diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-image.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-image.yml
index d130897..6e86d99 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-image.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-image.yml
@@ -20,16 +20,24 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Build the Docker image
-        run: docker build --build-arg="IMAGE_EDITION=${{ matrix.env.IMAGE_EDITION }}" -t ci .
+      - name: Build and run container image
+        run: |
+          docker build --build-arg="IMAGE_EDITION=${{ matrix.env.IMAGE_EDITION }}" -t ci .
+          docker run -v $(pwd)/tests:/opt/sonarqube/test -d --name ci ci
 
-      - name: Run the Docker image
-        run: docker run -d --name ci ci
-
-      - name: Verify the Docker image
+      - name: Wait for Sonar instance to start
         # profile for language 'web' is the last; assume everything is working if we got this far
         run: docker logs -f ci |& sed "/Current profile for language 'web' is 'Sonar way'/ q"
         timeout-minutes: 3
 
-      - name: Stop the Docker image
+      - name: Install test requirements
+        run: |
+          docker exec -u 0:0 ci apt-get update
+          docker exec -u 0:0 ci apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip
+          docker exec -u 0:0 ci pip3 install -Ur /tests/requirements.txt
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: docker exec ci python3 -m unittest -v
+
+      - name: Stop the container
         run: docker stop ci
diff --git a/tests/requirements.txt b/tests/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45713d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+python-sonarqube-api >= 2.0
+requests >= 2.31
diff --git a/tests/test_smoke.py b/tests/test_smoke.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c70c5d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_smoke.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from os import getenv
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from sonarqube import SonarQubeClient
+
+
+class SonarTest(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self) -> None:
+        sonar_port = getenv("SONAR_PORT", "9000")
+        sonar_base_url = f"http://localhost:{sonar_port}"
+        sonar_pass = getenv("SONARQUBE_PASSWORD", "admin")
+        self.sonar_client = SonarQubeClient(sonarqube_url=sonar_base_url, username="admin", password=sonar_pass)
+
+    def test_java_profile(self):
+        java_quality_profiles = self.sonar_client.qualityprofiles.search_quality_profiles(language="java")
+        java_profile_names = [profile["name"] for profile in java_quality_profiles["profiles"]]
+        self.assertIn("Sonar way", java_profile_names)