diff --git a/internal/command.go b/internal/command.go
index 51d4ca3b89..b8a24d37b8 100644
--- a/internal/command.go
+++ b/internal/command.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/internal/connect"
 	"github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/internal/context"
 	ccl "github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/internal/custom-code-logging"
+	idebug "github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/internal/debug"
 	"github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/internal/environment"
 	"github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/internal/feedback"
 	"github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/internal/flink"
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@ func NewConfluentCommand(cfg *config.Config) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.AddCommand(configuration.New(cfg, prerunner))
 	cmd.AddCommand(connect.New(cfg, prerunner))
 	cmd.AddCommand(context.New(prerunner))
+	cmd.AddCommand(idebug.New(prerunner))
 	cmd.AddCommand(environment.New(prerunner))
 	cmd.AddCommand(feedback.New(prerunner))
 	cmd.AddCommand(flink.New(cfg, prerunner))
diff --git a/internal/debug/command.go b/internal/debug/command.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..41f419a2aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/debug/command.go
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package debug
+
+import (
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+
+	pcmd "github.com/confluentinc/cli/v4/pkg/cmd"
+)
+
+type command struct {
+	*pcmd.CLICommand
+}
+
+func New(prerunner pcmd.PreRunner) *cobra.Command {
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:    "debug",
+		Short:  "Debug utilities for internal testing.",
+		Hidden: true,
+	}
+
+	c := &command{CLICommand: pcmd.NewAnonymousCLICommand(cmd, prerunner)}
+
+	cmd.AddCommand(c.newPanicCommand())
+
+	return cmd
+}
diff --git a/internal/debug/command_panic.go b/internal/debug/command_panic.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..362d730cc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/debug/command_panic.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package debug
+
+import (
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+func (c *command) newPanicCommand() *cobra.Command {
+	return &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "panic",
+		Short: "Trigger a test panic for crash reporting validation.",
+		Long:  "Trigger a test panic to validate the crash reporting pipeline; note that panic traces are only collected and reported when logged in to Confluent Cloud.",
+		Args:  cobra.NoArgs,
+		RunE:  c.panic,
+	}
+}
+
+func (c *command) panic(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
+	panic("test panic")
+}