diff --git a/ci-scripts/tests/cmd.py b/ci-scripts/tests/cmd.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..09503a9ff1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-scripts/tests/cmd.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import sys
+import logging
+logging.basicConfig(
+	level=logging.DEBUG,
+	stream=sys.stdout,
+	format="[%(asctime)s] %(levelname)8s: %(message)s"
+)
+import os
+
+import unittest
+
+sys.path.append('./') # to find OAI imports below
+import cls_cmd
+
+class TestCmd(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_local_cmd(self):
+        with cls_cmd.getConnection("localhost") as cmd:
+            self.assertTrue(isinstance(cmd, cls_cmd.LocalCmd))
+        with cls_cmd.getConnection("None") as cmd:
+            self.assertTrue(isinstance(cmd, cls_cmd.LocalCmd))
+        with cls_cmd.getConnection("none") as cmd:
+            self.assertTrue(isinstance(cmd, cls_cmd.LocalCmd))
+        with cls_cmd.getConnection(None) as cmd:
+            self.assertTrue(isinstance(cmd, cls_cmd.LocalCmd))
+            ret = cmd.run("true")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.args, "true")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.returncode, 0)
+            self.assertEqual(ret.stdout, "")
+            ret = cmd.run("false")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.args, "false")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.returncode, 1)
+            self.assertEqual(ret.stdout, "")
+            ret = cmd.run("echo test")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.args, "echo test")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.returncode, 0)
+            self.assertEqual(ret.stdout, "test")
+
+    @unittest.skip("need to be able to passwordlessly SSH to localhost, also disable stty -ixon")
+    def test_remote_cmd(self):
+        with cls_cmd.getConnection("127.0.0.1") as cmd:
+            self.assertTrue(isinstance(cmd, cls_cmd.RemoteCmd))
+            ret = cmd.run("true")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.args, "true")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.returncode, 0)
+            self.assertEqual(ret.stdout, "")
+            ret = cmd.run("false")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.args, "false")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.returncode, 1)
+            self.assertEqual(ret.stdout, "")
+            ret = cmd.run("echo test")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.args, "echo test")
+            self.assertEqual(ret.returncode, 0)
+            self.assertEqual(ret.stdout, "test")
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+	unittest.main()
diff --git a/ci-scripts/tests/scripts/hello-fail.sh b/ci-scripts/tests/scripts/hello-fail.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..a14d3b9a6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-scripts/tests/scripts/hello-fail.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo $@
+false
diff --git a/ci-scripts/tests/scripts/hello-world.sh b/ci-scripts/tests/scripts/hello-world.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..959918d85a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-scripts/tests/scripts/hello-world.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -x
+echo hello, world