diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginSecurity.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginSecurity.java
index 55a3c6069e7ef..d09acbe1f3c23 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginSecurity.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginSecurity.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.util.IOUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.cli.Terminal;
 import org.elasticsearch.cli.Terminal.Verbosity;
-import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
diff --git a/distribution/build.gradle b/distribution/build.gradle
index b02c4ed880266..75b40d57b1730 100644
--- a/distribution/build.gradle
+++ b/distribution/build.gradle
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ configure(distributions) {
       from project(':core').configurations.runtime
       // delay add tools using closures, since they have not yet been configured, so no jar task exists yet
       from { project(':distribution:tools:java-version-checker').jar }
+      from { project(':distribution:tools:plugin-cli').jar }
     }
 
     modulesFiles = copySpec {
diff --git a/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/build.gradle b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ae3dca9ef87af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.build'
+
+dependencies {
+  provided "org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch:${version}"
+  testCompile "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${version}"
+  testCompile 'com.google.jimfs:jimfs:1.1'
+  testCompile 'com.google.guava:guava:18.0'
+}
+
+test {
+  // TODO: find a way to add permissions for the tests in this module
+  systemProperty 'tests.security.manager', 'false'
+}
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
index a597fdcc5a2d3..afe4593e62779 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
+++ b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommand.java
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.util.IOUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.JarHell;
-import org.elasticsearch.cli.ExitCodes;
 import org.elasticsearch.cli.EnvironmentAwareCommand;
+import org.elasticsearch.cli.ExitCodes;
 import org.elasticsearch.cli.Terminal;
 import org.elasticsearch.cli.UserException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.SuppressForbidden;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommand.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommand.java
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommand.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommand.java
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginCli.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginCli.java
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginCli.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginCli.java
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStream.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStream.java
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStream.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStream.java
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java
diff --git a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommandTests.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommandTests.java
similarity index 100%
rename from qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommandTests.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/InstallPluginCommandTests.java
diff --git a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommandTests.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommandTests.java
similarity index 100%
rename from qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommandTests.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ListPluginsCommandTests.java
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStreamTests.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStreamTests.java
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStreamTests.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ProgressInputStreamTests.java
diff --git a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java b/distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java
similarity index 100%
rename from qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java
rename to distribution/tools/plugin-cli/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java
diff --git a/settings.gradle b/settings.gradle
index 36f9c23e7c5b7..519dca27f8045 100644
--- a/settings.gradle
+++ b/settings.gradle
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ List projects = [
   'distribution:deb',
   'distribution:rpm',
   'distribution:tools:java-version-checker',
+  'distribution:tools:plugin-cli',
   'test:framework',
   'test:fixtures:example-fixture',
   'test:fixtures:hdfs-fixture',