diff --git a/checks/default.nix b/checks/default.nix
index 0e3bebb..bec963f 100644
--- a/checks/default.nix
+++ b/checks/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {inputs, ...}: {
   imports = [
-    ./testing.nix
+    ./nixosTests.nix
     ./licenses.nix
   ];
   perSystem = {
diff --git a/checks/testing.nix b/checks/nixosTests.nix
similarity index 50%
rename from checks/testing.nix
rename to checks/nixosTests.nix
index 1efe54e..bbaa9b2 100644
--- a/checks/testing.nix
+++ b/checks/nixosTests.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   lib,
   inputs,
   config,
+  withSystem,
   ...
 }: let
   inherit (lib) mkOption types mapAttrs' nameValuePair;
@@ -14,31 +15,53 @@ in {
     pkgs,
     ...
   }: let
-    cfg = config.cardanoNix;
+    cfg = config.nixosTests;
   in {
-    options.cardanoNix = {
+    options.nixosTests = {
       tests = mkOption {
+        description = "NixOS tests as modules.";
         type = types.lazyAttrsOf (types.submodule ({config, ...}: {
           options = {
             name = mkOption {
+              description = "The name of the test.";
               type = types.str;
               default = config._module.args.name;
               internal = true;
             };
             systems = mkOption {
+              description = "The systems to run the tests on.";
               type = types.listOf types.str;
+              default = ["x86_64-linux"];
             };
             module = mkOption {
+              description = "The test module. Required.";
               type = types.deferredModule;
             };
             documentation = mkOption {
+              description = "Wether to generate documentation for the testnixos configuraion. False by default to speed up builds.";
               type = types.bool;
               default = false;
             };
             specialArgs = mkOption {
+              description = "The specialArgs to pass to the test node.";
               type = types.attrsOf types.anything;
               default = {};
             };
+            impure = mkOption {
+              description = "Wether the test requires internet access and should be run as an effect instead of a nix build.";
+              type = types.bool;
+              default = false;
+            };
+            check = mkOption {
+              description = "The test derivation composed with _mkCheckFromTest from the module.";
+              type = types.package;
+              default = cfg._mkCheckFromTest config;
+            };
+            checkEffect = mkOption {
+              description = "The test hercules-ci-effect composed with _mkEffectFromTest from the module.";
+              type = types.package;
+              default = cfg._mkEffectFromTest config;
+            };
           };
         }));
       };
@@ -59,16 +82,17 @@ in {
           (cfg._nixosLib.runTest {
             hostPkgs = pkgs;
 
-            # false by default, it speeds up evaluation by skipping docs generation
             defaults.documentation.enable = test.documentation;
 
             node = {
               inherit (test) specialArgs;
             };
 
-            # import all of our flake nixos modules by default
             defaults.imports = [
+              # import all of our flake nixos modules by default
               nixosModules.default
+              # fix missing pkgs.system in tests
+              {nixpkgs.overlays = [(_: _: {inherit system;})];}
             ];
 
             # import the test module
@@ -77,14 +101,26 @@ in {
           .config
           .result;
       };
+      _mkEffectFromTest = mkOption {
+        type = types.functionTo types.package;
+        internal = true;
+        default = test:
+          withSystem system ({hci-effects, ...}:
+            hci-effects.modularEffect {
+              mounts."/dev/kvm" = "kvm";
+              effectScript = ''
+                ${test.check.driver}/bin/nixos-test-driver
+              '';
+            });
+      };
     };
 
     config = {
       checks =
         mapAttrs'
-        (name: test: nameValuePair "testing-${test.name}" (cfg._mkCheckFromTest test))
+        (name: test: nameValuePair "nixosTests-${test.name}" test.check)
         (lib.filterAttrs
-          (_: v: lib.elem system v.systems)
+          (_: v: lib.elem system v.systems && !v.impure)
           cfg.tests);
 
