diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4a268da39..ace9dc100 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -37,3 +37,6 @@ cscope.out
 # CLion
 /.idea
 lcov
+
+# python compiled files
+*.pyc
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 47c18dabf..508112c09 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -93,3 +93,4 @@ script:
   - cmake ..
   - make -j
   - make check
+  - cd ../test && python -m unittest discover
diff --git a/test/integration/__init__.py b/test/integration/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/test/integration/base.py b/test/integration/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..05261445a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import unittest
+
+from .pelikan_client import PelikanClient
+from .pelikan_server import PelikanServer
+
+SERVER_PORT = 12345
+ADMIN_PORT = 12346
+
+
+class PelikanTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    reserved_ports = set()
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.server = self.getServer(
+            server_port=SERVER_PORT,
+            admin_port=ADMIN_PORT
+        )
+        self.client = PelikanClient(
+            server_port=SERVER_PORT,
+            admin_port=ADMIN_PORT
+        )
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self.server.stop()
+
+    def assertRead(self, expected):
+        read = self.client.read(len(expected))
+        self.assertEqual(expected, read)
+
+
+    def assertMetrics(self, *args):
+        stats = self.client.getStats()
+        for (k, v) in args:
+            self.assertEqual(
+                stats.get(k, None),
+                str(v),
+                'Expected {} to be {}, got {} instead'.format(
+                    k,
+                    v,
+                    stats.get(k, None),
+                )
+            )
+
+
+class TwemcacheTest(PelikanTest):
+    def getServer(self, **kwargs):
+        server = PelikanServer('pelikan_twemcache')
+        server.start(**kwargs)
+        server.wait_ready()
+        return server
diff --git a/test/integration/pelikan_client.py b/test/integration/pelikan_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e70ecd54e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/pelikan_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import errno
+import socket
+
+
+class PelikanClient(object):
+    def __init__(self, server_port, admin_port):
+        self.client = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+        self.client.connect(('localhost', server_port))
+        self.admin = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+        self.admin.connect(('localhost', admin_port))
+
+    def getStats(self):
+        self.admin.sendall('stats\r\n')
+        data = ''
+        self.admin.setblocking(False)
+        while True:
+            try:
+                data += self.admin.recv(1024)
+            except socket.error, e:
+                err = e.args[0]
+                if err == errno.EAGAIN or err == errno.EWOULDBLOCK:
+                    if len(data) == 0:
+                        continue
+                    else:
+                        break
+                else:
+                    raise
+        self.admin.setblocking(True)
+        # this NULL is kinda unexpected for me
+        if data[-6:] != 'END\r\n\0':
+            raise Exception('Invalid data while fetching stats: {}'.format(data))
+        return dict(line.split(' ')[1:] for line in data[:-6].strip().split('\r\n'))
+
+    def read(self, length):
+        return self.client.recv(length)
+
+    def write(self, data):
+        self.client.sendall(data)
diff --git a/test/integration/pelikan_server.py b/test/integration/pelikan_server.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..66b65adcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/pelikan_server.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import os
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+
+
+class PelikanServer(object):
+    @staticmethod
+    def default_path():
+        return os.path.realpath(os.path.join(
+            os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),
+            '../../_build/_bin'
+        ))
+
+    def __init__(self, executable):
+        self.executable = executable
+
+    def start(self, **kwargs):
+        self.config_file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
+        self.config_file.write('\n'.join(('{}: {}'.format(k, v) for (k, v) in kwargs.items())))
+        self.config_file.flush()
+
+        executable = os.path.join(
+            os.getenv('PELIKAN_BIN_PATH', PelikanServer.default_path()),
+            self.executable
+        )
+        self.server = subprocess.Popen((executable, self.config_file.name),
+            stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+            stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+        )
+
+    def wait_ready(self):
+        # wait for the port to be listening; no great "ready" output present
+        # but it lists all configs, so this must exist
+        while 'name: server_port' not in self.server.stdout.readline():
+            pass
+
+    def stop(self):
+        self.server.kill()
diff --git a/test/integration/test_twemcache_basic.py b/test/integration/test_twemcache_basic.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2d3b6c15e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/test_twemcache_basic.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+from .base import TwemcacheTest
+
+class TwemcacheBasicTest(TwemcacheTest):
+    def test_miss(self):
+        self.client.write('get foo\r\n')
+        self.assertRead('END')
+        self.assertMetrics(('request_parse', 1), ('get', 1), ('get_key_miss', 1))