diff --git a/nixos/tests/hydra.nix b/nixos/tests/hydra.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 6abd7a5ad300..000000000000
--- a/nixos/tests/hydra.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-import ./make-test.nix ({ pkgs, ...} : {
-  name = "hydra-init-localdb";
-  meta = with pkgs.stdenv.lib.maintainers; {
-    maintainers = [ pstn ];
-  };
-
-  machine =
-    { config, pkgs, ... }:
-
-    {
-      services.hydra = {
-        enable = true;
-
-        #Hydra needs those settings to start up, so we add something not harmfull.
-        hydraURL = "example.com";
-        notificationSender = "example@example.com";
-      };
-    };
-
-  testScript =
-    ''
-      # let the system boot up
-      $machine->waitForUnit("multi-user.target");
-      # test whether the database is running
-      $machine->succeed("systemctl status postgresql.service");
-      # test whether the actual hydra daemons are running
-      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-queue-runner.service");
-      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-init.service");
-      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-evaluator.service");
-      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-send-stats.service");
-     '';
-})
diff --git a/nixos/tests/hydra/create-trivial-project.sh b/nixos/tests/hydra/create-trivial-project.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..3cca5665acc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/hydra/create-trivial-project.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# This script creates a project, a jobset with an input of type local
+# path. This local path is a directory that contains a Nix expression
+# to define a job.
+# The EXPR-PATH environment variable must be set with the local path.
+
+set -e
+
+URL=http://localhost:3000
+USERNAME="admin"
+PASSWORD="admin"
+PROJECT_NAME="trivial"
+JOBSET_NAME="trivial"
+EXPR_PATH=${EXPR_PATH:-}
+
+if [ -z $EXPR_PATH ]; then
+   echo "Environment variable EXPR_PATH must be set"
+   exit 1
+fi
+
+mycurl() {
+  curl --referer $URL -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-Type: application/json" $@
+}
+
+cat >data.json <<EOF
+{ "username": "$USERNAME", "password": "$PASSWORD" }
+EOF
+mycurl -X POST -d '@data.json' $URL/login -c hydra-cookie.txt
+
+cat >data.json <<EOF
+{
+  "displayname":"Trivial",
+  "enabled":"1"
+}
+EOF
+mycurl --silent -X PUT $URL/project/$PROJECT_NAME -d @data.json -b hydra-cookie.txt
+
+cat >data.json <<EOF
+{
+  "description": "Trivial",
+  "checkinterval": "60",
+  "enabled": "1",
+  "visible": "1",
+  "keepnr": "1",
+  "nixexprinput": "trivial",
+  "nixexprpath": "trivial.nix",
+  "inputs": {
+    "trivial": {
+      "value": "$EXPR_PATH",
+      "type": "path"
+    }
+  }
+}
+EOF
+mycurl --silent -X PUT $URL/jobset/$PROJECT_NAME/$JOBSET_NAME -d @data.json -b hydra-cookie.txt
diff --git a/nixos/tests/hydra/default.nix b/nixos/tests/hydra/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..74919444c16d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/hydra/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import ../make-test.nix ({ pkgs, ...} :
+
+let
+   trivialJob = pkgs.writeTextDir "trivial.nix" ''
+     with import <nix/config.nix>;
+
+     { trivial = builtins.derivation {
+         name = "trivial";
+         system = "x86_64-linux";
+         PATH = coreutils;
+         builder = shell;
+         args = ["-c" "touch $out; exit 0"];
+       };
+     }
+   '';
+
+    createTrivialProject = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      name = "create-trivial-project";
+      unpackPhase = ":";
+      buildInputs = [ pkgs.makeWrapper ];
+      installPhase = "install -m755 -D ${./create-trivial-project.sh} $out/bin/create-trivial-project.sh";
+      postFixup = ''
+        wrapProgram "$out/bin/create-trivial-project.sh" --prefix PATH ":" ${pkgs.stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [ pkgs.curl ]} --set EXPR_PATH ${trivialJob}
+      '';
+    };
+
+in {
+  name = "hydra-init-localdb";
+  meta = with pkgs.stdenv.lib.maintainers; {
+    maintainers = [ pstn lewo ];
+  };
+
+  machine =
+    { config, pkgs, ... }:
+
+    {
+      virtualisation.memorySize = 1024;
+      time.timeZone = "UTC";
+
+      environment.systemPackages = [ createTrivialProject pkgs.jq ];
+      services.hydra = {
+        enable = true;
+
+        #Hydra needs those settings to start up, so we add something not harmfull.
+        hydraURL = "example.com";
+        notificationSender = "example@example.com";
+      };
+      nix = {
+        buildMachines = [{
+          hostName = "localhost";
+          systems = [ "x86_64-linux" ];
+        }];
+      };
+    };
+
+  testScript =
+    ''
+      # let the system boot up
+      $machine->waitForUnit("multi-user.target");
+      # test whether the database is running
+      $machine->succeed("systemctl status postgresql.service");
+      # test whether the actual hydra daemons are running
+      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-queue-runner.service");
+      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-init.service");
+      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-evaluator.service");
+      $machine->succeed("systemctl status hydra-send-stats.service");
+
+      $machine->succeed("hydra-create-user admin --role admin --password admin");
+
+      # create a project with a trivial job
+      $machine->waitForOpenPort(3000);
+
+      # make sure the build as been successfully built
+      $machine->succeed("create-trivial-project.sh");
+
+      $machine->waitUntilSucceeds('curl -L -s http://localhost:3000/build/1 -H "Accept: application/json" |  jq .buildstatus | xargs test 0 -eq');
+     '';
+})