diff --git a/.github/workflows/0fc-integration.yml b/.github/workflows/0fc-integration.yml
index 1eab8b3ae1..14bb31194a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/0fc-integration.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/0fc-integration.yml
@@ -46,4 +46,4 @@ jobs:
           echo "ELECTRS_EXE=$( pwd )/bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - name: Test with 0FC enabled
         run: |
-          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg no_download --cfg cycle_tests --cfg tokio_unstable --cfg zero_fee_commitment_tests" cargo test -- --test-threads=1 --no-capture
+          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg cycle_tests --cfg tokio_unstable --cfg zero_fee_commitment_tests" cargo test -- --test-threads=1 --no-capture
diff --git a/.github/workflows/hrn-integration.yml b/.github/workflows/hrn-integration.yml
index 732aad029f..37d3462451 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/hrn-integration.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/hrn-integration.yml
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ jobs:
           echo "ELECTRS_EXE=$( pwd )/bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - name: Run HRN Integration Tests
         run: |
-          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg no_download --cfg hrn_tests $RUSTFLAGS" cargo test --test integration_tests_hrn
-          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg no_download --cfg hrn_tests $RUSTFLAGS" cargo test --test integration_tests_hrn --no-default-features --features uniffi-default
+          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg hrn_tests $RUSTFLAGS" cargo test --test integration_tests_hrn
+          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg hrn_tests $RUSTFLAGS" cargo test --test integration_tests_hrn --no-default-features --features uniffi-default
diff --git a/.github/workflows/postgres-integration.yml b/.github/workflows/postgres-integration.yml
index d27e3123ea..a3c8e053af 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/postgres-integration.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/postgres-integration.yml
@@ -70,4 +70,4 @@ jobs:
         env:
           TEST_POSTGRES_URL: "host=localhost user=postgres password=postgres"
         run: |
-          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg no_download --cfg cycle_tests" cargo test --features storage-postgres --test integration_tests_postgres
+          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg cycle_tests" cargo test --features storage-postgres --test integration_tests_postgres
diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
index a23120bf9a..932c1d537d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
@@ -87,11 +87,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Test on Rust ${{ matrix.toolchain }}
         if: "matrix.platform != 'windows-latest'"
         run: |
-          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg no_download --cfg cycle_tests --cfg tokio_unstable" cargo test
+          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg cycle_tests --cfg tokio_unstable" cargo test
       - name: Test with UniFFI support on Rust ${{ matrix.toolchain }}
         if: "matrix.platform != 'windows-latest' && matrix.build-uniffi"
         run: |
-          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg no_download --cfg cycle_tests" cargo test --no-default-features --features uniffi-default
+          RUSTFLAGS="--cfg cycle_tests" cargo test --no-default-features --features uniffi-default
 
   linting:
     name: Linting
diff --git a/.github/workflows/vss-integration.yml b/.github/workflows/vss-integration.yml
index 6b66eacd48..3b08930273 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/vss-integration.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/vss-integration.yml
@@ -37,6 +37,30 @@ jobs:
           repository: lightningdevkit/vss-server
           path: vss-server
 
+      - name: Enable caching for bitcoind
+        id: cache-bitcoind
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: bin/bitcoind-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+          key: bitcoind-31.1-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+      - name: Enable caching for electrs
+        id: cache-electrs
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+          key: electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+      - name: Download bitcoind/electrs
+        if: "steps.cache-bitcoind.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' || steps.cache-electrs.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'"
+        run: |
+          source ./ldk-node/scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh
+          mkdir -p bin
+          mv "$BITCOIND_EXE" bin/bitcoind-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+          mv "$ELECTRS_EXE" bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+      - name: Set bitcoind/electrs environment variables
+        run: |
+          echo "BITCOIND_EXE=$( pwd )/bin/bitcoind-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          echo "ELECTRS_EXE=$( pwd )/bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+
       - name: Build and Deploy VSS Server
         run: |
           cd vss-server
diff --git a/.github/workflows/vss-no-auth-integration.yml b/.github/workflows/vss-no-auth-integration.yml
index 9e7fb6c51b..4c3432ce88 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/vss-no-auth-integration.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/vss-no-auth-integration.yml
@@ -37,6 +37,30 @@ jobs:
           repository: lightningdevkit/vss-server
           path: vss-server
 
+      - name: Enable caching for bitcoind
+        id: cache-bitcoind
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: bin/bitcoind-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+          key: bitcoind-31.1-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+      - name: Enable caching for electrs
+        id: cache-electrs
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+          key: electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+      - name: Download bitcoind/electrs
+        if: "steps.cache-bitcoind.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' || steps.cache-electrs.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'"
+        run: |
+          source ./ldk-node/scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh
+          mkdir -p bin
+          mv "$BITCOIND_EXE" bin/bitcoind-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+          mv "$ELECTRS_EXE" bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}
+      - name: Set bitcoind/electrs environment variables
+        run: |
+          echo "BITCOIND_EXE=$( pwd )/bin/bitcoind-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          echo "ELECTRS_EXE=$( pwd )/bin/electrs-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+
       - name: Build and Deploy VSS Server
         run: |
           cd vss-server
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 502fa1a25f..f880b91162 100755
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -147,10 +147,8 @@ criterion = { version = "0.7.0", features = ["async_tokio"] }
 ldk-node-062 = { package = "ldk-node", version = "=0.6.2" }
 ldk-node-070 = { package = "ldk-node", version = "=0.7.0" }
 
