diff --git a/t/.env b/t/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1474cc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Password for the 'elastic' user (at least 6 characters)
+ELASTIC_PASSWORD=tuscador1
+
+# Version of Elastic products
+STACK_VERSION=9.4.2
+
+# Set the cluster name
+CLUSTER_NAME=domdoc
+
+# Set to 'basic' or 'trial' to automatically start the 30-day trial
+LICENSE=basic
+#LICENSE=trial
+
+# Port to expose Elasticsearch HTTP API to the host
+ES_PORT=9200
+#ES_PORT=127.0.0.1:9200
+
+# Increase or decrease based on the available host memory (in bytes)
+MEM_LIMIT=1073741824
diff --git a/t/Makefile b/t/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dadf3a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+.PHONY: test clean cluster docs search up down delete
+
+# docker stuff
+up:
+	@echo "booting up docker containers"
+	docker compose up -d --remove-orphans
+
+waitup:
+	@echo "wait til es cluster is up and running"
+	mosscap msc-actions.yaml msc-docker.yaml -n -t 300
+
+down:
+	@echo "shutting down docker containers"
+	docker compose down
+
+delete:
+	@echo "delete docker volumes"
+	docker volume rm t_certs t_esdata01 t_esdata02 t_esdata03
+
+clean-docker: down delete
+
+
+# mosscap esctl stuff
+test: up waitup cluster docs search
+
+cluster:
+	@echo "setting up elastisearch cluster"
+	mosscap msc-actions.yaml msc-cluster.yaml -n
+
+docs:
+	@echo "put some docs"
+	mosscap msc-actions.yaml msc-docs.yaml -n -c 1000 -p 100
+
+search:
+	@echo "make some searches"
+	mosscap msc-actions.yaml msc-search.yaml -n
+
+clean:
+	@echo "cleaning up cluster"
+	mosscap msc-actions.yaml msc-clean.yaml -n
+	rm -f *.state debug.log
+
+
diff --git a/t/README.md b/t/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20d8d31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# Testing
+
+Building regular unit tests would require to create a mock
+elasticsearch cluster, which is too much a chrore for a one man
+show. Running a regular elasticsearch cluster on Codeberg CI is not
+economically reasonable.
+
+Therefore I run tests manually. Here's how.
+
+# Dependencies
+
+The following is required:
+
+- linux, any distro will do
+- docker in a decent version
+- [mosscap](https://codeberg.org/scip/mosscap)
+
+# Docker
+
+There's a ready to use docker compose file, which fires up an
+elasticsearch cluster with 3 nodes. To start it manually just execute
+`make up`.
+
+When it's up and running it should look like this:
+
+```console
+NAMES     STATUS                   PORTS
+t-es03-1  Up 16 minutes (healthy)  9200/tcp, 9300/tcp
+t-es02-1  Up 16 minutes (healthy)  9200/tcp, 9300/tcp
+t-es01-1  Up 16 minutes (healthy)  0.0.0.0:9200->9200/tcp, [::]:9200->9200/tcp, 9300/tcp
+```
+
+There's an esctl config file `cluster.yaml`, which you can use to
+access that elasticsearch cluster, e.g.:
+
+```console
+esctl -c cluster.yaml cluster status 
+DOCKER/DOMDOC              STATUS
+Cluster Name               domdoc
+ES Status                  green
+ES Version                 9.4.2
+Is Leader                  false
+Active Shards              8
+Active Primary Shards      4
+Unassigned Shards          0
+Unassigned Primary Shards  0
+Pending Tasks              0
+Nodes                      3
+Red Indices                0
+Long Running Tasks         0
+```
+
+# Automated Tests
+
+To execute the automated tests, just execute `make test`. This boots
+up the elasticsearch containers, waits until they are up and running,
+creates data on it and queries it.
+
+# Cleanup
+
+To just clean up the elasticsearch cluster run `make clean`.
+
+To remove everything, run `make clean-docker`.
