diff --git a/t/Makefile.am b/t/Makefile.am
index 15a5e91bea36..bbd8cc6ee99b 100644
--- a/t/Makefile.am
+++ b/t/Makefile.am
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ TESTS = \
 	t0017-security.t \
 	t0019-jobspec-schema.t \
 	t0020-emit-jobspec.t \
+	t0021-flux-jobspec.t \
 	t1000-kvs.t \
 	t1001-kvs-internals.t \
 	t1002-kvs-watch.t \
@@ -174,6 +175,7 @@ check_SCRIPTS = \
 	t0017-security.t \
 	t0019-jobspec-schema.t \
 	t0020-emit-jobspec.t \
+	t0021-flux-jobspec.t \
 	t1000-kvs.t \
 	t1001-kvs-internals.t \
 	t1002-kvs-watch.t \
diff --git a/t/t0021-flux-jobspec.t b/t/t0021-flux-jobspec.t
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..e7317f74254d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t0021-flux-jobspec.t
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='Test the flux-jobspec command'
+
+. `dirname $0`/sharness.sh
+
+JOBSPEC=${SHARNESS_TEST_SRCDIR}/jobspec
+VALIDATE=${JOBSPEC}/validate.py
+SCHEMA=${FLUX_SOURCE_DIR}/src/modules/job-ingest/schemas/jobspec.jsonschema
+MINI_SCHEMA=${JOBSPEC}/minimal-schema.json
+
+validate_emission() {
+    flux jobspec $@ | ${VALIDATE} --schema ${SCHEMA}
+}
+
+validate_minimal_emission() {
+    flux jobspec $@ | ${VALIDATE} --schema ${MINI_SCHEMA}
+}
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with no args emits valid canonical jobspec' '
+    validate_emission srun sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with no args emits minimal jobspec' '
+    validate_minimal_emission srun sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with just num_tasks emits valid canonical jobspec' '
+    validate_emission srun -n4 sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with just num_tasks emits minimal jobspec' '
+    validate_minimal_emission srun -n4 sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with just cores_per_task emits valid canonical jobspec' '
+    validate_emission srun -c4 sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with just cores_per_task emits minimal jobspec' '
+    validate_minimal_emission srun -c4 sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun without num_nodes emits valid canonical jobspec' '
+    validate_emission srun -n4 -c1 sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun without num_nodes emits minimal jobspec' '
+    validate_minimal_emission srun -n4 -c1 sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with all args emits valid canonical jobspec' '
+    validate_emission srun -N4 -n4 -c1 sleep 1
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'flux-jobspec srun with all args emits minimal jobspec' '
+    validate_minimal_emission srun -N4 -n4 -c1 sleep 1
+'
+test_done