diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d623fe41f7..9074ee2da9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 "You know what they say. Fool me once, strike one, but fool me twice... strike three." — Michael Scott
 
+## Unreleased
+
+- feat: Expose downloadBinary function to install binary (#1817)
+
 ## 1.76.0
 
 ### Various fixes & improvements
diff --git a/js/index.d.ts b/js/index.d.ts
index f96e6121cc..5b4bafc19e 100644
--- a/js/index.d.ts
+++ b/js/index.d.ts
@@ -222,6 +222,13 @@ declare module '@sentry/cli' {
 
     public static getVersion(): string
     public static getPath(): string
+
+    /**
+     * Downloads the CLI binary.
+     * @returns {Promise<void>}
+     */
+    static downloadBinary(logger: { log(...args: unknown[]): void }): Promise<void>;
+
     public execute(args: string[], live: boolean): Promise<string>
   }
 }
diff --git a/js/index.js b/js/index.js
index 07b0180de5..eeca2251e5 100644
--- a/js/index.js
+++ b/js/index.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 const pkgInfo = require('../package.json');
 const helper = require('./helper');
 const Releases = require('./releases');
+const install = require('./install');
 
 /**
  * Interface to and wrapper around the `sentry-cli` executable.
@@ -54,6 +55,15 @@ class SentryCli {
     return helper.getPath();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Downloads the CLI binary.
+   * @param {any} [configFile] Optional logger to log installation information. Defaults to printing to the terminal.
+   * @returns {Promise<void>}
+   */
+  static downloadBinary(logger) {
+    return install.downloadBinary(logger);
+  }
+
   /**
    * See {helper.execute} docs.
    * @param {string[]} args Command line arguments passed to `sentry-cli`.
diff --git a/js/install.js b/js/install.js
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..4486ba4415
--- /dev/null
+++ b/js/install.js
@@ -0,0 +1,305 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+const http = require('http');
+const os = require('os');
+const path = require('path');
+const crypto = require('crypto');
+const zlib = require('zlib');
+const stream = require('stream');
+const process = require('process');
+
+const HttpsProxyAgent = require('https-proxy-agent');
+const fetch = require('node-fetch');
+const ProgressBar = require('progress');
+const Proxy = require('proxy-from-env');
+// NOTE: Can be dropped in favor of `fs.mkdirSync(path, { recursive: true })` once we stop supporting Node 8.x
+const mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
+const which = require('which');
+
+const helper = require('./helper');
+const pkgInfo = require('../package.json');
+const Logger = require('./logger');
+
+function getLogStream(defaultStream) {
+  const logStream = process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOG_STREAM || defaultStream;
+
+  if (logStream === 'stdout') {
+    return process.stdout;
+  }
+
+  if (logStream === 'stderr') {
+    return process.stderr;
+  }
+
+  throw new Error(
+    `Incorrect SENTRYCLI_LOG_STREAM env variable. Possible values: 'stdout' | 'stderr'`
+  );
+}
+
+const ttyLogger = new Logger(getLogStream('stderr'));
+
+const CDN_URL =
+  process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOCAL_CDNURL ||
+  process.env.npm_config_sentrycli_cdnurl ||
+  process.env.SENTRYCLI_CDNURL ||
+  'https://downloads.sentry-cdn.com/sentry-cli';
+
+function shouldRenderProgressBar() {
+  const silentFlag = process.argv.some((v) => v === '--silent');
+  const silentConfig = process.env.npm_config_loglevel === 'silent';
+  // Leave `SENTRY_NO_PROGRESS_BAR` for backwards compatibility
+  const silentEnv = process.env.SENTRYCLI_NO_PROGRESS_BAR || process.env.SENTRY_NO_PROGRESS_BAR;
+  const ciEnv = process.env.CI === 'true';
+  // If any of possible options is set, skip rendering of progress bar
+  return !(silentFlag || silentConfig || silentEnv || ciEnv);
+}
+
+function getDownloadUrl(platform, arch) {
+  const releasesUrl = `${CDN_URL}/${pkgInfo.version}/sentry-cli`;
+  let archString = '';
+  switch (arch) {
+    case 'x64':
+      archString = 'x86_64';
+      break;
+    case 'x86':
+    case 'ia32':
+      archString = 'i686';
+      break;
+    case 'arm64':
+      archString = 'aarch64';
+      break;
+    case 'arm':
+      archString = 'armv7';
