diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/tinyscheme/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/tinyscheme/default.nix
index 7d064432a732..1bdc2ef82f23 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/tinyscheme/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/tinyscheme/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, dos2unix }:
+{ lib
+, stdenv
+, fetchurl
+, dos2unix
+, runCommand
+, tinyscheme
+}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "tinyscheme";
@@ -38,6 +44,28 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     cp scheme $out/bin/tinyscheme
   '';
 
+  passthru.tests = {
+    # Checks that the program can run and exit:
+    simple = runCommand "${pname}-simple-test" {} ''
+      ${tinyscheme}/bin/tinyscheme <<<"(quit 0)"
+      echo "success" > $out
+    '';
+    fileIo = runCommand "${pname}-file-io-test" {} ''
+      ${tinyscheme}/bin/tinyscheme <<EOF
+        (call-with-output-file "$out"
+          (lambda (p)
+            (begin
+                (write "success!" p)
+                (newline p)
+            )))
+      EOF
+    '';
+    helpText = runCommand "${pname}-help-text-test" {} ''
+      ${tinyscheme}/bin/tinyscheme '-?' | tee > $out || :
+      [[ "$(cat $out)" =~ ^Usage: ]]
+    '';
+  };
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Lightweight Scheme implementation";
     longDescription = ''