       apps.run-test.program = lib.getExe cfg.runTestScript;
@@ -99,4 +135,11 @@ in {
       ];
     };
   };
+
+  herculesCI.onPush.default.outputs.effects =
+    mapAttrs'
+    (name: test: nameValuePair "nixosTests-${test.name}" test.checkEffect)
+    (lib.filterAttrs
+      (_: v: lib.elem config.defaultEffectSystem v.systems && v.impure)
+      (config.perSystem config.defaultEffectSystem).nixosTests.tests);
 }
diff --git a/docs/default.nix b/docs/default.nix
index ace7303..529abeb 100644
--- a/docs/default.nix
+++ b/docs/default.nix
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
         chmod +x $out/bin/mkdocs
       '';
 
-    eachOptions = removeAttrs rootConfig.flake.nixosModules ["default"];
+    eachOptions = removeAttrs rootConfig.flake.nixosModules ["default" "cardano-overlay"];
 
     eachOptionsDoc =
       lib.mapAttrs' (
diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
index aee7f12..9c99974 100644
--- a/flake.lock
+++ b/flake.lock
@@ -650,11 +650,11 @@
         ]
       },
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1701473968,
-        "narHash": "sha256-YcVE5emp1qQ8ieHUnxt1wCZCC3ZfAS+SRRWZ2TMda7E=",
+        "lastModified": 1709336216,
+        "narHash": "sha256-Dt/wOWeW6Sqm11Yh+2+t0dfEWxoMxGBvv3JpIocFl9E=",
         "owner": "hercules-ci",
         "repo": "flake-parts",
-        "rev": "34fed993f1674c8d06d58b37ce1e0fe5eebcb9f5",
+        "rev": "f7b3c975cf067e56e7cda6cb098ebe3fb4d74ca2",
         "type": "github"
       },
       "original": {
@@ -986,11 +986,11 @@
         "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs_10"
       },
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1707187737,
-        "narHash": "sha256-1vdTyh8dclFK/fVoxFnJmzQis370IteOKERRExn9wXU=",
+        "lastModified": 1710396488,
+        "narHash": "sha256-yniBB5i1un44uzR4+luTWvZ6uGvsHSYIBiDZ8Xox4nQ=",
         "owner": "mlabs-haskell",
         "repo": "hercules-ci-effects",
-        "rev": "832a4a30d646bf0a6fbbd7a0d88aa3f748584af8",
+        "rev": "f5ed263ab0585dfb7b067301419fb80d64e8c021",
         "type": "github"
       },
       "original": {
@@ -1634,11 +1634,11 @@
     },
     "nixpkgs_10": {
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1703637592,
-        "narHash": "sha256-8MXjxU0RfFfzl57Zy3OfXCITS0qWDNLzlBAdwxGZwfY=",
+        "lastModified": 1709961763,
+        "narHash": "sha256-6H95HGJHhEZtyYA3rIQpvamMKAGoa8Yh2rFV29QnuGw=",
         "owner": "NixOS",
         "repo": "nixpkgs",
-        "rev": "cfc3698c31b1fb9cdcf10f36c9643460264d0ca8",
+        "rev": "3030f185ba6a4bf4f18b87f345f104e6a6961f34",
         "type": "github"
       },
       "original": {
diff --git a/modules/cardano-cli/default.nix b/modules/cardano-cli/default.nix
index cfe941c..6728546 100644
--- a/modules/cardano-cli/default.nix
+++ b/modules/cardano-cli/default.nix
@@ -4,11 +4,11 @@
   pkgs,
   ...
 }: {
-  options.cardanoNix.cardano-cli.enable = lib.mkEnableOption "Install cardano CLI tools and scripts";
+  options.cardanoNix.cardano-cli.enable = lib.mkEnableOption "cardano-cli in systemPackages";
 
