diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ea8c4bf..3005ab5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 /target
+/tests/component/__pycache__
+/tests/component/harness/__pycache__
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index af4fc30..116f15a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ clean:
 unit-test:
 	RUST_BACKTRACE=1 cargo test --all-features
 
+.PHONY: component-test
+component-test:
+	cargo build --locked --no-default-features \
+		--features threshold-engine
+	python3 -m pytest tests/component
+
 .PHONY: test
 test: unit-test
 
diff --git a/tests/component/harness/__init__.py b/tests/component/harness/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b13789
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/component/harness/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+
diff --git a/tests/component/harness/common.py b/tests/component/harness/common.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bec6955
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/component/harness/common.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright (c) 2026 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Author: Leonardo Forchini <leonardo.forchini@nutanix.com>
+
+import json
+import subprocess
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[3]
+POLL_S = 0.2
+
+
+def wait_for(predicate, timeout, description):
+    """Poll ``predicate`` until it is true or ``timeout`` seconds elapse."""
+    deadline = time.monotonic() + timeout
+    while time.monotonic() < deadline:
+        if predicate():
+            return
+        time.sleep(0.05)
+    raise AssertionError("timed out waiting for %s" % (description,))
+
+
+def physical(root, logical):
+    """Prefix an absolute path with the test-specific root."""
+    return root / logical.lstrip("/")
+
+
+def write_json(path, payload):
+    """Write ``payload`` as JSON to ``path``, creating parent directories."""
+    path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    path.write_text(json.dumps(payload))
+
+
+def target_dir():
+    """Return cargo's target directory for this workspace."""
+    raw = subprocess.check_output(
+        ["cargo", "metadata", "--format-version", "1", "--no-deps", "--offline"],
+        cwd=REPO_ROOT,
+        text=True,
+    )
+    return Path(json.loads(raw)["target_directory"])
+
+
+def built_binary(name):
+    """Return the path of a debug binary, failing if it has not been built."""
+    binary = target_dir() / "debug" / name
+    if not binary.exists():
+        raise RuntimeError("%s is not built at %s" % (name, binary))
+    return binary