diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index 7534453b53..f9299f7a5f 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -895,6 +895,10 @@ debug: $(DEBUGDEPS)
 	$(call check_cmd,$(DEBUGGER),Debug program)
 	$(DEBUGGER) $(DEBUGGER_FLAGS)
 
+debug-client:
+	$(call check_cmd,$(DEBUGCLIENT),Debug client program)
+	$(DEBUGCLIENT) $(DEBUGCLIENT_FLAGS)
+
 debug-server:
 	$(call check_cmd,$(DEBUGSERVER),Debug server program)
 	$(DEBUGSERVER) $(DEBUGSERVER_FLAGS)
diff --git a/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh b/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh
index 4884e5fb5b..9ee0eb0eee 100755
--- a/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh
+++ b/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('FLASHER' 'FFLAGS')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('RESET' 'RESETFLAGS')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('DEBUGGER' 'DEBUGGER_FLAGS')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('DEBUGSERVER' 'DEBUGSERVER_FLAGS')
+UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('DEBUGCLIENT' 'DEBUGCLIENT_FLAGS')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('PREFLASHER' 'PREFFLAGS' 'FLASHDEPS')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('OPENOCD_DEBUG_ADAPTER' 'DEBUG_ADAPTER_ID')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('PROGRAMMER_SERIAL')
diff --git a/makefiles/info.inc.mk b/makefiles/info.inc.mk
index f6a4619a30..922ded24ac 100644
--- a/makefiles/info.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/info.inc.mk
@@ -119,6 +119,9 @@ info-build:
 	@echo 'DEBUGSERVER:       $(DEBUGSERVER)'
 	@echo 'DEBUGSERVER_FLAGS: $(DEBUGSERVER_FLAGS)'
 	@echo ''
+	@echo 'DEBUGCLIENT:       $(DEBUGCLIENT)'
+	@echo 'DEBUGCLIENT_FLAGS: $(DEBUGCLIENT_FLAGS)'
+	@echo ''
 	@echo 'RESET:       $(RESET)'
 	@echo 'RESET_FLAGS: $(RESET_FLAGS)'
 	@echo ''
diff --git a/makefiles/vars.inc.mk b/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
index eec39e761a..9c35946e8f 100644
--- a/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ export HEXFILE               # The 'intel hex' stripped result of the compilatio
 # DEBUGGER_FLAGS             # The parameters to supply to DEBUGGER.
 # DEBUGSERVER                # The command to call on "make debug-server", usually a script starting the GDB server.
 # DEBUGSERVER_FLAGS          # The parameters to supply to DEBUGSERVER.
+# DEBUGCLIENT                # The command to call on "make debug-client", usually a script starting the GDB client.
+# DEBUGCLIENT_FLAGS          # The parameters to supply to DEBUGCLIENT.
 # DEVELHELP                  # Set to 1 to spend ROM, RAM and CPU time for help during development (e.g. enable asserts())
 # RESET                      # The command to call on "make reset", this command resets/reboots the target.
 # RESET_FLAGS                # The parameters to supply to RESET.