diff --git a/internal/tools/common.go b/internal/tools/common.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7ed489a0b73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/tools/common.go
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry 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.
+
+// Package tools provides helper functions used in scripts within the
+// internal/tools module, as well as imports needed for a build with the
+// "tools" build tag.
+package tools
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// FindRepoRoot retrieves the root of the repository containing the current working directory.
+// Beginning at the current working directory (dir), the algorithm checks if joining the ".git"
+// suffix, such as "dir.get", is a valid file. Otherwise, it will continue checking the dir's
+// parent directory until it reaches the repo root or returns an error if it cannot be found.
+func FindRepoRoot() (string, error) {
+	start, err := os.Getwd()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	dir := start
+	for {
+		_, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, ".git"))
+		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+			dir = filepath.Dir(dir)
+			// From https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Dir:
+			// The returned path does not end in a separator unless it is the root directory.
+			if strings.HasSuffix(dir, string(filepath.Separator)) {
+				return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to find git repository enclosing working dir %s", start)
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+
+		return dir, nil
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/tools/crosslink/crosslink.go b/internal/tools/crosslink/crosslink.go
index 914569b3d7e..a229bfa6db0 100644
--- a/internal/tools/crosslink/crosslink.go
+++ b/internal/tools/crosslink/crosslink.go
@@ -35,37 +35,12 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"text/tabwriter"
+
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/internal/tools"
 )
 
 type repo string
 
-func findRepoRoot() (repo, error) {
-	start, err := os.Getwd()
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-
-	dir := start
-	for {
-		_, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, ".git"))
-		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
-			dir = filepath.Dir(dir)
-			// From https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Dir:
-			// The returned path does not end in a separator unless it is the root directory.
-			if strings.HasSuffix(dir, string(filepath.Separator)) {
-				return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to find git repository enclosing working dir %s", start)
-			}
-			continue
-		}
-
-		if err != nil {
-			return "", err
-		}
-
-		return repo(dir), nil
-	}
-}
-
 type mod struct {
 	filePath   string
 	importPath string
@@ -157,11 +132,13 @@ func (m mods) crossLink() error {
 }
 
 func main() {
-	repoRoot, err := findRepoRoot()
+	repoRootStr, err := tools.FindRepoRoot()
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("unable to find repo root: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	repoRoot := repo(repoRootStr)
+
 	mods, err := repoRoot.findModules()
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("unable to list modules: %v", err)
diff --git a/internal/tools/semconv-gen/generator.go b/internal/tools/semconv-gen/generator.go
index 9a9bbf8f747..52efb029175 100644
--- a/internal/tools/semconv-gen/generator.go
+++ b/internal/tools/semconv-gen/generator.go
@@ -23,13 +23,14 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
-	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
 	flag "github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"golang.org/x/mod/semver"
+
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/internal/tools"
 )
 
 func main() {
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ func validateConfig(cfg config) (config, error) {
 	}
 
 	if !path.IsAbs(cfg.outputPath) {
-		root, err := findRepoRoot()
+		root, err := tools.FindRepoRoot()
 		if err != nil {
 			return config{}, err
 		}
@@ -257,33 +258,6 @@ func checkoutSpecToDir(cfg config, toDir string) (doneFunc func(), err error) {
 	return doneFunc, nil
 }
 
-func findRepoRoot() (string, error) {
-	start, err := os.Getwd()
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-
-	dir := start
-	for {
-		_, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, ".git"))
-		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
-			dir = filepath.Dir(dir)
-			// From https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Dir:
-			// The returned path does not end in a separator unless it is the root directory.
-			if strings.HasSuffix(dir, string(filepath.Separator)) {
-				return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to find git repository enclosing working dir %s", start)
-			}
-			continue
-		}
-
-		if err != nil {
-			return "", err
-		}
-
-		return dir, nil
-	}
-}
-
 var capitalizations = []string{
 	"ACL",
 	"AIX",