diff --git a/josh-proxy/src/bin/josh-proxy.rs b/josh-proxy/src/bin/josh-proxy.rs
index 7ea23158e..093458d61 100644
--- a/josh-proxy/src/bin/josh-proxy.rs
+++ b/josh-proxy/src/bin/josh-proxy.rs
@@ -816,6 +816,11 @@ async fn run_proxy() -> josh::JoshResult<i32> {
         ARGS.value_of("local")
             .ok_or(josh::josh_error("missing local directory"))?,
     );
+    let local = if local.is_absolute() {
+        local
+    } else {
+        std::env::current_dir()?.join(local)
+    };
 
     josh_proxy::create_repo(&local)?;
     josh::cache::load(&local)?;
diff --git a/tests/proxy/setup_test_env.sh b/tests/proxy/setup_test_env.sh
index 778a62007..22c83740d 100644
--- a/tests/proxy/setup_test_env.sh
+++ b/tests/proxy/setup_test_env.sh
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ echo $! > "${TESTTMP}/server_pid"
 cp -R "${TESTDIR}/../../static/" static
 
 if [ -z "${CARGO_TARGET_DIR}" ]; then
-    TARGET_DIR=${TESTDIR}/../../target
+    export TARGET_DIR=${TESTDIR}/../../target
 else
-    TARGET_DIR=${CARGO_TARGET_DIR}
+    export TARGET_DIR=${CARGO_TARGET_DIR}
 fi
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2086
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ do
     if [ $COUNTER -ge 20 ];
     then
         >&2 echo "Starting josh proxy timed out"
+        cat ${TESTTMP}/josh-proxy.out >&2
         exit 1
     fi
 done
diff --git a/tests/proxy/shell.t b/tests/proxy/shell.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e9d0e6357
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/proxy/shell.t
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+  $ . ${TESTDIR}/setup_test_env.sh
+  $ kill -9 $(cat ${TESTTMP}/proxy_pid)
+  $ ${TARGET_DIR}/debug/josh-proxy --help
+  josh-proxy 
+  
+  USAGE:
+      josh-proxy [OPTIONS]
+  
+  OPTIONS:
+      -c, --cache-duration <cache-duration>
+              Duration between forced cache refresh
+  
+          --gc
+              Run git gc in maintanance
+  
+      -h, --help
+              Print help information
+  
+          --local <local>
+              
+  
+      -n <n>
+              Number of concurrent upstream git fetch/push operations
+  
+          --no-background
+              
+  
+          --poll <poll>
+              
+  
+          --port <port>
+              
+  
+          --remote <remote>
+              
+  
+          --require-auth
+              
+  
+          --static-resource-proxy-target <static-resource-proxy-target>
+              Proxy static resource requests to a different URL
+
+  $ ${TARGET_DIR}/debug/josh-proxy --port=8002 --local=../../tmp --remote=http://localhost:8001 2>&1 > proxy.out &
+  $ sleep 1
+  $ kill -9 $!
+  $ grep "init mirror repo" proxy.out
+  * DEBUG josh_proxy: init mirror repo: "/tmp/cramtests-*/shell.t/../../tmp/mirror" (glob)
+  $ rm -Rf ../../tmp