+      break;
+    default:
+      archString = arch;
+  }
+  switch (platform) {
+    case 'darwin':
+      return `${releasesUrl}-Darwin-universal`;
+    case 'win32':
+      return `${releasesUrl}-Windows-${archString}.exe`;
+    case 'linux':
+    case 'freebsd':
+      return `${releasesUrl}-Linux-${archString}`;
+    default:
+      return null;
+  }
+}
+
+function createProgressBar(name, total) {
+  const incorrectTotal = typeof total !== 'number' || Number.isNaN(total);
+
+  if (incorrectTotal || !shouldRenderProgressBar()) {
+    return {
+      tick: () => {},
+    };
+  }
+
+  const logStream = getLogStream('stdout');
+
+  if (logStream.isTTY) {
+    return new ProgressBar(`fetching ${name} :bar :percent :etas`, {
+      complete: '█',
+      incomplete: '░',
+      width: 20,
+      total,
+    });
+  }
+
+  let pct = null;
+  let current = 0;
+  return {
+    tick: (length) => {
+      current += length;
+      const next = Math.round((current / total) * 100);
+      if (next > pct) {
+        pct = next;
+        logStream.write(`fetching ${name} ${pct}%\n`);
+      }
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+function npmCache() {
+  const env = process.env;
+  return (
+    env.npm_config_cache ||
+    env.npm_config_cache_folder ||
+    env.npm_config_yarn_offline_mirror ||
+    (env.APPDATA ? path.join(env.APPDATA, 'npm-cache') : path.join(os.homedir(), '.npm'))
+  );
+}
+
+function getCachedPath(url) {
+  const digest = crypto.createHash('md5').update(url).digest('hex').slice(0, 6);
+
+  return path.join(
+    npmCache(),
+    'sentry-cli',
+    `${digest}-${path.basename(url).replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9.]+/g, '-')}`
+  );
+}
+
+function getTempFile(cached) {
+  return `${cached}.${process.pid}-${Math.random().toString(16).slice(2)}.tmp`;
+}
+
+function validateChecksum(tempPath, name, logger) {
+  let storedHash;
+  try {
+    const checksums = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '../checksums.txt'), 'utf8');
+    const entries = checksums.split('\n');
+    for (let i = 0; i < entries.length; i++) {
+      const [key, value] = entries[i].split('=');
+      if (key === name) {
+        storedHash = value;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    logger.log(
+      'Checksums are generated when the package is published to npm. They are not available directly in the source repository. Skipping validation.'
+    );
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (!storedHash) {
+    logger.log(`Checksum for ${name} not found, skipping validation.`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const currentHash = crypto.createHash('sha256').update(fs.readFileSync(tempPath)).digest('hex');
+
+  if (storedHash !== currentHash) {
+    fs.unlinkSync(tempPath);
+    throw new Error(
+      `Checksum validation for ${name} failed.\nExpected: ${storedHash}\nReceived: ${currentHash}`
+    );
+  } else {
+    logger.log('Checksum validation passed.');
+  }
+}
+
+function checkVersion() {
+  return helper.execute(['--version']).then((output) => {
+    const version = output.replace('sentry-cli ', '').trim();
+    const expected = process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOCAL_CDNURL ? 'DEV' : pkgInfo.version;
+    if (version !== expected) {
+      throw new Error(`Unexpected sentry-cli version "${version}", expected "${expected}"`);
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+function downloadBinary(logger = ttyLogger) {
+  if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_SKIP_DOWNLOAD === '1') {
+    logger.log(`Skipping download because SENTRYCLI_SKIP_DOWNLOAD=1 detected.`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const arch = os.arch();
+  const platform = os.platform();
+  const outputPath = helper.getPath();
+
+  if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_USE_LOCAL === '1') {
+    try {
+      const binPath = which.sync('sentry-cli');
+      logger.log(`Using local binary: ${binPath}`);
+      fs.copyFileSync(binPath, outputPath);
+      return Promise.resolve();
+    } catch (e) {
+      throw new Error(
+        'Configured installation of local binary, but it was not found.' +
+          'Make sure that `sentry-cli` executable is available in your $PATH or disable SENTRYCLI_USE_LOCAL env variable.'
