diff --git a/tests/test_config_search_paths.py b/tests/test_config_search_paths.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..872b060
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_config_search_paths.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "tools"))
+
+from config_search_paths import build
+
+
+class ConfigSearchPathsTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_extracts_default_config_paths(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+            root = Path(tmpdir)
+            package = root / "mx_exporter"
+            package.mkdir()
+            (package / "__init__.py").write_text(
+                "default_config_files = ['/opt/maca/etc/default-counters.csv', '/opt/mxn100/etc/default-counters.csv']\n",
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            )
+
+            report = build(root)
+
+        self.assertEqual(report["path_count"], 2)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/tools/config_search_paths.py b/tools/config_search_paths.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a253b61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/config_search_paths.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Export the default counter-config search paths used by mx-exporter."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import ast
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def build(repo_root: Path) -> dict[str, object]:
+    init_path = repo_root / "mx_exporter" / "__init__.py"
+    module = ast.parse(init_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"), filename=str(init_path))
+    for node in ast.walk(module):
+        if isinstance(node, ast.Assign):
+            for target in node.targets:
+                if isinstance(target, ast.Name) and target.id == "default_config_files":
+                    values = [ast.unparse(value) for value in node.value.elts]
+                    return {"path_count": len(values), "paths": values}
+    raise ValueError("default_config_files not found")
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    parser.add_argument("--repo-root", type=Path, default=Path("."))
+    parser.add_argument("--output", type=Path)
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    text = json.dumps(build(args.repo_root), indent=2, ensure_ascii=False)
+    if args.output:
+        args.output.write_text(text + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    else:
+        print(text)
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())