diff --git a/ci-automation/util/fetch_image.sh b/ci-automation/util/fetch_image.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..51c4ef3a42
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+++ b/ci-automation/util/fetch_image.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2021 The Flatcar Maintainers.
+# Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
+# found in the LICENSE file.
+
+# Helper for fetching a CI stage container image.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+function fetch_image_usage() {
+    local version="$1"
+    echo "Usage: fetch_image [-a <arch>]  [-v <version>] <stage>."
+    echo "Fetch and docker load a container image of a CI build stage."
+    echo "  <stage>     - CI build stage to fetch:"
+    echo "                sdk - fetch & install the plain SDK docker image. Note that this only works for the"
+    echo "                    'main' branch since maintenance branches don't build an SDK."
+    echo "                packages - fetch the packages (SDK + binary packages) container image."
+    echo "                image - fetch the images (SDK + packages + image) container image."
+    echo " -v <version> - Custom version to fetch instead of branch version '${version}'"
+    echo " -a <arch>    - OS image target architecture - 'arm64' or 'amd64'. Defaults to 'amd64'."
+}
+# --
+
+function fetch_image() {
+    local stage
+    local arch="amd64"
+    local version="${3:-}"
+
+    local script_root="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.."
+    source "${script_root}/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh"
+
+    local vernum="$(source "${script_root}/sdk_container/.repo/manifests/version.txt";
+                    echo "${FLATCAR_VERSION}")"
+    local docker_vernum="$(vernum_to_docker_image_version "${vernum}")"
+
+    while [ 0 -lt $# ] ; do
+        case "$1" in
+        -h) usage; exit 0;;
+        -v) docker_vernum="$2"; shift; shift;;
+        -a) arch="$2";          shift; shift;;
+        *)  if [ -n "${stage:-}" ] ; then
+                echo "ERROR: Spurious positional argument(s): '$@'"
+                fetch_image_usage "${vernum}"
+                exit 1
+            fi
+            stage="$1"
+            shift;;
+        esac
+    done
+
+    local image
+    case "${stage}" in
+        sdk)      image="flatcar-sdk-${arch}";;
+        packages) image="flatcar-packages-${arch}";;
+        image)    image="flatcar-images-${arch}";;
+        *) echo "ERROR: unknown build stage '$1'"
+           fetch_image_usage "${docker_vernum}"
+           exit 1;;
+    esac
+
+    echo "Fetching '${image}:${docker_vernum}'. Depending on your connection this may take a while."
+    docker_image_from_buildcache "${image}" "${docker_vernum}"
+
+    echo "Done! Use"
+    echo "   ./run_sdk_container -t -C ${image}:${docker_vernum}"
+    echo "to start."
+}
+# --
+
+if [ "$(basename "$0")" = "fetch_image.sh" ] ; then
+    fetch_image $@
+fi