diff --git a/src/IDF/Tests/TestMonotone.php b/src/IDF/Tests/TestMonotone.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8071cc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/IDF/Tests/TestMonotone.php
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+<?php
+/* -*- tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 4 -*- */
+/*
+# ***** BEGIN LICENSE BLOCK *****
+# This file is part of InDefero, an open source project management application.
+# Copyright (C) 2010 Céondo Ltd and contributors.
+#
+# InDefero is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# InDefero is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
+#
+# ***** END LICENSE BLOCK ***** */
+
+require_once("simpletest/autorun.php");
+
+/**
+ * Test the monotone class.
+ */
+class IDF_Tests_TestMonotone extends UnitTestCase
+{
+    private $tmpdir, $dbfile;
+
+    private function mtnCall($args, $stdin = null, $dir = null)
+    {
+        $cmdline = array("mtn",
+                        "--confdir", $this->tmpdir,
+                        "--db", $this->dbfile,
+                        "--norc",
+                        "--timestamps");
+
+        $cmdline = array_merge($cmdline, $args);
+
+        $descriptorspec = array(
+           0 => array("pipe", "r"),
+           1 => array("pipe", "w"),
+           2 => array("file", "{$this->tmpdir}/mtn-errors", "a")
+        );
+
+        $pipes = array();
+        $process = proc_open(implode(" ", $cmdline),
+                             $descriptorspec,
+                             $pipes,
+                             empty($dir) ? $this->tmpdir : $dir);
+
+        if (!is_resource($process))
+        {
+            throw new Exception("could not create process");
+        }
+
+        if (!empty($stdin))
+        {
+            fwrite($pipes[0], $stdin);
+            fclose($pipes[0]);
+        }
+
+        $stdout = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);
+        fclose($pipes[1]);
+
+        $ret = proc_close($process);
+        if ($ret != 0)
+        {
+            throw new Exception(
+                "call ended with a non-zero error code (complete cmdline was: ".
+                implode(" ", $cmdline).")"
+            );
+        }
+
+        return $stdout;
+    }
+
+    public function __construct()
+    {
+        parent::__construct("Test the monotone class.");
+
+        $this->tmpdir = sys_get_temp_dir() . "/mtn-test";
+        echo "test root is {$this->tmpdir}\n";
+        $this->dbfile = "{$this->tmpdir}/test.mtn";
+    }
+
+    private static function deleteRecursive($dirname)
+    {
+        if (is_dir($dirname))
+            $dir_handle=opendir($dirname);
+
+        while ($file = readdir($dir_handle))
+        {
+            if ($file!="." && $file!="..")
+            {
+                if (!is_dir($dirname."/".$file))
+                {
+                    unlink ($dirname."/".$file);
+                    continue;
+                }
+                self::deleteRecursive($dirname."/".$file);
+            }
+        }
+
+        closedir($dir_handle);
+        rmdir($dirname);
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    public function setUp()
+    {
+        if (is_dir($this->tmpdir))
+        {
+            self::deleteRecursive($this->tmpdir);
+        }
+
+        mkdir($this->tmpdir);
+
+        $this->mtnCall(array("db", "init"));
+
+        $this->mtnCall(array("genkey", "test@test.de"), "\n\n");
+
+        $workspaceRoot = "{$this->tmpdir}/test-workspace";
+        mkdir($workspaceRoot);
+
+        $this->mtnCall(array("setup", "-b", "testbranch", "blafoo"), null, $workspaceRoot);
+
+        file_put_contents("$workspaceRoot/foo", "blafoo");
+        $this->mtnCall(array("add", "foo"), null, $workspaceRoot);
+
+        $this->mtnCall(array("commit", "-m", "initial"), null, $workspaceRoot);
+
+        file_put_contents("$workspaceRoot/foo", "bla");
+
+        file_put_contents("$workspaceRoot/bar", "blafoo");
+        $this->mtnCall(array("add", "bar"), null, $workspaceRoot);
+
+        $this->mtnCall(array("commit", "-m", "second"), null, $workspaceRoot);
+    }
+
+    public function testBranches()
+    {
+        $this->assertTrue(false);
+    }
+}