diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 7000641..5898572 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ project('libmrbesen', 'cpp', default_options : ['cpp_std=c++17', 'warning_level=
 
 inc = include_directories('inc')
 
-subdir('src')
 subdir('inc')
+subdir('src')
+
+subdir('tests')
 
diff --git a/tests/filestests.cpp b/tests/filestests.cpp
index b5a1c1c..f34b88b 100644
--- a/tests/filestests.cpp
+++ b/tests/filestests.cpp
@@ -147,11 +147,13 @@ int testFiles_readFile() {
 
 	ASSERT(!files::readFile(NONEXISTENT_FILE, buf), "this file should not be read"); //try to read non existing file
 
-	bool r = files::readFile(std::string("tests/filestests.cpp"), buf);
+	const char* testfile = "tests/filestests.cpp";
+
+	bool r = files::readFile(std::string(testfile), buf);
 	ASSERT(r, "failed to read");
 
 	//alternative read
-	int fd = open("tests/filestests.cpp", O_RDONLY);
+	int fd = open(testfile, O_RDONLY);
 	const unsigned int size = 1024*1024; //1MB
 	char* buf2 = new char[size];
 	ssize_t rc = read(fd, buf2, size);
diff --git a/tests/meson.build b/tests/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9631002
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+testSrc = files([
+	'doytests.cpp',
+	'filestests.cpp',
+	'main.cpp',
+	'stringspliteratortest.cpp',
+	'test.h',
+	'utilstest.cpp',
+])
+
+libmrbesentestexe = executable('libmrbesen_test', testSrc, libmrbesenSrc, include_directories: inc,)
+
+test('libmrbesenTest', libmrbesentestexe, is_parallel: true, workdir: meson.source_root())
\ No newline at end of file