+      );
+    }
+  }
+
+  const downloadUrl = getDownloadUrl(platform, arch);
+  if (!downloadUrl) {
+    return Promise.reject(new Error(`Unsupported target ${platform}-${arch}`));
+  }
+
+  const cachedPath = getCachedPath(downloadUrl);
+  if (fs.existsSync(cachedPath)) {
+    logger.log(`Using cached binary: ${cachedPath}`);
+    fs.copyFileSync(cachedPath, outputPath);
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  }
+
+  const proxyUrl = Proxy.getProxyForUrl(downloadUrl);
+  const agent = proxyUrl ? new HttpsProxyAgent(proxyUrl) : null;
+
+  logger.log(`Downloading from ${downloadUrl}`);
+
+  if (proxyUrl) {
+    logger.log(`Using proxy URL: ${proxyUrl}`);
+  }
+
+  return fetch(downloadUrl, {
+    agent,
+    compress: false,
+    headers: {
+      'accept-encoding': 'gzip, deflate, br',
+    },
+    redirect: 'follow',
+  })
+    .then((response) => {
+      if (!response.ok) {
+        throw new Error(
+          `Unable to download sentry-cli binary from ${downloadUrl}.\nServer returned ${response.status}: ${response.statusText}.`
+        );
+      }
+
+      const contentEncoding = response.headers.get('content-encoding');
+      let decompressor;
+      if (/\bgzip\b/.test(contentEncoding)) {
+        decompressor = zlib.createGunzip();
+      } else if (/\bdeflate\b/.test(contentEncoding)) {
+        decompressor = zlib.createInflate();
+      } else if (/\bbr\b/.test(contentEncoding)) {
+        decompressor = zlib.createBrotliDecompress();
+      } else {
+        decompressor = new stream.PassThrough();
+      }
+      const name = downloadUrl.match(/.*\/(.*?)$/)[1];
+      const total = parseInt(response.headers.get('content-length'), 10);
+      const progressBar = createProgressBar(name, total);
+      const tempPath = getTempFile(cachedPath);
+      mkdirp.sync(path.dirname(tempPath));
+
+      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        response.body
+          .on('error', (e) => reject(e))
+          .on('data', (chunk) => progressBar.tick(chunk.length))
+          .pipe(decompressor)
+          .pipe(fs.createWriteStream(tempPath, { mode: '0755' }))
+          .on('error', (e) => reject(e))
+          .on('close', () => resolve());
+      }).then(() => {
+        if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_SKIP_CHECKSUM_VALIDATION !== '1') {
+          validateChecksum(tempPath, name, logger);
+        }
+        fs.copyFileSync(tempPath, cachedPath);
+        fs.copyFileSync(tempPath, outputPath);
+        fs.unlinkSync(tempPath);
+      });
+    })
+    .then(() => {
+      return checkVersion();
+    })
+    .catch((error) => {
+      if (error instanceof fetch.FetchError) {
+        throw new Error(
+          `Unable to download sentry-cli binary from ${downloadUrl}.\nError code: ${error.code}`
+        );
+      } else {
+        throw error;
+      }
+    });
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+  downloadBinary,
+};
diff --git a/scripts/install.js b/scripts/install.js
index 5694668e7e..5768aa0352 100755
--- a/scripts/install.js
+++ b/scripts/install.js
@@ -2,306 +2,10 @@
 
 'use strict';
 
-const fs = require('fs');
 const http = require('http');
-const os = require('os');
+const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
-const crypto = require('crypto');
-const zlib = require('zlib');
-const stream = require('stream');
-const process = require('process');
-
-const HttpsProxyAgent = require('https-proxy-agent');
-const fetch = require('node-fetch');
-const ProgressBar = require('progress');
-const Proxy = require('proxy-from-env');
-// NOTE: Can be dropped in favor of `fs.mkdirSync(path, { recursive: true })` once we stop supporting Node 8.x
-const mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
-const which = require('which');
-
-const helper = require('../js/helper');
-const pkgInfo = require('../package.json');
-const Logger = require('../js/logger');
-
-function getLogStream(defaultStream) {
-  const logStream = process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOG_STREAM || defaultStream;
-
-  if (logStream === 'stdout') {
-    return process.stdout;
-  }
-
-  if (logStream === 'stderr') {
-    return process.stderr;
-  }
-
-  throw new Error(
-    `Incorrect SENTRYCLI_LOG_STREAM env variable. Possible values: 'stdout' | 'stderr'`
-  );
-}
-
-const logger = new Logger(getLogStream('stderr'));
-
-const CDN_URL =
-  process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOCAL_CDNURL ||
-  process.env.npm_config_sentrycli_cdnurl ||
-  process.env.SENTRYCLI_CDNURL ||
