diff --git a/eth/test/bootstrap.sh b/eth/test/bootstrap.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..78114dbe64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/test/bootstrap.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# bootstrap chains - used to regenerate tests/chains/*.chain
+
+mkdir -p chains
+bash ./mine.sh 00 15
+bash ./mine.sh 01 5 00
+bash ./mine.sh 02 5 00
+bash ./mine.sh 03 5 01
+bash ./mine.sh 04 5 01
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/eth/test/chains/00.chain b/eth/test/chains/00.chain
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..b1f53d5398
Binary files /dev/null and b/eth/test/chains/00.chain differ
diff --git a/eth/test/chains/01.chain b/eth/test/chains/01.chain
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1ed47885c1
Binary files /dev/null and b/eth/test/chains/01.chain differ
diff --git a/eth/test/chains/02.chain b/eth/test/chains/02.chain
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..480c8192bb
Binary files /dev/null and b/eth/test/chains/02.chain differ
diff --git a/eth/test/chains/03.chain b/eth/test/chains/03.chain
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..8524881ab3
Binary files /dev/null and b/eth/test/chains/03.chain differ
diff --git a/eth/test/chains/04.chain b/eth/test/chains/04.chain
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..b022c39eda
Binary files /dev/null and b/eth/test/chains/04.chain differ
diff --git a/eth/test/mine.sh b/eth/test/mine.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4871328c89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/test/mine.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# bash ./mine.sh node_id timeout(sec) [basechain]
+ETH="../ethereum -datadir tmp/nodes/$1 -seed=false -port '' -id test$1"
+rm -rf tmp/nodes/$1
+if [[ "" !=  "$3" ]]; then
+  CHAIN="chains/$3.chain"
+  CHAINARG="-chain $CHAIN"
+  echo "import chain '$CHAIN'"
+  $ETH -mine $CHAINARG
+fi
+$ETH -mine &
+PID=$!
+sleep $2
+echo "killing $PID"
+kill $PID
+$ETH <(echo "eth.export(\"chains/$1.chain\")") &
+PID=$!
+sleep 1
+echo "killing $PID"
+kill $PID
diff --git a/eth/test/run.sh b/eth/test/run.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bef8c80bfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/test/run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# bash run.sh (testid0 testid1 ...)
+# runs tests tests/testid0.sh tests/testid1.sh ...
+# without arguments, it runs all tests
+
+if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then
+  for file in tests/*.sh; do
+    i=`basename $file .sh`
+    TESTS="$TESTS $i"
+  done
+else
+  TESTS=$@
+fi
+
+ETH=../../ethereum
+DIR="/tmp/eth.test/nodes"
+TIMEOUT=10
+
+mkdir -p $DIR
+mkdir -p $DIR/js
+
+echo "running tests $TESTS"
+for i in $TESTS; do
+  PIDS=
+  CHAIN="tests/$i.chain"
+  JSFILE="$DIR/$i/js"
+  CHAIN_TEST="$DIR/$i/chain"
+
+  # OUT="$DIR/out"
+  echo "RUN: test $i"
+  . tests/$i.sh
+  sleep $TIMEOUT
+  echo "timeout after $TIMEOUT seconds: killing $PIDS"
+  kill $PIDS
+  if [ -r "$CHAIN" ]; then
+    if diff $CHAIN $CHAIN_TEST >/dev/null ; then
+      echo "chain ok: $CHAIN=$CHAIN_TEST"
+    else
+      echo "FAIL: chains differ: expected $CHAIN ; got $CHAIN_TEST"
+      continue
+    fi
+  fi
+  ERRORS=$DIR/errors
+  if [ -r "$ERRORS" ]; then
+    echo "FAIL: "
+    cat $ERRORS
+  else
+    echo PASS
+  fi
+done
+
+
diff --git a/eth/test/tests/00.chain b/eth/test/tests/00.chain
new file mode 120000
index 0000000000..9655cb3df7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/test/tests/00.chain
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../chains/01.chain
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/eth/test/tests/00.sh b/eth/test/tests/00.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d13acb586
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/test/tests/00.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+. `dirname $BASH_SOURCE`/common.sh
+
+TIMEOUT=4
+ID=00
+JSFILE="$DIR/js/$ID.js"
+
+echo $JSFILE
+cat > $JSFILE <<EOF
+eth.addPeer("localhost:30310");
+var now = new Date().getTime();
+while(new Date().getTime() < now + 2000){}
+eth.export("$CHAIN_TEST");
+EOF
+
+peer 10 01 -loglevel 5
+sleep 1
+peer $ID "" -loglevel 5 $JSFILE
+
diff --git a/eth/test/tests/01.sh b/eth/test/tests/01.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b7293fbf9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/test/tests/01.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+. `dirname $BASH_SOURCE`/common.sh
+
+TIMEOUT=10
+ID=01
+JSFILE="$DIR/js/$ID.js"
+
+echo $JSFILE
+cat > $JSFILE <<EOF
+eth.addPeer("localhost:30311");
+var now = new Date().getTime();
+while(new Date().getTime() < now + 100){}
+eth.addPeer("localhost:30310");
+var now = new Date().getTime();
+while(new Date().getTime() < now + 2000){}
+eth.export("$CHAIN_TEST");
+EOF
+
+peer 10 01 -loglevel 5
+peer 11 02 -loglevel 5
+sleep 1
+peer $ID "" -loglevel 5 $JSFILE
+
diff --git a/eth/test/tests/common.sh b/eth/test/tests/common.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d119533af4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eth/test/tests/common.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# launched by run.sh
+function peer {
+  rm -rf $DIR/$1
+  ARGS="-datadir $DIR/$1 -debug debug -seed=false -id test$1"
+  if [ "" != "$2" ]; then
+    chain="chains/$2.chain"
+    echo "import chain $chain"
+    $ETH $ARGS -loglevel 5 -chain $chain
+    # $ETH $ARGS -loglevel 5 -chain $chain | grep CLI |grep import
+  fi
+  echo "starting test node $1 with extra args ${@:3}"
+  $ETH $ARGS -port 303$1 ${@:3} &
+  PID=$!
+  PIDS="$PIDS $PID"
+}