diff --git a/swh/lister/core/lister_base.py b/swh/lister/core/lister_base.py
--- a/swh/lister/core/lister_base.py
+++ b/swh/lister/core/lister_base.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2015-2018 the Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2015-2019 the Software Heritage developers
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine, func
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
-from typing import Any, Type, Union
+from typing import Any, Sequence, Type, Union
 
 from swh.core import config
 from swh.scheduler import get_scheduler, utils
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@
     )  # type: Union[AbstractAttribute, Type[Any]]
     LISTER_NAME = AbstractAttribute(
         "Lister's name")  # type: Union[AbstractAttribute, str]
+    # Lister's output scheduler task types (default to empty)
+    SCHEDULED_TASK_TYPES: Sequence[str] = []
 
     def transport_request(self, identifier):
         """Given a target endpoint identifier to query, try once to request it.
@@ -257,6 +259,24 @@
         self.mk_session = sessionmaker(bind=self.db_engine)
         self.db_session = self.mk_session()
 
+    def checks(self):
+        """Basic checks on lister configuration.
+
+        This checks the expected output task types exist in the scheduler. If
+        it does not, this raises a ValueError.
+
+        """
+        missing_types = []
+        for task_type in self.SCHEDULED_TASK_TYPES:
+            ok = self.scheduler.get_task_type(task_type)
+            if not ok:
+                missing_types.append(task_type)
+
+        if missing_types:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Misconfigured lister: Missing %s type in scheduler" % (
+                    ','.join(missing_types)))
+
     def reset_backoff(self):
         """Reset exponential backoff timeout to initial level."""
         self.backoff = self.INITIAL_BACKOFF
diff --git a/swh/lister/debian/lister.py b/swh/lister/debian/lister.py
--- a/swh/lister/debian/lister.py
+++ b/swh/lister/debian/lister.py
@@ -34,10 +34,14 @@
 
 
 class DebianLister(ListerHttpTransport, ListerBase):
+    """Debian distribution Lister.
+
+    """
     MODEL = Package
     PATH_TEMPLATE = None
     LISTER_NAME = 'debian'
     instance = 'debian'
+    SCHEDULED_TASK_TYPES = ['load-deb-package']
 
     def __init__(self, distribution: str = 'Debian',
                  date: Optional[datetime.datetime] = None,
@@ -51,6 +55,9 @@
             override_config: Override configuration (which takes precedence
                over the parameters if provided)
 
+        Output:
+            scheduler tasks of type 'load-deb-package'
+
         """
         ListerHttpTransport.__init__(self, url="notused")
         ListerBase.__init__(self, override_config=override_config)
diff --git a/swh/lister/debian/tests/conftest.py b/swh/lister/debian/tests/conftest.py
--- a/swh/lister/debian/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/swh/lister/debian/tests/conftest.py
@@ -14,11 +14,15 @@
 def lister_debian(swh_listers):
     lister = swh_listers['debian']
 
-    # Initialize the debian data model
+    # Initialize debian data model
     debian_init(lister.db_engine,
                 distributions=['stretch'],
                 area_names=['main', 'contrib'])
 
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError,
+                       match='Misconfigured lister'):
+        lister.checks()
+
     # Add the load-deb-package in the scheduler backend
     lister.scheduler.create_task_type({
         'type': 'load-deb-package',
@@ -27,4 +31,7 @@
         'default_interval': '1 day',
     })
 
+    # everything is now fine
+    lister.checks()
+
     return lister