diff --git a/artiq/test/test_device_db.py b/artiq/test/test_device_db.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5cccaf379
--- /dev/null
+++ b/artiq/test/test_device_db.py
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+"""Test device DB interface"""
+
+import unittest
+import tempfile
+
+from artiq.master.databases import DeviceDB
+from artiq.tools import file_import
+
+
+DUMMY_DDB_FILE = """
+device_db = {
+    "core": {
+        "type": "local",
+        "module": "artiq.coredevice.core",
+        "class": "Core",
+        "arguments": {"host": "::1", "ref_period": 1e-09},
+    },
+
+    "core-alias": "core",
+    "unresolved-alias": "dummy",
+}
+"""
+
+
+class TestInvalidDeviceDB(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_no_device_db_in_file(self):
+        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode="w+", suffix=".py") as f:
+            print("", file=f, flush=True)
+
+            with self.assertRaisesRegex(KeyError, "device_db"):
+                DeviceDB(f.name)
+
+
+class TestDeviceDB(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.ddb_file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode="w+", suffix=".py")
+        print(DUMMY_DDB_FILE, file=self.ddb_file, flush=True)
+
+        self.ddb = DeviceDB(self.ddb_file.name)
+
+    def test_get(self):
+        core = self.ddb.get("core")
+        self.assertEqual(core["class"], "Core")
+
+    def test_get_alias(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError):  # str indexing on str
+            self.ddb.get("core-alias")["class"]
+
+        self.assertEqual(
+            self.ddb.get("core-alias", resolve_alias=True), self.ddb.get("core")
+        )
+
+    def test_get_unresolved_alias(self):
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(KeyError, "dummy"):
+            self.ddb.get("unresolved-alias", resolve_alias=True)
+
+    def test_update(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(KeyError):
+            self.ddb.get("core_log")
+
+        update = """
+device_db["core_log"] = {
+    "type": "controller",
+    "host": "::1",
+    "port": 1068,
+    "command": "aqctl_corelog -p {port} --bind {bind} ::1",
+}"""
+
+        print(update, file=self.ddb_file, flush=True)
+        self.ddb.scan()
+
+        self.assertEqual(self.ddb.get("core_log")["type"], "controller")
+
+    def test_get_ddb(self):
+        ddb = self.ddb.get_device_db()
+        raw = file_import(self.ddb_file.name).device_db
+
+        self.assertEqual(ddb, raw)