diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 01ce33f..7b796bd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -152,4 +152,6 @@ tmp/
 temp/
 
 # End of https://www.gitignore.io/api/node,macos,linux
-n
\ No newline at end of file
+
+# Editor
+.vscode
diff --git a/lib/cli.js b/lib/cli.js
index be3ec53..428889a 100644
--- a/lib/cli.js
+++ b/lib/cli.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { add, clone, newBluprint, remove, start, token } from 'bluprint';
+import { add, clone, newBluprint, remove, start, token, test } from 'bluprint';
 import { name, version } from '../package.json';
 
 import chalk from 'chalk';
@@ -66,4 +66,13 @@ yargs // eslint-disable-line no-unused-expressions
   }, async function({ accessToken }) {
     await token(accessToken);
   })
+  .command('test [directory]', 'Test the bluprint in the given directory', (yargs) => {
+    yargs
+      .positional('directory', {
+        describe: 'Local path to a bluprint',
+        type: 'string',
+      });
+  }, async function({ directory }) {
+    await test(directory);
+  })
   .argv;
diff --git a/lib/commands/start/fetchBluprint/parser.js b/lib/commands/start/fetchBluprint/parser.js
index 291486d..2bae65d 100644
--- a/lib/commands/start/fetchBluprint/parser.js
+++ b/lib/commands/start/fetchBluprint/parser.js
@@ -40,9 +40,11 @@ export default (resolve, reject, filterGlobs, mergeJson) => {
       if (entry.type === 'Directory') {
         fs.mkdirSync(entryPath, { recursive: true });
         entry.resume();
-      } else if (entry.type === 'File') {
+      } else if (['File', 'SymbolicLink'].includes(entry.type)) {
         archive[entryPath] = [];
         entry.on('data', c => archive[entryPath].push(c));
+      } else {
+        throw new Error(`unable to handle entry of type ${entry.type}`);
       }
     },
   })
diff --git a/lib/commands/test/index.js b/lib/commands/test/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63a3014
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/commands/test/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+import fs from 'fs';
+import path from 'path';
+import tar from 'tar';
+import os from 'os';
+
+import handleActions from '../../actions';
+import getLogger from '../../utils/getLogger';
+import choosePart from '../start/choosePart';
+import getParser from '../start/fetchBluprint/parser';
+import minimatch from 'minimatch';
+
+const logger = getLogger();
+
+// best effort attempt at reproducing .gitignore behaviour
+const createIgnoreFilter = config => {
+  const globs = fs.readFileSync(config, 'utf-8').split('\n').filter(line => !line.trim().startsWith('#'));
+  return file => !globs.some(glob => file.startsWith(glob) || minimatch(file, glob));
+};
+
+const getFiles = dir => {
+  const basename = path.basename(dir);
+  const files = fs.readdirSync(dir);
+  const result = [];
+
+  let filterFn = () => true;
+
+  for (const file of files) {
+    const fullPath = path.join(dir, file);
+
+    if (file === '.gitignore') {
+      filterFn = createIgnoreFilter(fullPath);
+    }
+
+    if (fs.statSync(fullPath).isDirectory()) {
+      getFiles(fullPath).forEach(f => result.push(f));
+    } else {
+      result.push(file);
+    }
+  }
+
+  return result.filter(e => filterFn(e) && !e.match(/^\.git(\/|$)/)).map(e => [basename, path.sep, e].join(''));
+};
+
+const buildTarball = async(directory) => {
+  const tarball = path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'tmp-bluprint.tar');
+  const files = getFiles(directory);
+
+  await tar.create({
+    gzip: false,
+    file: tarball,
+    cwd: path.dirname(directory),
+    strict: true,
+  }, files);
+
+  return tarball;
+};
+
+const fetchBluprint = async(tarballPath, filterGlobs, mergeJson) => {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const rs = fs.createReadStream(tarballPath);
+    const parser = getParser(resolve, reject, filterGlobs, mergeJson);
+
+    rs.pipe(parser)
+      .on('error', (e) => {
+        logger.error(`Tarball parsing error.`);
+        reject(e);
+      });
+  });
+};
+
+const defaultInject = {
+  method: null,
+  category: null,
+  bluprint: null,
+  partConfirm: null,
+  partChoice: null,
+};
+
+export default async(directory, inject = defaultInject) => {
+  const bluprintrc = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(directory, '.bluprintrc')));
+
+  const { parts, mergeJson } = bluprintrc;
+  const { part, globs: filterGlobs } = await choosePart(parts, inject);
+
+  const tarball = await buildTarball(directory);
+
+  try {
+    await fetchBluprint(tarball, filterGlobs, mergeJson);
+    await handleActions(bluprintrc.actions, part);
+  } finally {
+    fs.rmSync(tarball);
+  }
+};
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 01192cd..5dc3b64 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ export { default as remove } from './commands/remove';
 export { default as start } from './commands/start';
 export { default as clone } from './commands/clone';
 export { default as token } from './commands/token';
+export { default as test } from './commands/test';
 
 export { default as handleActions } from './actions';
 
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c25936
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+const expect = require('expect.js');
+const path = require('path');
+const { test } = require('../dist');
+const os = require('os');
+const fs = require('fs');
+
+const resolvePath = (filePath) => path.join(process.cwd(), filePath);
+
+const createTestBluprint = function() {
+  const tempdir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'test-bluprint'));
+
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tempdir, '.bluprintrc'), JSON.stringify({
+    bluprint: '^0.0.1',
+    name: 'My test bluprint',
+    category: 'testing',
+    actions: [
+      {
+        action: 'render',
+        engine: 'mustache',
+        context: { foo: 'bar' },
+        files: [
+          'test-command-1.txt',
+          'subdir/test-command-2.txt',
+        ],
+      },
+    ],
+  }));
+
+  fs.mkdirSync(path.join(tempdir, 'subdir'));
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tempdir, 'test-command-1.txt'), 'foo = {{ foo }}');
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tempdir, 'subdir', 'test-command-2.txt'), 'foo = {{ foo }}');
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tempdir, 'subdir', 'ignored.txt'), 'ignore me');
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tempdir, 'subdir', '.gitignore'), '# this should be ignored\nignored.*');
+
+  return tempdir;
+};
+
+describe('Test command: test', function() {
+  this.timeout(10000);
+
+  let testBluprint;
+  let cleanupFiles;
+
+  beforeEach(async function() {
+    testBluprint = createTestBluprint();
+
+    cleanupFiles = [
+      testBluprint,
+      resolvePath('test-command-1.txt'),
+      resolvePath('subdir/test-command-2.txt'),
+      resolvePath('subdir/ignored.txt'),
+      resolvePath('subdir/.gitignore'),
+      resolvePath('subdir'),
+    ];
+  });
+
+  afterEach(function() {
+    cleanupFiles.forEach(f => fs.rmSync(f, { recursive: true, force: true }));
+  });
+
+  it('Creates a new project from a bluprint directory', async function() {
+    await test(testBluprint);
+
+    expect(fs.readFileSync('test-command-1.txt', 'utf8')).to.be('foo = bar');
+    expect(fs.readFileSync('subdir/test-command-2.txt', 'utf8')).to.be('foo = bar');
+  });
+
+  it('Ignores files from .gitignore', async function() {
+    await test(testBluprint);
+
+    expect(fs.existsSync('ignored.txt')).to.be(false);
+  });
+});