diff --git a/test/insert b/test/insert
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..b432a74f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/insert
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+test_description='"notmuch insert"'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+# Create directories and database before inserting.
+mkdir -p "$MAIL_DIR"/{cur,new,tmp}
+mkdir -p "$MAIL_DIR"/Drafts/{cur,new,tmp}
+notmuch new > /dev/null
+
+# We use generate_message to create the temporary message files.
+# They happen to be in the mail directory already but that is okay
+# since we do not call notmuch new hereafter.
+
+gen_insert_msg() {
+    generate_message \
+	"[subject]=\"insert-subject\"" \
+	"[date]=\"Sat, 01 Jan 2000 12:00:00 -0000\"" \
+	"[body]=\"insert-message\""
+}
+
+test_expect_code 1 "Insert zero-length file" \
+    "notmuch insert < /dev/null"
+
+# This test is a proxy for other errors that may occur while trying to
+# add a message to the notmuch database, e.g. database locked.
+test_expect_code 0 "Insert non-message" \
+    "echo bad_message | notmuch insert"
+
+test_begin_subtest "Database empty so far"
+test_expect_equal "0" "`notmuch count --output=messages '*'`"
+
+test_begin_subtest "Insert message"
+gen_insert_msg
+notmuch insert < "$gen_msg_filename"
+cur_msg_filename=$(notmuch search --output=files "subject:insert-subject")
+test_expect_equal_file "$cur_msg_filename" "$gen_msg_filename"
+
+test_begin_subtest "Insert message adds default tags"
+output=$(notmuch show --format=json "subject:insert-subject")
+expected='[[[{
+ "id": "'"${gen_msg_id}"'",
+ "match": true,
+ "excluded": false,
+ "filename": "'"${cur_msg_filename}"'",
+ "timestamp": 946728000,
+ "date_relative": "2000-01-01",
+ "tags": ["inbox","unread"],
+ "headers": {
+  "Subject": "insert-subject",
+  "From": "Notmuch Test Suite <test_suite@notmuchmail.org>",
+  "To": "Notmuch Test Suite <test_suite@notmuchmail.org>",
+  "Date": "Sat, 01 Jan 2000 12:00:00 +0000"},
+ "body": [{"id": 1,
+  "content-type": "text/plain",
+  "content": "insert-message\n"}]},
+ []]]]'
+test_expect_equal_json "$output" "$expected"
+
+test_begin_subtest "Insert duplicate message"
+notmuch insert +duptag -unread < "$gen_msg_filename"
+output=$(notmuch search --output=files "subject:insert-subject" | wc -l)
+test_expect_equal "$output" 2
+
+test_begin_subtest "Duplicate message does not change tags"
+output=$(notmuch search --format=json --output=tags "subject:insert-subject")
+test_expect_equal_json "$output" '["inbox", "unread"]'
+
+test_begin_subtest "Insert message, add tag"
+gen_insert_msg
+notmuch insert +custom < "$gen_msg_filename"
+output=$(notmuch count tag:custom)
+test_expect_equal "$output" "1"
+
+test_begin_subtest "Insert message, add/remove tags"
+gen_insert_msg
+notmuch insert +custom -unread < "$gen_msg_filename"
+output=$(notmuch count tag:custom NOT tag:unread)
+test_expect_equal "$output" "1"
+
+test_done
diff --git a/test/notmuch-test b/test/notmuch-test
index a0c47d49..6db79795 100755
--- a/test/notmuch-test
+++ b/test/notmuch-test
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ TESTS="
   setup
   new
   count
+  insert
   search
   search-output
   search-by-folder