diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c2370a57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+/build/
+/cmake-build-debug/
+/server/
+/test/cmake-build-debug/
+/include/osmformat.pb.o
+/include/osmformat.pb.h
+/include/vector_tile.pb.h
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2ba65273..8ca2341a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,7 @@ tilemaker
 # protocol buffers generated headers
 include/osmformat.pb.h
 include/vector_tile.pb.h
+
+# cmake directories
+cmake-build-debug/
+test/cmake-build-debug/
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 86caf964..4481ce35 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,13 +105,49 @@ file(GLOB tilemaker_src_files
 	src/shp_mem_tiles.cpp
 	src/tilemaker.cpp
 	src/write_geometry.cpp
-  )
+)
 add_executable(tilemaker vector_tile.pb.cc osmformat.pb.cc ${tilemaker_src_files})
-target_link_libraries(tilemaker ${PROTOBUF_LIBRARY} ${LIBSHP_LIBRARIES} ${SQLITE3_LIBRARIES} ${LUAJIT_LIBRARY} ${LUA_LIBRARIES} ${ZLIB_LIBRARY} ${THREAD_LIB} ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS}
-	Boost::system Boost::filesystem Boost::program_options Boost::iostreams)
+target_link_libraries(tilemaker
+	${PROTOBUF_LIBRARY}
+	${LIBSHP_LIBRARIES}
+	${SQLITE3_LIBRARIES}
+	${LUAJIT_LIBRARY}
+	${LUA_LIBRARIES}
+	${ZLIB_LIBRARY}
+	${THREAD_LIB}
+	${CMAKE_DL_LIBS}
+	Boost::system
+	Boost::filesystem
+	Boost::program_options
+	Boost::iostreams
+)
 
 if(MSVC)
     target_link_libraries(tilemaker unofficial::sqlite3::sqlite3)
 endif()
 
 install(TARGETS tilemaker RUNTIME DESTINATION bin)
+
+# Unit tests
+add_library(libtilemaker SHARED STATIC
+	src/helpers.cpp
+	include/helpers.h
+	vector_tile.pb.cc
+	osmformat.pb.cc
+)
+target_link_libraries(libtilemaker
+	${PROTOBUF_LIBRARY}
+	${LIBSHP_LIBRARIES}
+	${SQLITE3_LIBRARIES}
+	${LUAJIT_LIBRARY}
+	${LUA_LIBRARIES}
+	${ZLIB_LIBRARY}
+	${THREAD_LIB}
+	${CMAKE_DL_LIBS}
+	Boost::system
+	Boost::filesystem
+	Boost::program_options
+	Boost::iostreams
+)
+
+add_subdirectory(test)
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 10efe2a2..f854e7c7 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -19,22 +19,30 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
       libboost-system-dev \
       libboost-iostreams-dev \
       rapidjson-dev \
-      cmake
+      cmake \
+      libboost-test-dev
 
 COPY CMakeLists.txt /
 COPY cmake /cmake
 COPY src /src
 COPY include /include
+COPY test /test
 
 WORKDIR /build
 
-RUN cmake -DTILEMAKER_BUILD_STATIC=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++ ..
-RUN cmake --build .
+FROM src as test
+RUN cmake ..
+RUN cmake --build . --target tilemaker_test
+RUN cd test && ctest
+
+FROM src as static
+RUN cmake  -DTILEMAKER_BUILD_STATIC=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
+RUN cmake --build . --target tilemaker
 RUN strip tilemaker
 
 FROM debian:bullseye-slim
 WORKDIR /
-COPY --from=src /build/tilemaker .
+COPY --from=static /build/tilemaker .
 COPY resources /resources
 COPY process.lua .
 COPY config.json .
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b938c3c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0)
+
+project(tilemaker_test)
+
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
+
+# Project settings
+set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ".")
+
+# Dependencies
+find_package(Boost COMPONENTS filesystem system unit_test_framework REQUIRED)
+
+# Assign the include directories
+include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+include_directories(${UNIT_TESTS_INCLUDES})
+
+# Build unit tests
+add_executable(tilemaker_test test_helpers.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(tilemaker_test ${Boost_LIBRARIES} libtilemaker)
+
+enable_testing()
+add_test(tilemaker_test tilemaker_test)
diff --git a/test/test_helpers.cpp b/test/test_helpers.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..556ba91b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_helpers.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#define BOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK
+#define BOOST_TEST_MAIN
+#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
+
+#include "../include/helpers.h"
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE(HelpersSuite)
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(CompressDecompress) {
+    std::string original = "hello world";
+    std::string compressed = compress_string(original, 9);
+    BOOST_REQUIRE_EQUAL(decompress_string(compressed, false), original);
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()