diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3e49bccab68..b771f3ff4ac 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -140,12 +140,12 @@ test-legacy: ## Run the legacy tests (go/v2) of the testdata directory
 	./test/testdata/test_legacy.sh
 
 .PHONY: test-e2e-local
-test-e2e-local: ## Run the end-to-end tests locally
+test-e2e-local: build-external-plugin ## Run the end-to-end tests locally
 	## To keep the same kind cluster between test runs, use `SKIP_KIND_CLEANUP=1 make test-e2e-local`
 	./test/e2e/local.sh
 
 .PHONY: test-e2e-ci
-test-e2e-ci: ## Run the end-to-end tests (used in the CI)`
+test-e2e-ci: build-external-plugin ## Run the end-to-end tests (used in the CI)`
 	./test/e2e/ci.sh
 
 .PHONY: test-book
@@ -157,3 +157,7 @@ test-book: ## Run the cronjob tutorial's unit tests to make sure we don't break
 .PHONY: test-license
 test-license:  ## Run the license check
 	./test/check-license.sh
+
+.PHONY: build-external-plugin
+build-external-plugin:  ## Build external plugin
+	./test/e2e/build-sample-external-plugin.sh
diff --git a/test/e2e/build-sample-external-plugin.sh b/test/e2e/build-sample-external-plugin.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..cf04f17205d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/e2e/build-sample-external-plugin.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Copyright 2023 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed 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.
+
+set -e
+
+# TODO: Dynamically set exteranl plugin destination based on OS platform
+EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION_PREFIX="${HOME}/Library/Application Support/kubebuilder/plugins"
+PLUGIN_NAME="sampleexternalplugin"
+PLUGIN_VERSION="v1"
+EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION="${EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION_PREFIX}/${PLUGIN_NAME}/${PLUGIN_VERSION}"
+EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_PATH="${EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION}/${PLUGIN_NAME}"
+
+if [ -d "$EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION" ]; then
+  echo "$EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION does exist."
+  if [ -e "$EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_PATH" ]; then
+    echo "clean up old binary..."
+    rm "$EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_PATH" 
+  fi
+else
+    mkdir -p "$EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION"
+fi
+
+SOURCE_DIR="./docs/book/src/simple-external-plugin-tutorial/testdata/sampleexternalplugin/v1"
+cd $SOURCE_DIR && go build -o $PLUGIN_NAME && mv $PLUGIN_NAME "$EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_PATH"
+
+kubebuilder init --plugins="${PLUGIN_NAME}/${PLUGIN_VERSION}" --help | grep --quiet "$PLUGIN_NAME"
+
+if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo "External plugin is built at: $EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DESTINATION"
+else
+    echo "FAIL to build external plugin"
+    exit 1
+fi