diff --git a/tests/test_xontribs.py b/tests/test_xontribs.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..921709789
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_xontribs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+"""xontrib tests, such as they are"""
+from xonsh.xontribs import xontrib_metadata
+
+def test_load_xontrib_metadata():
+    # Simply tests that the xontribs JSON files isn't malformed.
+    xontrib_metadata()
\ No newline at end of file