diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index efe8a28..bc7fa61 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -23,4 +23,7 @@ go.work
 # the produced binary
 report.xml
 errors/
-vitess-tester
\ No newline at end of file
+vitess-tester
+
+# Do not ignore anything inside the src/vitess-tester directory
+!/src/vitess-tester/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index f5930a2..0a8f2df 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -205,6 +205,13 @@ func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 	tests := flag.Args()
 
+	err := vitess_tester.CheckEnvironment()
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Println("Fatal error:")
+		fmt.Println(err.Error())
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
 	if ll := os.Getenv("LOG_LEVEL"); ll != "" {
 		logLevel = ll
 	}
@@ -227,7 +234,7 @@ func main() {
 	defer closer()
 
 	// remove errors folder if exists
-	err := os.RemoveAll("errors")
+	err = os.RemoveAll("errors")
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err.Error())
 	}
diff --git a/src/vitess-tester/environment.go b/src/vitess-tester/environment.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a48ab1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/vitess-tester/environment.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2024 The Vitess 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 vitess_tester
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+)
+
+var environmentVars = []string{
+	"VTDATAROOT",
+	"VTROOT",
+}
+var neededBinaries = []string{
+	"vtgate",
+	"mysqlctl",
+}
+
+// CheckEnvironment checks if the required environment variables are set
+func CheckEnvironment() error {
+	for _, envVar := range environmentVars {
+		if os.Getenv(envVar) == "" {
+			return fmt.Errorf("environment variable %s is not set\nTry sourcing the dev.env file in the vitess directory", envVar)
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, binary := range neededBinaries {
+		_, err := exec.LookPath(binary)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("binary %s not found in PATH", binary)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}