err := os.Stat(downloadDir); errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+				log.Info("creating tool download directory",
+					zap.String("dir", downloadDir),
+				)
+				if err := os.MkdirAll(downloadDir, perms.ReadWriteExecute); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			} else if err != nil {
+				return err
+			} else if !info.IsDir() {
+				return fmt.Errorf("download path is not a directory: %s", downloadDir)
+			}
+
+			var (
+				kubectlPath = downloadDir + "/kubectl-" + kubectlVersion
+				// TODO(marun) Make these dynamic
+				kubeOS   = "linux"
+				kubeArch = "arm64"
+			)
+
+			if _, err := os.Stat(downloadDir); errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+				// TODO(marun) Maybe use a library to download the binary?
+				curlArgs := []string{
+					"curl -L -o " + kubectlPath + " https://dl.k8s.io/release/" + kubectlVersion + "/bin/" + kubeOS + "/" + kubeArch + "/kubectl",
+				}
+				log.Info("downloading kubectl with curl",
+					zap.Strings("curlArgs", curlArgs),
+				)
+				// Run in a subshell to ensure -L redirects work
+				curl := exec.Command("bash", append([]string{"-x", "-c"}, curlArgs...)...)
+				curl.Stdin = os.Stdin
+				curl.Stdout = os.Stdout
+				curl.Stderr = os.Stderr
+				c.SilenceUsage = true
+				c.SilenceErrors = true
+				err = curl.Run()
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+
+				if err := os.Chmod(kubectlPath, perms.ReadWriteExecute); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+
+				log.Info("running kubectl for the first time",
+					zap.String("path", kubectlPath),
+				)
+			}
+
+			kubectl := exec.Command(kubectlPath, args...)
+			kubectl.Stdin = os.Stdin
+			kubectl.Stdout = os.Stdout
+			kubectl.Stderr = os.Stderr
+			c.SilenceUsage = true
+			c.SilenceErrors = true
+			return kubectl.Run()
+		},
+	}
+	toolCmd.AddCommand(kubectlCmd)
+
+	if err := rootCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
+		var exitCode int = 1
+		if exitError, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); ok {
+			exitCode = exitError.ExitCode()
+		}
+		os.Exit(exitCode)
+	}
+	os.Exit(0)
+}
diff --git a/tools/av b/tools/av
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..d515b0693ba1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/av
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+AVALANCHE_PATH=$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )"; cd .. && pwd )
+cd ${AVALANCHE_PATH}
+
+# Set the CGO flags to use the portable version of BLST
+#
+# We use "export" here instead of just setting a bash variable because we need
+# to pass this flag to all child processes spawned by the shell.
+export CGO_CFLAGS="-O2 -D__BLST_PORTABLE__"
+# While CGO_ENABLED doesn't need to be explicitly set, it produces a much more
+# clear error due to the default value change in go1.20.
+export CGO_ENABLED=1
+
+go run ./tests/av/cmd "${@}"
diff --git a/tools/ginkgo b/tools/ginkgo
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..c466d2525c04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/ginkgo
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+TOOLS_DIR="$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )"
+${TOOLS_DIR}/av tool ginkgo "$@"
diff --git a/tools/kubectl b/tools/kubectl
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..7c3c59016c88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/kubectl
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+TOOLS_DIR="$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )"
+${TOOLS_DIR}/av tool kubectl "$@"
diff --git a/tools/tmpnetctl b/tools/tmpnetctl
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..4184dba3c81e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/tmpnetctl
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+TOOLS_DIR="$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )"
+${TOOLS_DIR}/av tool tmpnetctl "$@"