-  'https://downloads.sentry-cdn.com/sentry-cli';
-
-function shouldRenderProgressBar() {
-  const silentFlag = process.argv.some(v => v === '--silent');
-  const silentConfig = process.env.npm_config_loglevel === 'silent';
-  // Leave `SENTRY_NO_PROGRESS_BAR` for backwards compatibility
-  const silentEnv = process.env.SENTRYCLI_NO_PROGRESS_BAR || process.env.SENTRY_NO_PROGRESS_BAR;
-  const ciEnv = process.env.CI === 'true';
-  // If any of possible options is set, skip rendering of progress bar
-  return !(silentFlag || silentConfig || silentEnv || ciEnv);
-}
-
-function getDownloadUrl(platform, arch) {
-  const releasesUrl = `${CDN_URL}/${pkgInfo.version}/sentry-cli`;
-  let archString = '';
-  switch (arch) {
-    case 'x64':
-      archString = 'x86_64';
-      break;
-    case 'x86':
-    case 'ia32':
-      archString = 'i686';
-      break;
-    case 'arm64':
-      archString = 'aarch64';
-      break;
-    case 'arm':
-      archString = 'armv7';
-      break;
-    default:
-      archString = arch;
-  }
-  switch (platform) {
-    case 'darwin':
-      return `${releasesUrl}-Darwin-universal`;
-    case 'win32':
-      return `${releasesUrl}-Windows-${archString}.exe`;
-    case 'linux':
-    case 'freebsd':
-      return `${releasesUrl}-Linux-${archString}`;
-    default:
-      return null;
-  }
-}
-
-function createProgressBar(name, total) {
-  const incorrectTotal = typeof total !== 'number' || Number.isNaN(total);
-
-  if (incorrectTotal || !shouldRenderProgressBar()) {
-    return {
-      tick: () => {},
-    };
-  }
-
-  const logStream = getLogStream('stdout');
-
-  if (logStream.isTTY) {
-    return new ProgressBar(`fetching ${name} :bar :percent :etas`, {
-      complete: '█',
-      incomplete: '░',
-      width: 20,
-      total,
-    });
-  }
-
-  let pct = null;
-  let current = 0;
-  return {
-    tick: length => {
-      current += length;
-      const next = Math.round((current / total) * 100);
-      if (next > pct) {
-        pct = next;
-        logStream.write(`fetching ${name} ${pct}%\n`);
-      }
-    },
-  };
-}
-
-function npmCache() {
-  const env = process.env;
-  return (
-    env.npm_config_cache ||
-    env.npm_config_cache_folder ||
-    env.npm_config_yarn_offline_mirror ||
-    (env.APPDATA ? path.join(env.APPDATA, 'npm-cache') : path.join(os.homedir(), '.npm'))
-  );
-}
-
-function getCachedPath(url) {
-  const digest = crypto
-    .createHash('md5')
-    .update(url)
-    .digest('hex')
-    .slice(0, 6);
-
-  return path.join(
-    npmCache(),
-    'sentry-cli',
-    `${digest}-${path.basename(url).replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9.]+/g, '-')}`
-  );
-}
-
-function getTempFile(cached) {
-  return `${cached}.${process.pid}-${Math.random()
-    .toString(16)
-    .slice(2)}.tmp`;
-}
-
-function validateChecksum(tempPath, name) {
-  let storedHash;
-  try {
-    const checksums = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '../checksums.txt'), 'utf8');
-    const entries = checksums.split('\n');
-    for (let i = 0; i < entries.length; i++) {
-      const [key, value] = entries[i].split('=');
-      if (key === name) {
-        storedHash = value;
-        break;
-      }
-    }
-  } catch (e) {
-    logger.log(
-      'Checksums are generated when the package is published to npm. They are not available directly in the source repository. Skipping validation.'
-    );
-    return;
-  }
-
-  if (!storedHash) {
-    logger.log(`Checksum for ${name} not found, skipping validation.`);
-    return;
-  }
-
-  const currentHash = crypto
-    .createHash('sha256')
-    .update(fs.readFileSync(tempPath))
-    .digest('hex');
-
-  if (storedHash !== currentHash) {
-    fs.unlinkSync(tempPath);
-    throw new Error(
-      `Checksum validation for ${name} failed.\nExpected: ${storedHash}\nReceived: ${currentHash}`
-    );
-  } else {
-    logger.log('Checksum validation passed.');
-  }
-}
-
-function downloadBinary() {
-  const arch = os.arch();
-  const platform = os.platform();
-  const outputPath = helper.getPath();
-
-  if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_USE_LOCAL === '1') {
-    try {
-      const binPath = which.sync('sentry-cli');
-      logger.log(`Using local binary: ${binPath}`);
-      fs.copyFileSync(binPath, outputPath);
-      return Promise.resolve();
-    } catch (e) {
-      throw new Error(
-        'Configured installation of local binary, but it was not found.' +
-          'Make sure that `sentry-cli` executable is available in your $PATH or disable SENTRYCLI_USE_LOCAL env variable.'
