diff --git a/swh/loader/tar/tests/test_loader.py b/swh/loader/tar/tests/test_loader.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e7d53c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/loader/tar/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2017  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
+
+
+from nose.tools import istest
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from swh.loader.tar.loader import TarLoader
+
+
+class LoaderNoStorageForTest:
+    """Mixin class to inhibit the persistence and keep in memory the data
+    sent for storage.
+
+    cf. SWHTarLoaderNoStorage
+
+    """
+    def __init__(self):
+        super().__init__()
+        # Init the state
+        self.all_contents = []
+        self.all_directories = []
+        self.all_revisions = []
+        self.all_releases = []
+        self.all_occurrences = []
+
+    def send_origin(self, origin):
+        self.origin = origin
+
+    def send_origin_visit(self, origin_id, ts):
+        self.origin_visit = {
+            'origin': origin_id,
+            'ts': ts,
+            'visit': 1,
+        }
+        return self.origin_visit
+
+    def update_origin_visit(self, origin_id, visit, status):
+        self.status = status
+        self.origin_visit = visit
+
+    def maybe_load_contents(self, all_contents):
+        self.all_contents.extend(all_contents)
+
+    def maybe_load_directories(self, all_directories):
+        self.all_directories.extend(all_directories)
+
+    def maybe_load_revisions(self, all_revisions):
+        self.all_revisions.extend(all_revisions)
+
+    def maybe_load_releases(self, releases):
+        self.all_releases.extend(releases)
+
+    def maybe_load_occurrences(self, all_occurrences):
+        self.all_occurrences.extend(all_occurrences)
+
+    def open_fetch_history(self):
+        return 1
+
+    def close_fetch_history_success(self, fetch_history_id):
+        pass
+
+    def close_fetch_history_failure(self, fetch_history_id):
+        pass
+
+
+TEST_CONFIG = {
+    'extraction_dir': '/tmp/tests/loader-tar/',  # where to extract the tarball
+    'storage': {  # we instantiate it but we don't use it in test context
+        'cls': 'remote',
+        'args': {
+            'url': 'http://127.0.0.1:9999',  # somewhere that does not exist
+        }
+    },
+    'send_contents': False,
+    'send_directories': False,
+    'send_revisions': False,
+    'send_releases': False,
+    'send_occurrences': False,
+    'content_packet_size': 100,
+    'content_packet_block_size_bytes': 104857600,
+    'content_packet_size_bytes': 1073741824,
+    'directory_packet_size': 250,
+    'revision_packet_size': 100,
+    'release_packet_size': 100,
+    'occurrence_packet_size': 100,
+}
+
+
+def parse_config_file(base_filename=None, config_filename=None,
+                      additional_configs=None, global_config=True):
+    return TEST_CONFIG
+
+
+# Inhibit side-effect loading configuration from disk
+TarLoader.parse_config_file = parse_config_file
+
+
+class SWHTarLoaderNoStorage(LoaderNoStorageForTest, TarLoader):
+    """A TarLoader with no persistence.
+
+    Context:
+        Load a tarball with a persistent-less tarball loader
+
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+PATH_TO_DATA = '../../../../..'
+
+
+class SWHTarLoaderITTest(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        super().setUp()
+
+        self.loader = SWHTarLoaderNoStorage()
+
+    @istest
+    def load(self):
+        """Process a new tarball should be ok
+
+        """
+        # given
+        start_path = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+        tarpath = os.path.join(
+            start_path, PATH_TO_DATA,
+            'swh-storage-testdata/dir-folders/sample-folder.tgz')
+
+        origin = {
+            'url': 'file:///tmp/sample-folder',
+            'type': 'dir'
+        }
+
+        visit_date = 'Tue, 3 May 2016 17:16:32 +0200'
+
+        import datetime
+        commit_time = int(datetime.datetime.now(
+            tz=datetime.timezone.utc).timestamp()
+        )
+
+        swh_person = {
+            'name': 'Software Heritage',
+            'fullname': 'Software Heritage',
+            'email': 'robot@softwareheritage.org'
+        }
+
+        revision_message = 'swh-loader-tar: synthetic revision message'
+        revision_type = 'tar'
+        revision = {
+            'date': {
+                'timestamp': commit_time,
+                'offset': 0,
+            },
+            'committer_date': {
+                'timestamp': commit_time,
+                'offset': 0,
+            },
+            'author': swh_person,
+            'committer': swh_person,
+            'type': revision_type,
+            'message': revision_message,
+            'metadata': {},
+            'synthetic': True,
+        }
+
+        occurrence = {
+            'branch': os.path.basename(tarpath),
+        }
+
+        # when
+        self.loader.load(tarpath, origin, visit_date, revision, [occurrence])
+
+        # then
+        self.assertEquals(len(self.loader.all_contents), 8)
+        self.assertEquals(len(self.loader.all_directories), 6)
+        self.assertEquals(len(self.loader.all_revisions), 1)
+
+        actual_revision = self.loader.all_revisions[0]
+        self.assertEquals(actual_revision['synthetic'],
+                          True)
+        self.assertEquals(actual_revision['parents'],
+                          [])
+        self.assertEquals(actual_revision['type'],
+                          'tar')
+        self.assertEquals(actual_revision['message'],
+                          b'swh-loader-tar: synthetic revision message')
+        self.assertEquals(actual_revision['directory'],
+                          b'\x18U\xe5?K\x98,\xdb&9\x0f\xd3/h\xf5{\xfb,\xc3\xd5')  # noqa
+
+        self.assertEquals(
+            actual_revision['metadata']['original_artifact'][0],
+            {
+                'sha1_git': 'cc848944a0d3e71d287027347e25467e61b07428',
+                'archive_type': 'tar',
+                'blake2s256': '5d70923443ad36377cd58e993aff0e3c1b9ef14f796c69569105d3a99c64f075',  # noqa
+                'name': 'sample-folder.tgz',
+                'sha1': '3ca0d0a5c6833113bd532dc5c99d9648d618f65a',
+                'length': 555,
+                'sha256': '307ebda0071ca5975f618e192c8417161e19b6c8bf581a26061b76dc8e85321d'  # noqa
+            })
+
+        self.assertEquals(len(self.loader.all_releases), 0)
+        self.assertEquals(len(self.loader.all_occurrences), 1)