diff --git a/compiler/test/TestCompilerOnExamples.kt b/compiler/test/TestCompilerOnExamples.kt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b4107acb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/test/TestCompilerOnExamples.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+package prog8tests
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.TestInstance
+import kotlin.test.*
+import kotlin.io.path.*
+
+import prog8.compiler.target.Cx16Target
+import prog8.compiler.compileProgram
+import prog8.compiler.target.ICompilationTarget
+
+
+/**
+ * ATTENTION: this is just kludge!
+ * They are not really unit tests, but rather tests of the whole process,
+ * from source file loading all the way through to running 64tass.
+ * What's more: in case of failure (to compile and assemble) - which is when tests should help you -
+ * these tests will actually be ignored (ie. NOT fail),
+ * because in the code there are calls to Process.exit, making it essentially untestable.
+ */
+@TestInstance(TestInstance.Lifecycle.PER_CLASS)
+class TestCompilerOnExamples {
+    val workingDir = Path("").absolute()    // Note: Path(".") does NOT work..!
+    val examplesDir = workingDir.resolve("../examples")
+    val outputDir = workingDir.resolve("build/tmp/test")
+
+    @Test
+    fun testDirectoriesSanityCheck() {
+        assertEquals("compiler", workingDir.fileName.toString())
+        assertTrue(examplesDir.isDirectory(), "sanity check; should be directory: $examplesDir")
+        assertTrue(outputDir.isDirectory(), "sanity check; should be directory: $outputDir")
+    }
+
+    // TODO: make assembly stage testable - in case of failure (eg of 64tass) it Process.exit s
+
+    fun testExample(nameWithoutExt: String, platform: ICompilationTarget, optimize: Boolean) {
+        val filepath = examplesDir.resolve("$nameWithoutExt.p8")
+        val result = compileProgram(
+            filepath,
+            optimize,
+            writeAssembly = true,
+            slowCodegenWarnings = false,
+            compilationTarget = platform.name,
+            libdirs = listOf(),
+            outputDir
+        )
+        assertTrue(result.success, "${platform.name}, optimize=$optimize: \"$filepath\"")
+    }
+
+
+    @Test
+    fun test_cxLogo_noopt() {
+        testExample("cxlogo", Cx16Target, false)
+    }
+    @Test
+    fun test_cxLogo_opt() {
+        testExample("cxlogo", Cx16Target, true)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun test_swirl_noopt() {
+        testExample("swirl", Cx16Target, false)
+    }
+    @Test
+    fun test_swirl_opt() {
+        testExample("swirl", Cx16Target, true)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun test_animals_noopt() {
+        testExample("animals", Cx16Target, false)
+    }
+    @Test
+    fun test_animals_opt() {
+        testExample("animals", Cx16Target, true)
+    }
+
+}
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