diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index acf4e18..ed20a67 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 
+BUILD := gomtree
+CWD := $(shell pwd)
 SOURCE_FILES := $(shell find . -type f -name "*.go")
 
 default: validation build
 
 .PHONY: validation
-validation: test lint vet
+validation: test lint vet .cli.test
 
 .PHONY: test
 test: .test
@@ -24,12 +26,20 @@ vet: .vet
 .vet: $(SOURCE_FILES)
 	go vet ./... && touch $@
 
-.PHONY: build
-build: gomtree
+.PHONY: cli.test
+cli.test: .cli.test
 
-gomtree: $(SOURCE_FILES)
-	go build ./cmd/gomtree
+.cli.test: $(BUILD) $(wildcard ./test/cli/*.sh)
+	@ for test in ./test/cli/*.sh ; do \
+	bash $$test $(CWD) ; \
+	done && touch $@
+
+.PHONY: build
+build: $(BUILD)
+
+$(BUILD): $(SOURCE_FILES)
+	go build ./cmd/$(BUILD)
 
 clean:
-	rm -rf gomtree
+	rm -rf $(BUILD) .test .vet .lint .cli.test
 
diff --git a/test/cli/0001.sh b/test/cli/0001.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5119c1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/0001.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+
+name=$(basename $0)
+root=$1
+gomtree=$(readlink -f ${root}/gomtree)
+t=$(mktemp -d /tmp/go-mtree.XXXXXX)
+
+echo "[${name}] Running in ${t}"
+# This test is for basic running check of manifest, and check against tar and file system
+#
+
+pushd ${root}
+
+git archive --format=tar HEAD^{tree} . > ${t}/${name}.tar
+
+prev_umask=$(umask)
+umask 0 # this is so the tar command can set the mode's properly
+mkdir -p ${t}/extract
+tar -C ${t}/extract/ -xf ${t}/${name}.tar
+umask ${prev_umask}
+
+# create manifest from tar
+${gomtree} -K sha256digest -c -T ${t}/${name}.tar > ${t}/${name}.mtree
+
+# check tar-manifest against the tar
+${gomtree} -f ${t}/${name}.mtree -T ${t}/${name}.tar
+
+# check tar-manifest against the filesystem
+# git archive makes the uid/gid as 0, so don't check them for this test
+${gomtree} -k size,sha256digest,mode,type -f ${t}/${name}.mtree -p ${t}/extract/
+
+# create a manifest from filesystem
+${gomtree} -K sha256digest -c -p ${t}/extract/ > ${t}/${name}.mtree
+
+# check filesystem-manifest against the filesystem
+${gomtree} -f ${t}/${name}.mtree -p ${t}/extract/
+
+# check filesystem-manifest against the tar
+# git archive makes the uid/gid as 0, so don't check them for this test
+${gomtree} -k size,sha256digest,mode,type -f ${t}/${name}.mtree -T ${t}/${name}.tar
+
+popd
+rm -rf ${t}