+
+# Reference
+
+## Mosscap configs
+
+| CONFIG           | DESCRIPTION                                                          |
+|------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| msc-actions.yaml | contains all actions, used by all item configs                       |
+| msc-docker.yaml  | single item: used to wait until elasticsearch containers are healthy |
+| msc-cluster.yaml | single item: create indices etc                                      |
+| msc-docs.yaml    | generator items: put docs into the index                             |
+| msc-search.yaml  | single item: do some searches                                        |
+| msc-clean.yaml   | single item: clean up the elasticsearch cluster                      |
diff --git a/t/cluster.yaml b/t/cluster.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b7bcad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/cluster.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# esctl config
+clusters:
+    docker/domdoc:
+        uri: https://elastic:9200
+        user: elastic
+        pass: tuscador1
+        token: ""
+        default: false
diff --git a/t/docker-compose.yaml b/t/docker-compose.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ab497c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+services:
+  setup:
+    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
+    volumes:
+      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
+    user: "0"
+    command: >
+      bash -c '
+        if [ x${ELASTIC_PASSWORD} == x ]; then
+          echo "Set the ELASTIC_PASSWORD environment variable in the .env file";
+          exit 1;
+        fi;
+        if [ ! -f config/certs/ca.zip ]; then
+          echo "Creating CA";
+          bin/elasticsearch-certutil ca --silent --pem -out config/certs/ca.zip;
+          unzip config/certs/ca.zip -d config/certs;
+        fi;
+        if [ ! -f config/certs/certs.zip ]; then
+          echo "Creating certs";
+          echo -ne \
+          "instances:\n"\
+          "  - name: es01\n"\
+          "    dns:\n"\
+          "      - es01\n"\
+          "      - localhost\n"\
+          "    ip:\n"\
+          "      - 127.0.0.1\n"\
+          "  - name: es02\n"\
+          "    dns:\n"\
+          "      - es02\n"\
+          "      - localhost\n"\
+          "    ip:\n"\
+          "      - 127.0.0.1\n"\
+          "  - name: es03\n"\
+          "    dns:\n"\
+          "      - es03\n"\
+          "      - localhost\n"\
+          "    ip:\n"\
+          "      - 127.0.0.1\n"\
+          > config/certs/instances.yml;
+          bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --silent --pem -out config/certs/certs.zip --in config/certs/instances.yml --ca-cert config/certs/ca/ca.crt --ca-key config/certs/ca/ca.key;
+          unzip config/certs/certs.zip -d config/certs;
+        fi;
+        echo "Setting file permissions"
+        chown -R root:root config/certs;
+        find . -type d -exec chmod 750 \{\} \;;
+        find . -type f -exec chmod 640 \{\} \;;
+        echo "Waiting for Elasticsearch availability";
+        until curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://es01:9200 | grep -q "missing authentication credentials"; do sleep 30; done;
+        echo "All done!";
+      '
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "[ -f config/certs/es01/es01.crt ]"]
+      interval: 1s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 120
+
+  es01:
+    depends_on:
+      setup:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
+    volumes:
+      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
+      - esdata01:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
+    ports:
+      - ${ES_PORT}:9200
+    environment:
+      - node.name=es01
+      - cluster.name=${CLUSTER_NAME}
+      - cluster.initial_master_nodes=es01
+      - discovery.seed_hosts=es02
+      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=${ELASTIC_PASSWORD}
+      - bootstrap.memory_lock=true
+      - xpack.security.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.key=certs/es01/es01.key
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate=certs/es01/es01.crt
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.key=certs/es01/es01.key
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate=certs/es01/es01.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
+      - xpack.license.self_generated.type=${LICENSE}
+      - xpack.ml.use_auto_machine_memory_percent=true
+      - node_roles=data_content
+      - xpack.searchable.snapshot.shared_cache.size="1gb"
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled=false
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.low="2gb"
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.high="1gb"
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.flood_stage="500mb"
+    mem_limit: ${MEM_LIMIT}
+    ulimits:
+      memlock:
+        soft: -1
+        hard: -1
+    healthcheck:
+      test:
+        [
+          "CMD-SHELL",
+          "curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://localhost:9200 | grep -q 'missing authentication credentials'",
+        ]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 120
+
+  es02:
+    depends_on:
+      - es01
+    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
+    volumes:
+      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
+      - esdata02:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
+    environment:
+      - node.name=es02
+      - cluster.name=${CLUSTER_NAME}
+      - cluster.initial_master_nodes=es01,es02
+      - discovery.seed_hosts=es01
+      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=${ELASTIC_PASSWORD}
+      - bootstrap.memory_lock=true
+      - xpack.security.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.key=certs/es02/es02.key
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate=certs/es02/es02.crt
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.key=certs/es02/es02.key
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate=certs/es02/es02.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
+      - xpack.license.self_generated.type=${LICENSE}
+      - xpack.ml.use_auto_machine_memory_percent=true
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled=false
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.low="2gb"
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.high="1gb"
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.flood_stage="500mb"
+    mem_limit: ${MEM_LIMIT}
+    ulimits:
+      memlock:
+        soft: -1
+        hard: -1
+    healthcheck:
+      test:
+        [
+          "CMD-SHELL",
