diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9031257a..20f28f02 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ CONTROLLER_GEN ?= $(LOCALBIN)/controller-gen
 ENVTEST ?= $(LOCALBIN)/setup-envtest
 OPERATOR_SDK ?= $(LOCALBIN)/operator-sdk
 MKDOCS ?= $(LOCALBIN)/mkdocs/bin/mkdocs
+ZC ?= $(LOCALBIN)/zc/bin/zuul-client
 
 ## Tool Versions
 KUSTOMIZE_VERSION ?= v5.3.0
@@ -170,12 +171,18 @@ OPERATOR_SDK_VERSION ?= 1.34.2
 STATICCHECK_VERSION ?= 2023.1.7
 MKDOCS_VERSION ?= 1.5.3
 SETUP_ENVTEST_VERSION ?= v0.0.0-20240320141353-395cfc7486e6
+ZUUL_CLIENT_VERSION ?= 10.0.0
 
 .PHONY: mkdocs
 mkdocs: $(MKDOCS) ## Install material for mkdocs locally if necessary
 $(MKDOCS): $(LOCALBIN)
 	( test -f $(LOCALBIN)/mkdocs/bin/mkdocs && [[ "$(shell $(LOCALBIN)/mkdocs/bin/mkdocs -V)" =~ "$(MKDOCS_VERSION)" ]] ) || ( python -m venv $(LOCALBIN)/mkdocs && $(LOCALBIN)/mkdocs/bin/pip install --upgrade -r mkdocs-requirements.txt )
 
+.PHONY: zuul-client
+zuul-client: $(ZC) ## Install zuul-client locally if necessary
+$(ZC): $(LOCALBIN)
+	( test -f $(LOCALBIN)/zc/bin/zuul-client && [[ "$(shell $(LOCALBIN)/zc/bin/zuul-client --version)" =~ "$(ZUUL_CLIENT_VERSION)" ]] ) || ( python -m venv $(LOCALBIN)/zc && $(LOCALBIN)/zc/bin/pip install zuul-client )
+
 KUSTOMIZE_INSTALL_SCRIPT ?= "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/kustomize/${KUSTOMIZE_VERSION}/hack/install_kustomize.sh"
 .PHONY: kustomize
 kustomize: $(KUSTOMIZE) ## Download kustomize locally if necessary.
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 6273030e..b4e860ef 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
         ];
         shellHook = ''
           echo "Welcome in $name"
+          export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
           export GOPATH=$(go env GOPATH)
           export GOBIN=$(go env GOPATH)/bin
         '';
diff --git a/roles/health-check/zuul-client-api/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/health-check/zuul-client-api/tasks/main.yaml
index fca610b9..cd7866d7 100644
--- a/roles/health-check/zuul-client-api/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/health-check/zuul-client-api/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+- name: Ensure zuul-client installation
+  community.general.make:
+    target: "zuul-client"
+    chdir: "{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}"
+
+- set_fact:
+    zuul_client: "{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}/bin/zc/bin/zuul-client"
+
 - name: Create a zuul-client configuration file
   ansible.builtin.shell: >
     go run ./main.go --config playbooks/files/sf-operator-cli.yaml zuul create client-config --insecure
@@ -12,13 +20,11 @@
 
 - name: Create a autohold request with zuul-client and the generated config
   ansible.builtin.command: |
-    zuul-client -c /tmp/zuul-client.conf --use-config internal autohold --project config --job config-update --reason CI_TEST
-  args:
-    chdir: "{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}"
+    {{ zuul_client }} -c /tmp/zuul-client.conf --use-config internal autohold --project config --job config-update --reason CI_TEST
 
 - name: Ensure autohold was set properly
   ansible.builtin.command: |
-    zuul-client -c /tmp/zuul-client.conf --use-config internal autohold-list
+    {{ zuul_client }} -c /tmp/zuul-client.conf --use-config internal autohold-list
   register: _ah_list
   failed_when: '"CI_TEST" not in _ah_list.stdout'
 
@@ -26,4 +32,4 @@
   ansible.builtin.shell: >
     echo "{{ _ah_list.stdout }}" |
     grep -oE "0000[0-9]+" |
-    xargs zuul-client -c /tmp/zuul-client.conf --use-config internal autohold-delete
+    xargs {{ zuul_client }} -c /tmp/zuul-client.conf --use-config internal autohold-delete
diff --git a/roles/setup-env/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/setup-env/tasks/main.yaml
index b93e67d7..2e68f35b 100644
--- a/roles/setup-env/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/setup-env/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -78,4 +78,3 @@
           - kubernetes
           - oauthlib>=3.2.2
           - websocket-client
-          - zuul-client