diff --git a/retrieval/scrape.go b/retrieval/scrape.go
index 74010fae8..cd91b1ba0 100644
--- a/retrieval/scrape.go
+++ b/retrieval/scrape.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ type scrapePool struct {
 }
 
 func newScrapePool(cfg *config.ScrapeConfig, app storage.SampleAppender) *scrapePool {
-	client, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	client, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		// Any errors that could occur here should be caught during config validation.
 		log.Errorf("Error creating HTTP client for job %q: %s", cfg.JobName, err)
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func (sp *scrapePool) reload(cfg *config.ScrapeConfig) {
 	sp.mtx.Lock()
 	defer sp.mtx.Unlock()
 
-	client, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	client, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		// Any errors that could occur here should be caught during config validation.
 		log.Errorf("Error creating HTTP client for job %q: %s", cfg.JobName, err)
diff --git a/retrieval/target.go b/retrieval/target.go
index 17cdcc3c9..10c04193f 100644
--- a/retrieval/target.go
+++ b/retrieval/target.go
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ func NewTarget(labels, metaLabels model.LabelSet, params url.Values) *Target {
 	}
 }
 
-func newHTTPClient(cfg *config.ScrapeConfig) (*http.Client, error) {
+// NewHTTPClient returns a new HTTP client configured for the given scrape configuration.
+func NewHTTPClient(cfg *config.ScrapeConfig) (*http.Client, error) {
 	tlsOpts := httputil.TLSOptions{
 		InsecureSkipVerify: cfg.TLSConfig.InsecureSkipVerify,
 		CAFile:             cfg.TLSConfig.CAFile,
diff --git a/retrieval/target_test.go b/retrieval/target_test.go
index 0e01c1c53..d0d7018d6 100644
--- a/retrieval/target_test.go
+++ b/retrieval/target_test.go
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ func TestNewHTTPBearerToken(t *testing.T) {
 		ScrapeTimeout: model.Duration(1 * time.Second),
 		BearerToken:   "1234",
 	}
-	c, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	c, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ func TestNewHTTPBearerTokenFile(t *testing.T) {
 		ScrapeTimeout:   model.Duration(1 * time.Second),
 		BearerTokenFile: "testdata/bearertoken.txt",
 	}
-	c, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	c, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ func TestNewHTTPBasicAuth(t *testing.T) {
 			Password: "password123",
 		},
 	}
-	c, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	c, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ func TestNewHTTPCACert(t *testing.T) {
 			CAFile: caCertPath,
 		},
 	}
-	c, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	c, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ func TestNewHTTPClientCert(t *testing.T) {
 			KeyFile:  "testdata/client.key",
 		},
 	}
-	c, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	c, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ func TestNewHTTPWithServerName(t *testing.T) {
 			ServerName: "prometheus.rocks",
 		},
 	}
-	c, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	c, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ func TestNewHTTPWithBadServerName(t *testing.T) {
 			ServerName: "badname",
 		},
 	}
-	c, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	c, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ func TestNewClientWithBadTLSConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			KeyFile:  "testdata/nonexistent_client.key",
 		},
 	}
-	_, err := newHTTPClient(cfg)
+	_, err := NewHTTPClient(cfg)
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected error, got nil.")
 	}