diff --git a/packages/core/src/index.ts b/packages/core/src/index.ts
index e5ee3c623d76..4c0753bf2017 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/index.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ export { getIntegrationsToSetup } from './integration';
 export { FunctionToString, InboundFilters } from './integrations';
 export { prepareEvent } from './utils/prepareEvent';
 export { hasTracingEnabled } from './utils/hasTracingEnabled';
+export { buildMetadata } from './utils/buildMetadata';
 export { DEFAULT_ENVIRONMENT } from './constants';
 
 import * as Integrations from './integrations';
diff --git a/packages/core/src/utils/buildMetadata.ts b/packages/core/src/utils/buildMetadata.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2d721c494709
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/src/utils/buildMetadata.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import type { Options, SdkInfo } from '@sentry/types';
+
+import { SDK_VERSION } from '../version';
+
+const PACKAGE_NAME_PREFIX = 'npm:@sentry/';
+
+/**
+ * A builder for the SDK metadata in the options for the SDK initialization.
+ *
+ * @param options sdk options object that gets mutated
+ * @param sdkName name of the SDK (e.g. 'nextjs')
+ * @param packageNames list of package names (e.g. ['nextjs', 'react'])
+ */
+export function buildMetadata(options: Options, sdkName: string, packageNames: string[]): void {
+  options._metadata = options._metadata || {};
+  options._metadata.sdk =
+    options._metadata.sdk ||
+    ({
+      name: `sentry.javascript.${sdkName}`,
+      packages: packageNames.map(name => ({
+        name: `${PACKAGE_NAME_PREFIX}${name}`,
+        version: SDK_VERSION,
+      })),
+      version: SDK_VERSION,
+    } as SdkInfo);
+}
diff --git a/packages/core/test/lib/utils/buildMetadata.test.ts b/packages/core/test/lib/utils/buildMetadata.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7c3659f047b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/test/lib/utils/buildMetadata.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import { buildMetadata } from '../../../src/utils/buildMetadata';
+import { SDK_VERSION } from '../../../src/version';
+
+describe('buildMetadata', () => {
+  it('adds SDK name and packages to the passed options object', () => {
+    const options = {};
+    const sdkName = 'jQuery';
+
+    buildMetadata(options, sdkName, ['jQuery', 'browser']);
+
+    expect(options).toEqual({
+      _metadata: {
+        sdk: {
+          name: `sentry.javascript.${sdkName}`,
+          packages: [
+            {
+              name: 'npm:@sentry/jQuery',
+              version: SDK_VERSION,
+            },
+            {
+              name: 'npm:@sentry/browser',
+              version: SDK_VERSION,
+            },
+          ],
+          version: SDK_VERSION,
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('does not overwrite existing SDK metadata', () => {
+    const options = {
+      _metadata: {
+        sdk: {
+          name: 'sentry.javascript.SomeSDK',
+          version: '7.40.0',
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    buildMetadata(options, 'jQuery', ['jQuery', 'browser']);
+
+    expect(options).toStrictEqual(options);
+  });
+});