diff --git a/init.sh b/init.sh
index 98a011b..7e098e7 100755
--- a/init.sh
+++ b/init.sh
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ git remote remove origin
 
 # remove this script from the project (but keep on disk for now)
 git rm --cached init.sh
+git rm -r skel-test
 
 # escape HTML special characters (&, <, and >), but also sed special characters (& again, \, and /)
 htmlname=$(echo -n "$name" | sed 's/&/\&amp;/g;  s/</\&lt;/g;  s/>/\&gt;/g;  s:[\\/&]:\\&:g')
diff --git a/skel-test/README.md b/skel-test/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c0d80e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skel-test/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Self-tests
+
+This directory contains self-tests for the skeleton itself. It should be removed when starting a new project.
diff --git a/skel-test/cargo.sh b/skel-test/cargo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4c0e2cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skel-test/cargo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -E
+
+exec cargo check
diff --git a/skel-test/cmake.sh b/skel-test/cmake.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6d2b548
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skel-test/cmake.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -x
+set -E
+
+mkdir build
+cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
+ninja -C build
diff --git a/skel-test/test-nogit.sh b/skel-test/test-nogit.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1aa4a74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skel-test/test-nogit.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/bin/zsh
+
+set -e
+trap 'echo Test failed!' ERR
+name='<Test/+> "Example"'
+dir=${0%/*}
+root=$dir/..
+tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+trap 'rm -rf $tmp' EXIT
+rsync -a --exclude=/.git --exclude-from=$root/.gitignore $root/. $tmp/
+cd $tmp
+echo "Initializing in $tmp"
+./init.sh $name
+echo "Starting the shell in $tmp"
+echo "Review the files, then exit the shell"
+${SHELL:-/bin/sh} -i
+echo "Review successful, cleaning up"
diff --git a/skel-test/test-tar.sh b/skel-test/test-tar.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8c60732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skel-test/test-tar.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/zsh
+
+set -e
+trap 'echo Test failed!' ERR
+name='<Test/+> "Example"'
+root=$(realpath ${0%/*}/..)
+tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+trap 'rm -rf $tmp' EXIT
+cd $tmp
+git -C $root archive HEAD | tar -x
+echo "Initializing in $tmp"
+./init.sh $name
+echo "Starting the shell in $tmp"
+echo "Review the files, then exit the shell"
+${SHELL:-/bin/sh} -i
+echo "Review successful, cleaning up"
diff --git a/skel-test/test.sh b/skel-test/test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f80950f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skel-test/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/zsh
+
+set -e
+trap 'echo Test failed!' ERR
+name='<Test/+> "Example"'
+dir=${0%/*}
+root=$dir/..
+tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+trap 'rm -rf $tmp' EXIT
+rsync -a --exclude-from=$root/.gitignore $root/. $tmp/
+cd $tmp
+git clean -fxdq
+echo "Initializing in $tmp"
+./init.sh $name
+echo "Starting the shell in $tmp"
+echo "Review the files, then exit the shell"
+${SHELL:-/bin/sh} -i
+echo "Review successful, cleaning up"