-      );
-    }
-  }
-
-  const downloadUrl = getDownloadUrl(platform, arch);
-  if (!downloadUrl) {
-    return Promise.reject(new Error(`Unsupported target ${platform}-${arch}`));
-  }
-
-  const cachedPath = getCachedPath(downloadUrl);
-  if (fs.existsSync(cachedPath)) {
-    logger.log(`Using cached binary: ${cachedPath}`);
-    fs.copyFileSync(cachedPath, outputPath);
-    return Promise.resolve();
-  }
-
-  const proxyUrl = Proxy.getProxyForUrl(downloadUrl);
-  const agent = proxyUrl ? new HttpsProxyAgent(proxyUrl) : null;
-
-  logger.log(`Downloading from ${downloadUrl}`);
-
-  if (proxyUrl) {
-    logger.log(`Using proxy URL: ${proxyUrl}`);
-  }
-
-  return fetch(downloadUrl, {
-    agent,
-    compress: false,
-    headers: {
-      'accept-encoding': 'gzip, deflate, br',
-    },
-    redirect: 'follow',
-  })
-    .then(response => {
-      if (!response.ok) {
-        throw new Error(
-          `Unable to download sentry-cli binary from ${downloadUrl}.\nServer returned ${response.status}: ${response.statusText}.`
-        );
-      }
-
-      const contentEncoding = response.headers.get('content-encoding');
-      let decompressor;
-      if (/\bgzip\b/.test(contentEncoding)) {
-        decompressor = zlib.createGunzip();
-      } else if (/\bdeflate\b/.test(contentEncoding)) {
-        decompressor = zlib.createInflate();
-      } else if (/\bbr\b/.test(contentEncoding)) {
-        decompressor = zlib.createBrotliDecompress();
-      } else {
-        decompressor = new stream.PassThrough();
-      }
-      const name = downloadUrl.match(/.*\/(.*?)$/)[1];
-      const total = parseInt(response.headers.get('content-length'), 10);
-      const progressBar = createProgressBar(name, total);
-      const tempPath = getTempFile(cachedPath);
-      mkdirp.sync(path.dirname(tempPath));
-
-      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-        response.body
-          .on('error', e => reject(e))
-          .on('data', chunk => progressBar.tick(chunk.length))
-          .pipe(decompressor)
-          .pipe(fs.createWriteStream(tempPath, { mode: '0755' }))
-          .on('error', e => reject(e))
-          .on('close', () => resolve());
-      }).then(() => {
-        if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_SKIP_CHECKSUM_VALIDATION !== '1') {
-          validateChecksum(tempPath, name);
-        }
-        fs.copyFileSync(tempPath, cachedPath);
-        fs.copyFileSync(tempPath, outputPath);
-        fs.unlinkSync(tempPath);
-      });
-    })
-    .catch(error => {
-      if (error instanceof fetch.FetchError) {
-        throw new Error(
-          `Unable to download sentry-cli binary from ${downloadUrl}.\nError code: ${error.code}`
-        );
-      } else {
-        throw error;
-      }
-    });
-}
-
-function checkVersion() {
-  return helper.execute(['--version']).then(output => {
-    const version = output.replace('sentry-cli ', '').trim();
-    const expected = process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOCAL_CDNURL ? 'DEV' : pkgInfo.version;
-    if (version !== expected) {
-      throw new Error(`Unexpected sentry-cli version "${version}", expected "${expected}"`);
-    }
-  });
-}
+const { downloadBinary } = require('../js/install');
 
 if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOCAL_CDNURL) {
   // For testing, mock the CDN by spawning a local server
@@ -318,13 +22,7 @@ if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_LOCAL_CDNURL) {
   process.on('exit', () => server.close());
 }
 
-if (process.env.SENTRYCLI_SKIP_DOWNLOAD === '1') {
-  logger.log(`Skipping download because SENTRYCLI_SKIP_DOWNLOAD=1 detected.`);
-  process.exit(0);
-}
-
 downloadBinary()
-  .then(() => checkVersion())
   .then(() => process.exit(0))
   .catch(e => {
     // eslint-disable-next-line no-console