diff --git a/.classpath b/.classpath
index 16370e936..283c64846 100644
--- a/.classpath
+++ b/.classpath
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <classpath>
 	<classpathentry kind="src" path="src/main/java"/>
+	<classpathentry kind="src" path="tests/src"/>
 	<classpathentry kind="con" path="org.eclipse.jdt.launching.JRE_CONTAINER"/>
 	<classpathentry kind="lib" path="lib/servlet-api-2.5.jar" sourcepath="lib-src/servlet-api-2.5-sources.jar"/>
 	<classpathentry kind="lib" path="lib/jetty-6.1.22.jar" sourcepath="lib-src/jetty-6.1.22-sources.jar"/>
@@ -17,5 +18,6 @@
 	<classpathentry kind="lib" path="lib/poi-3.6.jar"/>
 	<classpathentry kind="lib" path="lib/poi-ooxml-3.6.jar"/>
 	<classpathentry kind="lib" path="lib/apache-tools-tar.jar"/>
+	<classpathentry kind="lib" path="tests/lib/junit-4.8.1.jar" sourcepath="tests/lib-src/junit-4.8.1-sources.jar"/>
 	<classpathentry kind="output" path="build/classes"/>
 </classpath>
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index d9a49fd17..d62e2e118 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@
     <property name="graphics.dir" value="${basedir}/src/graphics" />
     <property name="lib.dir" value="${basedir}/lib" />
     <property name="tools.dir" value="${basedir}/thirdparty" />
+    <property name="tests.dir" value="${basedir}/tests" />
     
     <property name="classes.dir" value="${build.dir}/classes" />
+    <property name="tests_classes.dir" value="${tests.dir}/classes" />
     <property name="bundle.dir" value="${build.dir}/bundle" />
     <property name="exe.dir" value="${build.dir}/exe" />
     
@@ -34,14 +36,28 @@
             <include name="**/*.jar" />
         </fileset>
     </path>
+
+    <path id="tests.class.path">
+        <path refid="class.path"/>
+        <fileset dir="${tests.dir}/lib">
+            <include name="**/*.jar" />
+        </fileset>
+    </path>
             
     <target name="build">
         <mkdir dir="${classes.dir}" />
-        <javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${classes.dir}"  debug="true" includeAntRuntime="no">
+        <javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${classes.dir}" debug="true" includeAntRuntime="no">
             <classpath refid="class.path" />
         </javac>
     </target>
 
+    <target name="build_tests" depends="build">
+        <mkdir dir="${tests_classes.dir}" />
+        <javac srcdir="${tests.dir}/src" destdir="${tests_classes.dir}" debug="true" includeAntRuntime="no">
+            <classpath refid="tests.class.path" />
+        </javac>
+    </target>
+
     <target name="jar" depends="build">
         <jar destfile="${build.dir}/gridworks.jar" basedir="${classes.dir}"/>
     </target>
@@ -137,6 +153,7 @@
     <target name="clean">
         <delete file="${build.dir}/gridworks.jar" />
         <delete dir="${classes.dir}" />
+        <delete dir="${tests_classes.dir}" />
     </target>
 
     <target name="distclean">
diff --git a/gridworks b/gridworks
index 009a209f9..800a89990 100755
--- a/gridworks
+++ b/gridworks
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ and <action> is one of
 
    build ..................... Build Gridworks      
    run ....................... Run Gridworks
+
+   test ...................... Test Gridworks      
    
    make_dmg <version> ........ Make MacOSX DMG distribution
    make_exe <version> ........ Make Windows EXE distribution
@@ -205,6 +207,30 @@ make_dmg() {
     rm -f "$GRIDWORKS_BUILD_DIR/temp_gridworks.dmg"
 }
 
+test() {
+    if [ ! -d $GRIDWORKS_TEST_DIR/classes ] ; then
+        ant build_tests
+        echo ""
+    fi
+    
+    CLASSPATH="$GRIDWORKS_BUILD_DIR/classes:$GRIDWORKS_TEST_DIR/classes:$GRIDWORKS_TEST_DIR/lib/*:$GRIDWORKS_LIB_DIR/*"
+
+    if [ "$1" == "" ] ; then
+        cd $GRIDWORKS_TEST_DIR/classes
+        TESTS=`find . -name '*.class' | sed s@/@.@g | sed s@.class@@ | sed s@..@@`
+        cd ../..
+    else 
+        TESTS=$1
+    fi
+    
+    RUN_CMD="$JAVA -cp $CLASSPATH $OPTS org.junit.runner.JUnitCore $TESTS"
+    
+    echo "$RUN_CMD"
+    echo ""
+    
+    exec $RUN_CMD
+}
+
 run() {
     if [ ! -d $GRIDWORKS_BUILD_DIR/classes ] ; then
         ant build
@@ -279,7 +305,7 @@ ACTION=$1; shift
 # ----- Verify and Set Required Environment Variables -------------------------
 
 if [ "$JAVA_OPTIONS" == "" ] ; then
-  JAVA_OPTIONS="-Xms256M -Xmx1024M -XX:+UseLargePages -XX:+UseParallelGC"
+  JAVA_OPTIONS="-Xms256M -Xmx1024M -XX:+UseParallelGC"
 fi
 add_option "$JAVA_OPTIONS"
 
@@ -298,6 +324,10 @@ if [ "$GRIDWORKS_WEBAPP" == "" ] ; then
 fi
 add_option "-Dgridworks.webapp=$GRIDWORKS_WEBAPP"
 
+if [ "$GRIDWORKS_TEST_DIR" == "" ] ; then
+    GRIDWORKS_TEST_DIR="tests"
+fi
+
 if [ "$GRIDWORKS_BUILD_DIR" == "" ] ; then
     GRIDWORKS_BUILD_DIR="build"
 fi
@@ -326,6 +356,9 @@ case "$ACTION" in
   distclean)
     ant distclean;;
 
+  test) 
+    test $1;;  
+
   run) 
     run;;  
     
diff --git a/tests/lib-src/junit-4.8.1-sources.jar b/tests/lib-src/junit-4.8.1-sources.jar
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d7a34703
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/lib-src/junit-4.8.1-sources.jar differ
diff --git a/tests/src/com/metaweb/gridworks/tests/GridworksTests.java b/tests/src/com/metaweb/gridworks/tests/GridworksTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc362720f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/src/com/metaweb/gridworks/tests/GridworksTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package com.metaweb.gridworks.tests;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class GridworksTests {
+
+    @Test public void test() {
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file