diff --git a/swh/deposit/cli/admin.py b/swh/deposit/cli/admin.py
--- a/swh/deposit/cli/admin.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/cli/admin.py
@@ -5,10 +5,17 @@
 
 # WARNING: do not import unnecessary things here to keep cli startup time under
 # control
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
 import click
 
 from swh.deposit.cli import deposit
 
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from swh.deposit.models import DepositCollection
+
 
 @deposit.group("admin")
 @click.option(
@@ -25,7 +32,7 @@
     help="development or production platform",
 )
 @click.pass_context
-def admin(ctx, config_file, platform):
+def admin(ctx, config_file: str, platform: str):
     """Server administration tasks (manipulate user or collections)"""
     from swh.deposit.config import setup_django_for
 
@@ -41,15 +48,14 @@
     pass
 
 
-def _create_collection(name):
+def _create_collection(name: str) -> DepositCollection:
     """Create the collection with name if it does not exist.
 
     Args:
-        name (str): collection's name
+        name: collection name
 
     Returns:
-        collection (DepositCollection): the existing collection object
-                                        (created or not)
+        collection: the existing collection object
 
     """
     # to avoid loading too early django namespaces
@@ -57,11 +63,11 @@
 
     try:
         collection = DepositCollection.objects.get(name=name)
-        click.echo("Collection %s exists, nothing to do." % name)
+        click.echo(f"Collection '{name}' exists, skipping.")
     except DepositCollection.DoesNotExist:
-        click.echo("Create new collection %s" % name)
+        click.echo(f"Create collection '{name}'.")
         collection = DepositCollection.objects.create(name=name)
-        click.echo("Collection %s created" % name)
+        click.echo(f"Collection '{name}' created.")
     return collection
 
 
@@ -77,14 +83,14 @@
 @click.pass_context
 def user_create(
     ctx,
-    username,
-    password,
-    firstname,
-    lastname,
-    email,
-    collection,
-    provider_url,
-    domain,
+    username: str,
+    password: str,
+    firstname: str,
+    lastname: str,
+    email: str,
+    collection: str,
+    provider_url: str,
+    domain: str,
 ):
     """Create a user with some needed information (password, collection)
 
@@ -100,20 +106,23 @@
     # If collection is not provided, fallback to username
     if not collection:
         collection = username
-    click.echo("collection: %s" % collection)
     # create the collection if it does not exist
-    collection = _create_collection(collection)
+    collection_ = _create_collection(collection)
 
     # user create/update
     try:
-        user = DepositClient.objects.get(username=username)
-        click.echo("User %s exists, updating information." % user)
+        user = DepositClient.objects.get(username=username)  # type: ignore
+        click.echo(f"Update user '{username}'.")
         user.set_password(password)
+        action_done = "updated"
     except DepositClient.DoesNotExist:
-        click.echo("Create new user %s" % username)
-        user = DepositClient.objects.create_user(username=username, password=password)
+        click.echo(f"Create user '{username}'.")
+        user = DepositClient.objects.create_user(  # type: ignore
+            username=username, password=password
+        )
+        action_done = "created"
 
-    user.collections = [collection.id]
+    user.collections = [collection_.id]
     user.first_name = firstname
     user.last_name = lastname
     user.email = email
@@ -122,7 +131,7 @@
     user.domain = domain
     user.save()
 
-    click.echo("Information registered for user %s" % user)
+    click.echo(f"User '{username}' {action_done}.")
 
 
 @user.command("list")
@@ -148,18 +157,18 @@
 @user.command("exists")
 @click.argument("username", required=True)
 @click.pass_context
-def user_exists(ctx, username):
+def user_exists(ctx, username: str):
     """Check if user exists.
     """
     # to avoid loading too early django namespaces
     from swh.deposit.models import DepositClient
 
     try:
-        DepositClient.objects.get(username=username)
-        click.echo("User %s exists." % username)
+        DepositClient.objects.get(username=username)  # type: ignore
+        click.echo(f"User {username} exists.")
         ctx.exit(0)
     except DepositClient.DoesNotExist:
-        click.echo("User %s does not exist." % username)
+        click.echo(f"User {username} does not exist.")
         ctx.exit(1)
 
