diff --git a/meta/recipes-core/meta/wic-tools.bb b/meta/recipes-core/meta/wic-tools.bb
index 45fb873dd6bd..b81729d9ff1b 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-core/meta/wic-tools.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-core/meta/wic-tools.bb
@@ -2,13 +2,14 @@ SUMMARY = "A meta recipe to build native tools used by wic."
 
 LICENSE = "MIT"
 
-DEPENDS = "\
-           wic-native \
-           parted-native gptfdisk-native dosfstools-native \
-           mtools-native bmaptool-native grub-native cdrtools-native \
-           btrfs-tools-native squashfs-tools-native pseudo-native \
-           e2fsprogs-native util-linux-native tar-native erofs-utils-native \
-           virtual/cross-binutils \
+require wic-tools.inc
+
+# wic itself, the shared WIC_TOOLS helpers as -native build dependencies,
+# plus the extras specific to building the native sysroot: native-only
+# cdrtools, pseudo and the cross binutils.
+DEPENDS = "wic-native \
+           ${@' '.join('%s-native' % t for t in d.getVar('WIC_TOOLS').split())} \
+           cdrtools-native pseudo-native virtual/cross-binutils \
            "
 DEPENDS:append:x86 = " syslinux-native syslinux grub-efi systemd-boot"
 DEPENDS:append:x86-64 = " syslinux-native syslinux grub-efi systemd-boot"
diff --git a/meta/recipes-core/meta/wic-tools.inc b/meta/recipes-core/meta/wic-tools.inc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a1d622e9d345
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/recipes-core/meta/wic-tools.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Recipes providing the host-side tools wic may invoke at image-creation
+# time, as listed in wic's NATIVE_RECIPES table. Names are given without
+# a class suffix so they can be mapped to -native, nativesdk- or any
+# other variant as needed.
+#
+# This list is limited to tools that exist both as -native and as
+# nativesdk- packages. Tools that are not available in every variant
+# (for example native-only cdrtools) and architecture-gated tools (for
+# example syslinux) are intentionally left out and handled separately.
+
+WIC_TOOLS = "\
+    parted \
+    gptfdisk \
+    dosfstools \
+    mtools \
+    bmaptool \
+    grub \
+    btrfs-tools \
+    squashfs-tools \
+    e2fsprogs \
+    util-linux \
+    tar \
+    erofs-utils \
+"