+          "curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://localhost:9200 | grep -q 'missing authentication credentials'",
+        ]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 120
+
+
+  es03:
+    depends_on:
+      - es01
+    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
+    volumes:
+      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
+      - esdata03:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
+    environment:
+      - node.name=es03
+      - cluster.name=${CLUSTER_NAME}
+      - cluster.initial_master_nodes=es01,es03
+      - discovery.seed_hosts=es01
+      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=${ELASTIC_PASSWORD}
+      - bootstrap.memory_lock=true
+      - xpack.security.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.key=certs/es03/es03.key
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate=certs/es03/es03.crt
+      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled=true
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.key=certs/es03/es03.key
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate=certs/es03/es03.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
+      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
+      - xpack.license.self_generated.type=${LICENSE}
+      - xpack.ml.use_auto_machine_memory_percent=true
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled=false
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.low="2gb"
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.high="1gb"
+      - cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.flood_stage="500mb"
+    mem_limit: ${MEM_LIMIT}
+    ulimits:
+      memlock:
+        soft: -1
+        hard: -1
+    healthcheck:
+      test:
+        [
+          "CMD-SHELL",
+          "curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://localhost:9200 | grep -q 'missing authentication credentials'",
+        ]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 120
+      
+volumes:
+  certs:
+    driver: local
+  esdata01:
+    driver: local
+  esdata02:
+    driver: local
+  esdata03:
+    driver: local
diff --git a/t/msc-actions.yaml b/t/msc-actions.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ffbdab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/msc-actions.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#
+# this is a mosscap action file, see: https://codeberg.org/scip/mosscap
+vars:
+  esctl: ../esctl -c cluster.yaml
+
+actions:
+  wait: |
+    sleep [[.time]]
+
+  docker_wait: |
+    for i in {1..20}; do
+      count=$(docker ps | grep healthy | wc -l)
+      if test $count -eq 3; then
+        echo "all containers are healthy"
+        exit
+      fi
+      sleep 5s
+    done
+
+    echo "not all containers are healthy"
+    docker ps
+    
+  cluster_ls: |
+    [[.esctl]] cluster ls | grep -E domdoc.*reachable.*yes
+  
+  cluster_status: |
+    [[.esctl]] cluster status | grep green
+
+  create_index_template: |
+    [[.esctl]] index template create [[.index]] -i [[.index]] \
+      -s number_of_shards:3 \
+      -s index.sort.field:@timestamp \
+      -r 1m \
+      user:keyword message:text @timestamp:date
+    
+  create_index: |
+    [[.esctl]] index create -s 2 -r 2 [[.index]]
+
+  describe_index: |
+    [[.esctl]] index show [[.index]] | grep -E "fields.*@timestamp"
+
+  index_ls: |
+    [[.esctl]] index ls | grep [[.index]]
+
+  index_template_rm: |
+    [[.esctl]] index template rm [[.index]]
+    
+  index_rm: |
+    [[.esctl]] index rm [[.index]]
+
+  timestamp: |
+    date --iso-8601=second
+
+  date: |
+    date +%Y-%m-%d
+    
+  doc_add: |
+    [[.esctl]] doc add -i [[.index]] '{"user": "[[.user]]", "message":"[[.message]]", "@timestamp":"[[.ts]]"}'
+    
+  search: |
+    [[.esctl]] search -i [[.index]] -l 1 | jq .source.message
+
+  search_date: |
+    [[.esctl]] search -i [[.index]] -l 1 | jq '.source."@timestamp"' | grep [[.today]]
+
+  search_count: |
+    [[.esctl]] search -i [[.index]] -l 5000 | wc -l | grep 1000
+    
diff --git a/t/msc-clean.yaml b/t/msc-clean.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a7c5ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/msc-clean.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#
+# this is a mosscap item file, see: https://codeberg.org/scip/mosscap
+items:
+  - name: docker/domdoc
+
+vars:
+  index: test
+
+tasks:
+  - name: delete_index
+    action: index_rm
+
+  - name: delete_template
+    action: index_template_rm
diff --git a/t/msc-cluster.yaml b/t/msc-cluster.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20e347d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/msc-cluster.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#
+# this is a mosscap item file, see: https://codeberg.org/scip/mosscap
+statefile: cluster.state
+
+items:
+  - name: docker/domdoc
+
+vars:
+  index: test
+
+tasks:
+  - name: ls
+    action: cluster_ls
+    
+  - name: status
+    action: cluster_status
+
+  - name: template
+    action: create_index_template
+    
+  - name: index
+    action: create_index
+
+  - name: indexls
+    action: index_ls
+
+  - name: describe
+    action: describe_index
diff --git a/t/msc-docker.yaml b/t/msc-docker.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49f0bd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/msc-docker.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#
+# this is a mosscap item file, see: https://codeberg.org/scip/mosscap
+items:
+  - name: docker/domdoc
+
+vars:
+  index: test
+  time: 5s
+
+tasks:
+  - name: wait
+    action: docker_wait
diff --git a/t/msc-docs.yaml b/t/msc-docs.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cf3c6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/msc-docs.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#
+# this is a mosscap generator item file, see: https://codeberg.org/scip/mosscap
+vars:
+  index: test
+
+tasks:
+  - name: ts
+    action: timestamp
+
+  - name: add
+    action: doc_add
+    args:
+      ts: ts.result
+  
+generate:
+  user: $name
+  message: "$rand $rand $rand"
+  
diff --git a/t/msc-search.yaml b/t/msc-search.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7835ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/msc-search.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#
+# this is a mosscap item file, see: https://codeberg.org/scip/mosscap
+items:
+  - name: docker/domdoc
+
+vars:
+  index: test
+  time: 5s
+
+tasks:
+  - name: today
+    action: date
+
+  - name: search
+    action: search
+
+  - name: date
+    action: search_date
+    args:
+      today: today.result
+
+  - name: wait
+    action: wait
+      
+  - name: count
+    action: search_count