-[target.'cfg(not(no_download))'.dev-dependencies]
-electrsd = { version = "0.36.1", default-features = false, features = ["legacy", "esplora_a33e97e1", "corepc-node_29_0"] }
-
-[target.'cfg(no_download)'.dev-dependencies]
+# Test binaries are provided via scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh.
+# Keep automatic downloads disabled to avoid the yanked zip dependency.
 electrsd = { version = "0.36.1", default-features = false, features = ["legacy"] }
 corepc-node = { version = "0.10.1", default-features = false, features = ["29_0"] }
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b1d663ef67..1652541137 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -133,6 +133,20 @@ LDK Node itself is written in [Rust][rust] and may therefore be natively added a
 ## MSRV
 The Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) is currently 1.85.0.
 
+## Running Tests
+
+Rust integration tests and benchmarks require Bitcoin Core and Esplora-enabled `electrs` binaries.
+On Linux and macOS, run the following from the repository root in Bash:
+
+```bash
+source ./scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh
+RUSTFLAGS="--cfg tokio_unstable" cargo test
+```
+
+The script requires `curl`, `unzip`, `tar`, and `shasum`. It verifies the downloads and exports
+`BITCOIND_EXE` and `ELECTRS_EXE` for the current shell. Alternatively, set these variables to
+compatible binaries you already have. Cargo's automatic binary downloads are disabled.
+
 [api_docs]: https://docs.rs/ldk-node/*/ldk_node/
 [api_docs_node]: https://docs.rs/ldk-node/*/ldk_node/struct.Node.html
 [api_docs_builder]: https://docs.rs/ldk-node/*/ldk_node/struct.Builder.html
diff --git a/tests/common/mod.rs b/tests/common/mod.rs
index bb1f366b1c..93bab690f4 100644
--- a/tests/common/mod.rs
+++ b/tests/common/mod.rs
@@ -345,19 +345,15 @@ macro_rules! expect_payment_successful_event {
 pub(crate) use expect_payment_successful_event;
 
 pub(crate) fn setup_bitcoind_and_electrsd() -> (BitcoinD, ElectrsD) {
-	let bitcoind_exe =
-		env::var("BITCOIND_EXE").ok().or_else(|| corepc_node::downloaded_exe_path().ok()).expect(
-			"you need to provide an env var BITCOIND_EXE or specify a bitcoind version feature",
-		);
+	let bitcoind_exe = env::var("BITCOIND_EXE")
+		.expect("set BITCOIND_EXE or source ./scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh before testing");
 	let mut bitcoind_conf = corepc_node::Conf::default();
 	bitcoind_conf.network = "regtest";
 	bitcoind_conf.args.push("-rest");
 	let bitcoind = BitcoinD::with_conf(bitcoind_exe, &bitcoind_conf).unwrap();
 
 	let electrs_exe = env::var("ELECTRS_EXE")
-		.ok()
-		.or_else(electrsd::downloaded_exe_path)
-		.expect("you need to provide env var ELECTRS_EXE or specify an electrsd version feature");
+		.expect("set ELECTRS_EXE or source ./scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh before testing");
 	let mut electrsd_conf = electrsd::Conf::default();
 	electrsd_conf.http_enabled = true;
 	electrsd_conf.network = "regtest";
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests_rust.rs b/tests/integration_tests_rust.rs
index 080fb8c359..2c94803499 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests_rust.rs
+++ b/tests/integration_tests_rust.rs
@@ -3123,11 +3123,7 @@ async fn run_rbf_splice_channel_test(confirm_original: bool) {
 	// Use a custom bitcoind config with a lower incrementalrelayfee so that the +25 sat/kwu
 	// (0.1 sat/vB) RBF feerate bump satisfies BIP125's absolute fee increase requirement.
 	let bitcoind_exe = std::env::var("BITCOIND_EXE")
-		.ok()
-		.or_else(|| corepc_node::downloaded_exe_path().ok())
-		.expect(
-			"you need to provide an env var BITCOIND_EXE or specify a bitcoind version feature",
-		);
+		.expect("set BITCOIND_EXE or source ./scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh before testing");
 	let mut bitcoind_conf = corepc_node::Conf::default();
 	bitcoind_conf.network = "regtest";
 	bitcoind_conf.args.push("-rest");
@@ -3135,9 +3131,7 @@ async fn run_rbf_splice_channel_test(confirm_original: bool) {
 	let bitcoind = BitcoinD::with_conf(bitcoind_exe, &bitcoind_conf).unwrap();
 
 	let electrs_exe = std::env::var("ELECTRS_EXE")
-		.ok()
-		.or_else(electrsd::downloaded_exe_path)
-		.expect("you need to provide env var ELECTRS_EXE or specify an electrsd version feature");
+		.expect("set ELECTRS_EXE or source ./scripts/download_bitcoind_electrs.sh before testing");
 	let mut electrsd_conf = electrsd::Conf::default();
 	electrsd_conf.http_enabled = true;
 	electrsd_conf.network = "regtest";