diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 6f5bdb0d..95469ae7 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -267,6 +267,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "time",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "clap"
+version = "2.33.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bdfa80d47f954d53a35a64987ca1422f495b8d6483c0fe9f7117b36c2a792129"
+dependencies = [
+ "ansi_term",
+ "atty",
+ "bitflags",
+ "strsim 0.8.0",
+ "textwrap",
+ "unicode-width",
+ "vec_map",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cloudabi"
 version = "0.0.3"
@@ -398,7 +413,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "ident_case",
  "proc-macro2 1.0.18",
  "quote 1.0.7",
- "strsim",
+ "strsim 0.9.3",
  "syn 1.0.33",
 ]
 
@@ -737,6 +752,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "num-traits",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "heck"
+version = "0.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "20564e78d53d2bb135c343b3f47714a56af2061f1c928fdb541dc7b9fdd94205"
+dependencies = [
+ "unicode-segmentation",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "hermit-abi"
 version = "0.1.15"
@@ -1269,6 +1293,32 @@ version = "0.2.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "237a5ed80e274dbc66f86bd59c1e25edc039660be53194b5fe0a482e0f2612ea"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "proc-macro-error"
+version = "1.0.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fc175e9777c3116627248584e8f8b3e2987405cabe1c0adf7d1dd28f09dc7880"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro-error-attr",
+ "proc-macro2 1.0.18",
+ "quote 1.0.7",
+ "syn 1.0.33",
+ "version_check",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "proc-macro-error-attr"
+version = "1.0.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3cc9795ca17eb581285ec44936da7fc2335a3f34f2ddd13118b6f4d515435c50"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2 1.0.18",
+ "quote 1.0.7",
+ "syn 1.0.33",
+ "syn-mid",
+ "version_check",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "proc-macro-hack"
 version = "0.5.16"
@@ -1794,12 +1844,42 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn 1.0.33",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "strsim"
+version = "0.8.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8ea5119cdb4c55b55d432abb513a0429384878c15dde60cc77b1c99de1a95a6a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "strsim"
 version = "0.9.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "6446ced80d6c486436db5c078dde11a9f73d42b57fb273121e160b84f63d894c"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "structopt"
+version = "0.3.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "de2f5e239ee807089b62adce73e48c625e0ed80df02c7ab3f068f5db5281065c"
+dependencies = [
+ "clap",
+ "lazy_static",
+ "structopt-derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "structopt-derive"
+version = "0.4.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "510413f9de616762a4fbeab62509bf15c729603b72d7cd71280fbca431b1c118"
+dependencies = [
+ "heck",
+ "proc-macro-error",
+ "proc-macro2 1.0.18",
+ "quote 1.0.7",
+ "syn 1.0.33",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "subtle"
 version = "2.2.3"
@@ -1828,6 +1908,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-xid 0.2.1",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "syn-mid"
+version = "0.5.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7be3539f6c128a931cf19dcee741c1af532c7fd387baa739c03dd2e96479338a"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2 1.0.18",
+ "quote 1.0.7",
+ "syn 1.0.33",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "synstructure"
 version = "0.12.4"
@@ -1873,6 +1964,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi-util",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "textwrap"
+version = "0.11.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d326610f408c7a4eb6f51c37c330e496b08506c9457c9d34287ecc38809fb060"
+dependencies = [
+ "unicode-width",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "thiserror"
 version = "1.0.20"
@@ -2238,6 +2338,18 @@ version = "1.12.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "373c8a200f9e67a0c95e62a4f52fbf80c23b4381c05a17845531982fa99e6b33"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-segmentation"
+version = "1.6.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e83e153d1053cbb5a118eeff7fd5be06ed99153f00dbcd8ae310c5fb2b22edc0"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-width"
+version = "0.1.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9337591893a19b88d8d87f2cec1e73fad5cdfd10e5a6f349f498ad6ea2ffb1e3"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-xid"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -2250,6 +2362,12 @@ version = "0.2.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f7fe0bb3479651439c9112f72b6c505038574c9fbb575ed1bf3b797fa39dd564"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "vec_map"
+version = "0.8.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f1bddf1187be692e79c5ffeab891132dfb0f236ed36a43c7ed39f1165ee20191"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "version_check"
 version = "0.9.2"
@@ -2486,6 +2604,14 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-subscriber",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "zebra-utils"
+version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "color-eyre",
+ "structopt",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zebrad"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 38818d61..e4e4cc5c 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ members = [
         "zebra-rpc",
         "zebra-client",
         "zebra-test",
+        "zebra-utils",
         "zebrad",
 ]
 
diff --git a/zebra-utils/Cargo.toml b/zebra-utils/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..044ef8df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zebra-utils/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[package]
+name = "zebra-utils"
+authors = ["Zcash Foundation <zebra@zfnd.org>"]
+license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2018"
+
+[dependencies]
+structopt = "0.3.15"
+color-eyre = "0.5.0"
diff --git a/zebra-utils/src/bin/zebra-checkpoints/args.rs b/zebra-utils/src/bin/zebra-checkpoints/args.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d15c60e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zebra-utils/src/bin/zebra-checkpoints/args.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+use structopt::StructOpt;
+
+#[derive(Debug, StructOpt)]
+pub struct Args {
+    /// Use the test network
+    #[structopt(short, long)]
+    pub testnet: bool,
+
+    /// Passthrough args for `zcash-cli`
+    #[structopt(last = true)]
+    pub zcli_args: Vec<String>,
+}
diff --git a/zebra-utils/src/bin/zebra-checkpoints/main.rs b/zebra-utils/src/bin/zebra-checkpoints/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cf7573af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zebra-utils/src/bin/zebra-checkpoints/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#![allow(clippy::try_err)]
+use color_eyre::eyre::{eyre, Result};
+use structopt::StructOpt;
+
+mod args;
+
+fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    // todo add tracing setup
+
+    color_eyre::install()?;
+
+    let args = args::Args::from_args();
+
+    let mut cmd = std::process::Command::new("zcash-cli");
+
+    if args.testnet {
+        cmd.arg("-testnet");
+    }
+
+    cmd.args(args.zcli_args.into_iter());
+
+    let mut child = cmd.spawn()?;
+
+    // handle communicating with this child process via it's stdin and stdout handles
+
+    let exit_status = child.wait()?;
+
+    if !exit_status.success() {
+        Err(eyre!("throw a more informative error here, might wanna shove stdin / stdout in here as custom sections"))?;
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/zebra-utils/src/lib.rs b/zebra-utils/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..31e1bb20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zebra-utils/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    #[test]
+    fn it_works() {
+        assert_eq!(2 + 2, 4);
+    }
+}