diff --git a/src/aleph/model/messages.py b/src/aleph/model/messages.py
index 01f214fb3..71dbe6256 100644
--- a/src/aleph/model/messages.py
+++ b/src/aleph/model/messages.py
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ async def get_merged_posts(filters, sort=None, limit=100, skip=0, amend_limit=1)
                 }
             }
         },
-        {"$project": {"amends": 0}},
+        {"$project": {"_id": 0, "amends": 0}},
         {"$replaceRoot": {"newRoot": {"$mergeObjects": ["$$ROOT", "$content"]}}},
     ]
 
diff --git a/src/aleph/web/__init__.py b/src/aleph/web/__init__.py
index c3d4288ae..b4f8082fa 100644
--- a/src/aleph/web/__init__.py
+++ b/src/aleph/web/__init__.py
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ def init_sio(app: web.Application) -> socketio.AsyncServer:
     return sio
 
 
-def create_app() -> web.Application:
-    app = web.Application(client_max_size=1024 ** 2 * 64)
+def create_app(debug: bool = False) -> web.Application:
+    app = web.Application(client_max_size=1024**2 * 64, debug=debug)
 
     tpl_path = pkg_resources.resource_filename("aleph.web", "templates")
     jinja_loader = jinja2.ChoiceLoader(
diff --git a/src/aleph/web/controllers/posts.py b/src/aleph/web/controllers/posts.py
index 126da1b31..916f036e4 100644
--- a/src/aleph/web/controllers/posts.py
+++ b/src/aleph/web/controllers/posts.py
@@ -85,10 +85,7 @@ async def view_posts_list(request):
     context = {"posts": posts}
 
     if pagination_per_page is not None:
-        total_msgs = await Message.collection.count_documents(
-            filter=find_filters,
-            projection={"_id": 0},
-        )
+        total_msgs = await Message.collection.count_documents(filter=find_filters)
 
         pagination = Pagination(
             pagination_page,
diff --git a/tests/api/__init__.py b/tests/api/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/api/conftest.py b/tests/api/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7dd3c87cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/api/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+import pytest_asyncio
+from aleph.model.messages import Message
+
+
+@pytest_asyncio.fixture
+async def fixture_messages(test_db):
+    fixtures_dir = Path(__file__).parent / "fixtures"
+    fixtures_file = fixtures_dir / "fixture_messages.json"
+
+    with fixtures_file.open() as f:
+        messages = json.load(f)
+
+    await Message.collection.insert_many(messages)
+    return messages
diff --git a/tests/api/fixtures/fixture_posts.json b/tests/api/fixtures/fixture_posts.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/api/test_messages.py b/tests/api/test_messages.py
index 54d4e527d..3fd9337c9 100644
--- a/tests/api/test_messages.py
+++ b/tests/api/test_messages.py
@@ -1,20 +1,13 @@
 import itertools
-import json
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Dict, Iterable, List
+from typing import Dict, Iterable
 
 import pytest
-import pytest_asyncio
 
-from aleph.model.messages import Message
+from .utils import get_messages_by_keys
 
 MESSAGES_URI = "/api/v0/messages.json"
 
 
-def get_messages_by_keys(messages: Iterable[Dict], **keys) -> List[Dict]:
-    return [msg for msg in messages if all(msg[k] == v for k, v in keys.items())]
-
-
 def check_message_fields(messages: Iterable[Dict]):
     """
     Basic checks on fields. For example, check that we do not expose internal data
@@ -38,18 +31,6 @@ def assert_messages_equal(messages: Iterable[Dict], expected_messages: Iterable[
         assert message["signature"] == expected_message["signature"]
 
 
-@pytest_asyncio.fixture
-async def fixture_messages(test_db):
-    fixtures_dir = Path(__file__).parent / "fixtures"
-    fixtures_file = fixtures_dir / "fixture_messages.json"
-
-    with fixtures_file.open() as f:
-        messages = json.load(f)
-
-    await Message.collection.insert_many(messages)
-    return messages
-
-
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_get_messages(fixture_messages, ccn_api_client):
     response = await ccn_api_client.get(MESSAGES_URI)
diff --git a/tests/api/test_posts.py b/tests/api/test_posts.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..436f6d932
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/api/test_posts.py
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+from typing import Dict, Iterable
+
+import aiohttp
+import pytest
+from aleph_message.models import MessageType
+
+from .utils import get_messages_by_keys
+
+POSTS_URI = "/api/v0/posts.json"
+
+
+def assert_posts_equal(posts: Iterable[Dict], expected_messages: Iterable[Dict]):
+    posts_by_hash = {post["item_hash"]: post for post in posts}
+
+    for expected_message in expected_messages:
+        post = posts_by_hash[expected_message["item_hash"]]
+        assert "_id" not in post
+
+        assert post["chain"] == expected_message["chain"]
+        assert post["channel"] == expected_message["channel"]
+        assert post["sender"] == expected_message["sender"]
+        assert post["signature"] == expected_message["signature"]
+
+        if expected_message.get("forgotten_by", []):
+            assert post["content"] is None
+            continue
+
+        if "content" not in expected_message["content"]:
+            # TODO: there is a problem with the spec of posts: they can be specified
+            #       without an internal "content" field, which does not break the
+            #       endpoint but returns the content of message["content"] instead.
+            #       We skip the issue for now.
+            continue
+
+        assert post["content"] == expected_message["content"]["content"]
+
+
+async def get_posts(api_client, **params) -> aiohttp.ClientResponse:
+    return await api_client.get(POSTS_URI, params=params)
+
+
+async def get_posts_expect_success(api_client, **params):
+    response = await get_posts(api_client, **params)
+    assert response.status == 200, await response.text()
+    data = await response.json()
+    return data["posts"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_get_posts(fixture_messages, ccn_api_client):
+    # The POST messages in the fixtures file do not amend one another, so we should have
+    # 1 POST = 1 message.
+    post_messages = get_messages_by_keys(
+        fixture_messages,
+        type=MessageType.post,
+    )
+    posts = await get_posts_expect_success(ccn_api_client)
+
+    assert_posts_equal(posts, post_messages)
diff --git a/tests/api/utils/__init__.py b/tests/api/utils/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..182366ba5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/api/utils/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+from typing import Dict, Iterable, List, Callable
+
+
+def get_messages_by_predicate(
+    messages: Iterable[Dict], predicate: Callable[[Dict], bool]
+) -> List[Dict]:
+    """
+    Filters messages based on a user-provided predicate
+    (=a function/lambda operating on a single message).
+    """
+
+    return [msg for msg in messages if predicate(msg)]
+
+
+def get_messages_by_keys(messages: Iterable[Dict], **keys) -> List[Dict]:
+    """
+    Filters messages based on user-provided keys.
+
+    Example:
+    >>> filtered_messages = get_messages_by_keys(
+    >>>     message_list, item_hash="some-hash", channel="MY-CHANNEL"
+    >>> )
+
+    """
+    return get_messages_by_predicate(
+        messages, lambda msg: all(msg[k] == v for k, v in keys.items())
+    )
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 5f73a7158..d4d92281f 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ async def ccn_api_client(aiohttp_client, mock_config):
     event_loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
     event_loop.set_debug(True)
 
-    app = create_app()
+    app = create_app(debug=True)
     app["config"] = mock_config
     client = await aiohttp_client(app)