   config = lib.mkIf config.cardanoNix.cardano-cli.enable {
     environment.systemPackages = [
-      pkgs.git # TODO: replace with `cardano-cli` (milestone 2)
+      pkgs.cardano-cli
     ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/modules/cardano-node/default.nix b/modules/cardano-node/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f44e21a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/cardano-node/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{
+  config,
+  lib,
+  ...
+}: let
+  cfg = config.cardanoNix.cardano-node;
+in {
+  options.cardanoNix.cardano-node = {
+    enable = lib.mkEnableOption "cardano-node service";
+  };
+
+  config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
+    environment.variables = {
+      CARDANO_NODE_SOCKET_PATH = config.services.cardano-node.socketPath 0;
+    };
+
+    services.cardano-node = {
+      enable = true;
+      hostAddr = "0.0.0.0";
+
+      environment = config.cardanoNix.globals.network;
+    };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/modules/default.nix b/modules/default.nix
index 33c93b4..f95cbe3 100644
--- a/modules/default.nix
+++ b/modules/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,26 @@
-{config, ...}: {
-  flake.nixosModules = {
+{
+  inputs,
+  config,
+  ...
+}: {
+  flake.nixosModules = rec {
     globals = ./globals;
-    cardano-cli = ./cardano-cli;
+    cardano-node = {
+      imports = [
+        inputs.cardano-node.nixosModules.cardano-node
+        cardano-overlay
+        ./cardano-node
+      ];
+    };
+    cardano-cli = {
+      imports = [
+        cardano-overlay
+        ./cardano-cli
+      ];
+    };
+    cardano-overlay = {
+      nixpkgs.overlays = [config.flake.overlays.default];
+    };
     # the default module imports all modules
     default = {
       imports = with builtins; attrValues (removeAttrs config.flake.nixosModules ["default"]);
diff --git a/tests/cardano-cli.nix b/tests/cardano-cli.nix
index 1c09bad..10ee63d 100644
--- a/tests/cardano-cli.nix
+++ b/tests/cardano-cli.nix
@@ -1,27 +1,19 @@
 {
-  cardanoNix.tests = {
-    dummy = {
-      systems = ["x86_64-linux"];
+  nixosTests.tests.cardano-cli.module = {
+    name = "cardano-cli-test";
 
-      module = {
-        name = "cli-test";
-
-        nodes = {
-          machine = {
-            virtualisation = {
-              cores = 2;
-              memorySize = 1024;
-              writableStore = true;
-            };
-            cardanoNix.cardano-cli.enable = true;
-          };
+    nodes = {
+      machine = {
+        virtualisation = {
+          cores = 2;
+          memorySize = 1024;
         };
-
-        # TODO `git` will be replaced by `cardano-cli` (milestone 2)
-        testScript = ''
-          machine.succeed("git --version")
-        '';
+        cardanoNix.cardano-cli.enable = true;
       };
     };
+
+    testScript = ''
+      machine.succeed("cardano-cli --version")
+    '';
   };
 }
diff --git a/tests/cardano-node.nix b/tests/cardano-node.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f675268
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cardano-node.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{
+  nixosTests.tests.cardano-node = {
+    impure = true;
+    module = {
+      name = "cardano-node-test";
+
+      nodes = {
+        machine = {pkgs, ...}: {
+          virtualisation = {
+            cores = 1;
+            memorySize = 1024;
+          };
+          cardanoNix = {
+            globals.network = "preview";
+            cardano-cli.enable = true;
+            cardano-node = {
+              enable = true;
+            };
+          };
+
+          environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [jq bc];
+        };
+      };
+
+      testScript = ''
+        machine.wait_for_unit("cardano-node")
+        machine.wait_until_succeeds("""[[ $(echo "$(cardano-cli query tip --testnet-magic 2 | jq '.syncProgress' --raw-output) > 0.01" | bc) == "1" ]]""")
+      '';
+    };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/tests/default.nix b/tests/default.nix
index 837ced2..b1e0354 100644
--- a/tests/default.nix
+++ b/tests/default.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   perSystem = _: {
     imports = [
       ./cardano-cli.nix
+      ./cardano-node.nix
     ];
   };
 }