diff --git a/swh/loader/dir/tests/test_loader.py b/swh/loader/dir/tests/test_loader.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ee1129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/loader/dir/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2015  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 os
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+
+from nose.tools import istest
+
+from swh.core.hashutil import hex_to_hash
+from swh.loader.dir.loader import DirLoader
+from swh.loader.dir.git.git import GitType
+
+
+class TestLoader(unittest.TestCase):
+    @classmethod
+    def setUpClass(cls):
+        super().setUpClass()
+        cls.tmp_root_path = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+
+        sample_folder_archive = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
+                                             '../../../../..',
+                                             'swh-storage-testdata',
+                                             'dir-folders',
+                                             'sample-folder.tgz')
+
+        cls.root_path = os.path.join(cls.tmp_root_path, 'sample-folder')
+
+        # uncompress the sample folder
+        subprocess.check_output(
+            ['tar', 'xvf', sample_folder_archive, '-C', cls.tmp_root_path],
+        )
+
+    @classmethod
+    def tearDownClass(cls):
+        super().tearDownClass()
+
+        shutil.rmtree(cls.tmp_root_path)
+        print(cls.tmp_root_path)
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super().setUp()
+
+
+        self.info = {
+            'storage_class': 'remote_storage',
+            'storage_args': ['http://localhost:5000/'],
+
+            # origin information
+            'origin_url': 'file:///dev/null',
+
+            # occurrence information
+            'branch': 'master',
+            'authority_id': 1,
+            'validity': '2015-01-01 00:00:00+00',
+
+            # revision information
+            'revision_author_name': 'swh author',
+            'revision_author_email': 'swh@inria.fr',
+            'revision_author_date': '1444054085',
+            'revision_author_offset': '+0200',
+            'revision_committer_name': 'swh committer',
+            'revision_committer_email': 'swh@inria.fr',
+            'revision_committer_date': '1444054085',
+            'revision_committer_offset': '+0200',
+            'revision_type': 'tar',
+            'revision_message': 'synthetic revision',
+
+            # release information
+            'release_name': 'v0.0.1',
+            'release_date': '1444054085',
+            'release_offset': '+0200',
+            'release_author_name': 'swh author',
+            'release_author_email': 'swh@inria.fr',
+            'release_comment': 'synthetic release',
+        }
+
+        self.dirloader = DirLoader(self.info)
+
+    @istest
+    def load_without_storage(self):
+        # when
+        objects, objects_per_path = self.dirloader.list_repo_objs(self.root_path, self.info)
+
+        # then
+        self.assertEquals(len(objects), 4, "4 objects types, blob, tree, revision, release")
+        self.assertEquals(len(objects[GitType.BLOB]), 8, "8 contents: 3 files + 5 links")
+        self.assertEquals(len(objects[GitType.TREE]), 4, "4 directories: 3 subdir + 1 main dir")
+        self.assertEquals(len(objects[GitType.COMM]), 1, "1 synthetic revision")
+        self.assertEquals(len(objects[GitType.RELE]), 1, "1 synthetic release")
+
+        self.assertEquals(len(objects_per_path), 5, "4 folders + <root>")
+
+#        print('objects: %s\n objects-per-path: %s\n' % (objects.keys(), objects_per_path.keys()))