diff --git a/pkg/migration/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/migration/BUILD.bazel
index e674c65e55a4..23a1b35826fc 100644
--- a/pkg/migration/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/migration/BUILD.bazel
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ go_library(
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     deps = [
         "//pkg/clusterversion",
+        "//pkg/keys",
         "//pkg/kv",
         "//pkg/kv/kvserver/liveness/livenesspb",
         "//pkg/roachpb",
@@ -33,17 +34,26 @@ go_library(
 go_test(
     name = "migration_test",
     srcs = [
+        "client_test.go",
         "helper_test.go",
+        "main_test.go",
         "util_test.go",
     ],
     embed = [":migration"],
     deps = [
         "//pkg/clusterversion",
         "//pkg/kv",
+        "//pkg/kv/kvserver",
         "//pkg/kv/kvserver/liveness/livenesspb",
         "//pkg/roachpb",
+        "//pkg/security",
+        "//pkg/security/securitytest",
+        "//pkg/server",
         "//pkg/server/serverpb",
+        "//pkg/sql/tests",
         "//pkg/testutils",
+        "//pkg/testutils/serverutils",
+        "//pkg/testutils/testcluster",
         "//pkg/util/leaktest",
         "//pkg/util/syncutil",
         "//vendor/google.golang.org/grpc",
diff --git a/pkg/migration/client_test.go b/pkg/migration/client_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a56a1c490a18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/migration/client_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+// Copyright 2020 The Cockroach Authors.
+//
+// Use of this software is governed by the Business Source License
+// included in the file licenses/BSL.txt.
+//
+// As of the Change Date specified in that file, in accordance with
+// the Business Source License, use of this software will be governed
+// by the Apache License, Version 2.0, included in the file
+// licenses/APL.txt.
+package migration_test
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/clusterversion"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvserver"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/migration"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachpb"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/sql/tests"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/serverutils"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/leaktest"
+)
+
+func TestHelperIterateRangeDescriptors(t *testing.T) {
+	defer leaktest.AfterTest(t)
+
+	cv := clusterversion.ClusterVersion{}
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	const numNodes = 1
+
+	params, _ := tests.CreateTestServerParams()
+	server, _, kvDB := serverutils.StartServer(t, params)
+	defer server.Stopper().Stop(context.Background())
+
+	var numRanges int
+	if err := server.GetStores().(*kvserver.Stores).VisitStores(func(s *kvserver.Store) error {
+		numRanges = s.ReplicaCount()
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	c := migration.TestingNewCluster(numNodes, migration.TestingWithKV(kvDB))
+	h := migration.TestingNewHelper(c, cv)
+
+	for _, blockSize := range []int{1, 5, 10, 50} {
+		var numDescs int
+		init := func() { numDescs = 0 }
+		if err := h.IterateRangeDescriptors(ctx, blockSize, init, func(descriptors ...roachpb.RangeDescriptor) error {
+			numDescs += len(descriptors)
+			return nil
+		}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+
+		if numDescs != numRanges {
+			t.Fatalf("expected to find %d ranges, found %d", numRanges+1, numDescs)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/migration/helper.go b/pkg/migration/helper.go
index e40e82a58e97..510142b7a162 100644
--- a/pkg/migration/helper.go
+++ b/pkg/migration/helper.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/clusterversion"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/keys"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachpb"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/rpc"
@@ -157,6 +158,73 @@ func (h *Helper) EveryNode(
 	return nil
 }
 
+// IterateRangeDescriptors provides a handle on every range descriptor in the
+// system, which callers can then use to send out arbitrary KV requests to in
+// order to run arbitrary KV-level migrations. These requests will typically
+// just be the `Migrate` request, with code added within [1] to do the specific
+// things intended for the specified version.
+//
+// It's important to note that the closure is being executed in the context of a
+// distributed transaction that may be automatically retried. So something like
+// the following is an anti-pattern:
+//
+//     processed := 0
+//     _ = h.IterateRangeDescriptors(...,
+//         func(descriptors ...roachpb.RangeDescriptor) error {
+//             processed += len(descriptors) // we'll over count if retried
+//             log.Infof(ctx, "processed %d ranges", processed)
+//         },
+//     )
+//
+// Instead we allow callers to pass in a callback to signal on every attempt
+// (including the first). This lets us salvage the example above:
+//
+//     var processed int
+//     init := func() { processed = 0 }
+//     _ = h.IterateRangeDescriptors(..., init,
+//         func(descriptors ...roachpb.RangeDescriptor) error {
+//             processed += len(descriptors)
+//             log.Infof(ctx, "processed %d ranges", processed)
+//         },
+//     )
+//
+// [1]: pkg/kv/kvserver/batch_eval/cmd_migrate.go
+func (h *Helper) IterateRangeDescriptors(
+	ctx context.Context, blockSize int, init func(), fn func(...roachpb.RangeDescriptor) error,
+) error {
+	if err := h.DB().Txn(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, txn *kv.Txn) error {
+		// Inform the caller that we're starting a fresh attempt to page in
+		// range descriptors.
+		init()
+
+		// Iterate through meta2 to pull out all the range descriptors.
+		return txn.Iterate(ctx, keys.Meta2Prefix, keys.MetaMax, blockSize,
+			func(rows []kv.KeyValue) error {
+				descriptors := make([]roachpb.RangeDescriptor, len(rows))
+				for i, row := range rows {
+					if err := row.ValueProto(&descriptors[i]); err != nil {
+						return errors.Wrapf(err,
+							"unable to unmarshal range descriptor from %s",
+							row.Key,
+						)
+					}
+				}
+
+				// Invoke fn with the current chunk (of size ~blockSize) of
+				// range descriptors.
+				if err := fn(descriptors...); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+
+				return nil
+			})
+	}); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 // DB provides exposes the underlying *kv.DB instance.
 func (h *Helper) DB() *kv.DB {
 	return h.c.db()
diff --git a/pkg/migration/main_test.go b/pkg/migration/main_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cdc3f7742a5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/migration/main_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+// Copyright 2020 The Cockroach Authors.
+//
+// Use of this software is governed by the Business Source License
+// included in the file licenses/BSL.txt.
+//
+// As of the Change Date specified in that file, in accordance with
+// the Business Source License, use of this software will be governed
+// by the Apache License, Version 2.0, included in the file
+// licenses/APL.txt.
+
+package migration_test
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/security"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/security/securitytest"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/server"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/serverutils"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/testcluster"
+)
+
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	security.SetAssetLoader(securitytest.EmbeddedAssets)
+	serverutils.InitTestServerFactory(server.TestServerFactory)
+	serverutils.InitTestClusterFactory(testcluster.TestClusterFactory)
+	os.Exit(m.Run())
+}