diff --git a/.cargo/config.toml b/.cargo/config.toml
index 8b1378917..35049cbcb 100644
--- a/.cargo/config.toml
+++ b/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-
+[alias]
+xtask = "run --package xtask --"
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.rst b/CONTRIBUTING.rst
index b5885ed41..54f36cb88 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.rst
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.rst
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Guidelines
 In short:
 
 - Be conservative in what you need (keep to the agreed minimum supported Rust version, limit new dependencies)
-- Use automated tools to help you (``build_tools/check.sh``)
+- Use automated tools to help you (``cargo xtask check``)
 
 Commit History
 ==============
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ In this example we're in the root of the workspace and have run ``cargo build``
 
 To run all tests and linters, use::
 
-    build_tools/check.sh
+    cargo xtask check
 
 Contributing Translations
 =========================
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 8c2b2e93e..ca3a46228 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -17,6 +17,56 @@ version = "0.2.21"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "683d7910e743518b0e34f1186f92494becacb047c7b6bf616c96772180fef923"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "anstream"
+version = "0.6.21"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "43d5b281e737544384e969a5ccad3f1cdd24b48086a0fc1b2a5262a26b8f4f4a"
+dependencies = [
+ "anstyle",
+ "anstyle-parse",
+ "anstyle-query",
+ "anstyle-wincon",
+ "colorchoice",
+ "is_terminal_polyfill",
+ "utf8parse",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "anstyle"
+version = "1.0.13"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5192cca8006f1fd4f7237516f40fa183bb07f8fbdfedaa0036de5ea9b0b45e78"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "anstyle-parse"
+version = "0.2.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4e7644824f0aa2c7b9384579234ef10eb7efb6a0deb83f9630a49594dd9c15c2"
+dependencies = [
+ "utf8parse",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "anstyle-query"
+version = "1.1.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "40c48f72fd53cd289104fc64099abca73db4166ad86ea0b4341abe65af83dadc"
+dependencies = [
+ "windows-sys",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "anstyle-wincon"
+version = "3.0.11"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "291e6a250ff86cd4a820112fb8898808a366d8f9f58ce16d1f538353ad55747d"
+dependencies = [
+ "anstyle",
+ "once_cell_polyfill",
+ "windows-sys",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "autocfg"
 version = "1.5.0"
@@ -72,6 +122,52 @@ version = "0.2.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "613afe47fcd5fac7ccf1db93babcb082c5994d996f20b8b159f2ad1658eb5724"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "clap"
+version = "4.5.54"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c6e6ff9dcd79cff5cd969a17a545d79e84ab086e444102a591e288a8aa3ce394"
+dependencies = [
+ "clap_builder",
+ "clap_derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "clap_builder"
+version = "4.5.54"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fa42cf4d2b7a41bc8f663a7cab4031ebafa1bf3875705bfaf8466dc60ab52c00"
+dependencies = [
+ "anstream",
+ "anstyle",
+ "clap_lex",
+ "strsim",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "clap_derive"
+version = "4.5.49"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2a0b5487afeab2deb2ff4e03a807ad1a03ac532ff5a2cee5d86884440c7f7671"
+dependencies = [
+ "heck",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "clap_lex"
+version = "0.7.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c3e64b0cc0439b12df2fa678eae89a1c56a529fd067a9115f7827f1fffd22b32"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "colorchoice"
+version = "1.0.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b05b61dc5112cbb17e4b6cd61790d9845d13888356391624cbe7e41efeac1e75"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cpufeatures"
 version = "0.2.17"
@@ -401,6 +497,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "foldhash",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "heck"
+version = "0.5.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2304e00983f87ffb38b55b444b5e3b60a884b5d30c0fca7d82fe33449bbe55ea"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "is_terminal_polyfill"
+version = "1.70.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a6cb138bb79a146c1bd460005623e142ef0181e3d0219cb493e02f7d08a35695"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "itertools"
 version = "0.14.0"
@@ -525,6 +633,12 @@ version = "1.21.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "42f5e15c9953c5e4ccceeb2e7382a716482c34515315f7b03532b8b4e8393d2d"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "once_cell_polyfill"
+version = "1.70.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "384b8ab6d37215f3c5301a95a4accb5d64aa607f1fcb26a11b5303878451b4fe"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "option-ext"
 version = "0.2.0"
@@ -947,6 +1061,12 @@ version = "1.15.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "67b1b7a3b5fe4f1376887184045fcf45c69e92af734b7aaddc05fb777b6fbd03"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "strsim"
+version = "0.11.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7da8b5736845d9f2fcb837ea5d9e2628564b3b043a70948a3f0b778838c5fb4f"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "syn"
 version = "2.0.111"
@@ -1029,6 +1149,12 @@ version = "1.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "2ace0b4755d0a2959962769239d56267f8a024fef2d9b32666b3dcd0946b0906"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "utf8parse"
+version = "0.2.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "06abde3611657adf66d383f00b093d7faecc7fa57071cce2578660c9f1010821"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "version_check"
 version = "0.9.5"
@@ -1096,6 +1222,14 @@ version = "0.46.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f17a85883d4e6d00e8a97c586de764dabcc06133f7f1d55dce5cdc070ad7fe59"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "xtask"
+version = "0.0.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "clap",
+ "fish-build-helper",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "xterm-color"
 version = "1.0.1"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 040ca15d1..6190677cf 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ license = "GPL-2.0-only AND LGPL-2.0-or-later AND MIT AND PSF-2.0"
 bitflags = "2.5.0"
 cc = "1.0.94"
 cfg-if = "1.0.3"
+clap = { version = "4.5.54", features = ["derive"] }
 errno = "0.3.0"
 fish-build-helper = { path = "crates/build-helper" }
 fish-build-man-pages = { path = "crates/build-man-pages" }
@@ -177,7 +178,7 @@ embed-manpages = ["dep:fish-build-man-pages"]
 localize-messages = ["dep:fish-gettext"]
 # This feature is used to enable extracting messages from the source code for localization.
 # It only needs to be enabled if updating these messages (and the corresponding PO files) is
-# desired. This happens when running tests via `build_tools/check.sh` and when calling
+# desired. This happens when running tests via `cargo xtask check` and when calling
 # `build_tools/update_translations.fish`, so there should not be a need to enable it manually.
 gettext-extract = ["dep:fish-gettext-extraction"]
 