 
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/cli/conftest.py b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2020 The Software Heritage developers
+# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+from click.testing import CliRunner
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def cli_runner():
+    return CliRunner()
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_admin.py b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_admin.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_admin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2020 The Software Heritage developers
+# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+import pytest
+
+from swh.deposit.cli.admin import admin as cli
+from swh.deposit.models import DepositClient, DepositCollection
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def enable_db_access_for_all_tests(db):
+    pass
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_user_list_nothing(cli_runner):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(cli, ["user", "list",])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    assert result.output == "Empty user list\n"
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_user_list_with_users(cli_runner, deposit_user):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(cli, ["user", "list",])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    assert result.output == f"{deposit_user.username}\n"  # only 1 user
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_collection_list_nothing(cli_runner):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(cli, ["collection", "list",])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    assert result.output == "Empty collection list\n"
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_collection_list_with_collections(cli_runner, deposit_collection):
+    from swh.deposit.tests.conftest import create_deposit_collection
+
+    new_collection = create_deposit_collection("something")
+
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(cli, ["collection", "list",])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    collections = "\n".join([deposit_collection.name, new_collection.name])
+    assert result.output == f"{collections}\n"
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_user_exists_unknown(cli_runner):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(cli, ["user", "exists", "unknown"])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 1, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    assert result.output == "User unknown does not exist.\n"
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_user_exists(cli_runner, deposit_user):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(cli, ["user", "exists", deposit_user.username])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    assert result.output == f"User {deposit_user.username} exists.\n"
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_create_collection(cli_runner):
+    collection_name = "something"
+
+    try:
+        DepositCollection.objects.get(name=collection_name)
+    except DepositCollection.DoesNotExist:
+        pass
+
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(
+        cli, ["collection", "create", "--name", collection_name,]
+    )
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+
+    collection = DepositCollection.objects.get(name=collection_name)
+    assert collection is not None
+
+    assert (
+        result.output
+        == f"""Create collection '{collection_name}'.
+Collection '{collection_name}' created.
+"""
+    )
+
+    result2 = cli_runner.invoke(
+        cli, ["collection", "create", "--name", collection_name,]
+    )
+    assert result2.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    assert (
+        result2.output
+        == f"""Collection '{collection_name}' exists, skipping.
+"""
+    )
+
+
+def test_cli_admin_user_create(cli_runner):
+    user_name = "user"
+    collection_name = user_name
+
+    try:
+        DepositClient.objects.get(username=user_name)
+    except DepositClient.DoesNotExist:
+        pass
+
+    try:
+        DepositCollection.objects.get(name=collection_name)
+    except DepositCollection.DoesNotExist:
+        pass
+
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(
+        cli, ["user", "create", "--username", user_name, "--password", "password",]
+    )
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    user = DepositClient.objects.get(username=user_name)
+    assert user is not None
+    collection = DepositCollection.objects.get(name=collection_name)
+    assert collection is not None
+
+    assert (
+        result.output
+        == f"""Create collection '{user_name}'.
+Collection '{collection_name}' created.
+Create user '{user_name}'.
+User '{user_name}' created.
+"""
+    )
+
+    assert collection.name == collection_name
+    assert user.username == user_name
+    first_password = user.password
+    assert first_password is not None
+    assert user.collections == [collection.id]
+    assert user.is_active is True
+    assert user.domain == ""
+    assert user.provider_url == ""
+    assert user.email == ""
+    assert user.first_name == ""
+    assert user.last_name == ""
+
+    # create a user that already exists
+    result2 = cli_runner.invoke(
+        cli,
+        [
+            "user",
+            "create",
+            "--username",
+            "user",
+            "--password",
+            "another-password",  # changing password
+            "--collection",
+            collection_name,  # specifying the collection this time
+            "--firstname",
+            "User",
+            "--lastname",
+            "no one",
+            "--email",
+            "user@org.org",
+            "--provider-url",
+            "http://some-provider.org",
+            "--domain",
+            "domain",
+        ],
+    )
+
+    assert result2.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result2.output}"
+    user = DepositClient.objects.get(username=user_name)
+    assert user is not None
+
+    assert user.username == user_name
+    assert user.collections == [collection.id]
+    assert user.is_active is True
+    second_password = user.password
+    assert second_password is not None
+    assert second_password != first_password, "Password should have changed"
+    assert user.domain == "domain"
+    assert user.provider_url == "http://some-provider.org"
+    assert user.email == "user@org.org"
+    assert user.first_name == "User"
+    assert user.last_name == "no one"
+
+    assert (
+        result2.output
+        == f"""Collection '{collection_name}' exists, skipping.
+Update user '{user_name}'.
+User '{user_name}' updated.
+"""
+    )
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2019-2020 The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2020 The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 import os
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock
 
-from click.testing import CliRunner
 import pytest
 import yaml
 
@@ -50,11 +49,6 @@
     return tmp_path
 
 
-@pytest.fixture
-def cli_runner():
-    return CliRunner()
-
-
 @pytest.fixture
 def client_mock_api_down(mocker, slug):
     """A mock client whose connection with api fails due to maintenance issue