diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 7b30f68f..2251f40b 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ foreach w : warns
 	endif
 endforeach
 
+test_h_dep = subproject('test.h').get_variable('test_h_dep')
+
 subdir('src')
 subdir('man')
 
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 95292d17..a999bf75 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ option('xrescheck', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Enable X resour
 option('build_docs', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Build documentation and man pages')
 
 option('modularize', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Build with clang\'s module system')
+
+option('unittest', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Enable unittests in the code')
diff --git a/src/compton.c b/src/compton.c
index 2263ffbd..16a7966c 100644
--- a/src/compton.c
+++ b/src/compton.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <xcb/sync.h>
 #include <xcb/xfixes.h>
 
+#include <test.h>
 #include <ev.h>
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 2dec9dba..44b34173 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -62,8 +62,16 @@ if get_option('xrescheck')
 	srcs += [ 'xrescheck.c' ]
 endif
 
+if get_option('unittest')
+	cflags += ['-DUNIT_TEST']
+endif
+
 subdir('backend')
 
-executable('compton', srcs, c_args: cflags,
-  dependencies: [ base_deps, deps ],
+compton = executable('compton', srcs, c_args: cflags,
+  dependencies: [ base_deps, deps, test_h_dep ],
   install: true, include_directories: compton_inc)
+
+if get_option('unittest')
+	test('compton unittest', compton, args: [ '--unittest' ])
+endif
diff --git a/src/string_utils.c b/src/string_utils.c
index 38eb92d8..65af0f20 100644
--- a/src/string_utils.c
+++ b/src/string_utils.c
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 
 #include <string.h>
 
+#include <test.h>
+
 #include "compiler.h"
 #include "string_utils.h"
 #include "utils.h"
@@ -33,6 +35,20 @@ char *mstrjoin(const char *src1, const char *src2) {
 	return str;
 }
 
+TEST_CASE(mstrjoin) {
+	char *str = mstrjoin("asdf", "qwer");
+	TEST_STREQUAL(str, "asdfqwer");
+	free(str);
+
+	str = mstrjoin("", "qwer");
+	TEST_STREQUAL(str, "qwer");
+	free(str);
+
+	str = mstrjoin("asdf", "");
+	TEST_STREQUAL(str, "asdf");
+	free(str);
+}
+
 /**
  * Concatenate a string on heap with another string.
  */
@@ -51,6 +67,19 @@ void mstrextend(char **psrc1, const char *src2) {
 	(*psrc1)[len - 1] = '\0';
 }
 
+TEST_CASE(mstrextend) {
+	char *str1 = NULL;
+	mstrextend(&str1, "asdf");
+	TEST_STREQUAL(str1, "asdf");
+
+	mstrextend(&str1, "asd");
+	TEST_STREQUAL(str1, "asdfasd");
+
+	mstrextend(&str1, "");
+	TEST_STREQUAL(str1, "asdfasd");
+	free(str1);
+}
+
 #pragma GCC diagnostic pop
 
 /// Parse a floating point number of form (+|-)?[0-9]*(\.[0-9]*)
@@ -83,3 +112,18 @@ double strtod_simple(const char *src, const char **end) {
 	*end = src;
 	return ret * neg;
 }
+
+TEST_CASE(strtod_simple) {
+	const char *end;
+	double result = strtod_simple("1.0", &end);
+	TEST_EQUAL(result, 1);
+	TEST_EQUAL(*end, '\0');
+
+	result = strtod_simple("-1.0", &end);
+	TEST_EQUAL(result, -1);
+	TEST_EQUAL(*end, '\0');
+
+	result = strtod_simple("+.5", &end);
+	TEST_EQUAL(result, 0.5);
+	TEST_EQUAL(*end, '\0');
+}