diff --git a/crates/xtask/Cargo.toml b/crates/xtask/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4df60be27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/xtask/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[package]
+name = "xtask"
+version = "0.0.0"
+rust-version.workspace = true
+edition.workspace = true
+repository.workspace = true
+
+[dependencies]
+clap.workspace = true
+fish-build-helper.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/xtask/src/lib.rs b/crates/xtask/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b1267fb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/xtask/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+use std::process::Command;
+
+pub trait CommandExt {
+    fn run_or_panic(&mut self);
+}
+
+impl CommandExt for Command {
+    fn run_or_panic(&mut self) {
+        match self.status() {
+            Ok(exit_status) => {
+                if !exit_status.success() {
+                    panic!("Command did not run successfully: {:?}", self.get_program())
+                }
+            }
+            Err(err) => {
+                panic!("Failed to run command: {err}");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/xtask/src/main.rs b/crates/xtask/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e3e9d4d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/xtask/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};
+use std::process::Command;
+use xtask::CommandExt;
+
+#[derive(Parser)]
+#[command(
+    name = "cargo xtask",
+    about = "Wrapper for running various utilities",
+    arg_required_else_help(true)
+)]
+struct Cli {
+    #[command(subcommand)]
+    task: Task,
+}
+
+#[derive(Subcommand)]
+enum Task {
+    /// Run various checks on the repo.
+    Check,
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    let cli = Cli::parse();
+    match cli.task {
+        Task::Check => run_checks(),
+    }
+}
+
+fn run_checks() {
+    let repo_root_dir = fish_build_helper::workspace_root();
+    let check_script = repo_root_dir.join("build_tools").join("check.sh");
+    Command::new(check_script).run_or_panic();
+}