diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-app.yml b/.github/workflows/python-app.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ccbf0e39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-app.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# This workflow will install Python dependencies, run tests and lint with a single version of Python
+# For more information see: https://help.github.com/actions/language-and-framework-guides/using-python-with-github-actions
+
+name: Python application
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [ master, flask-tests ]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [ master, flask-tests ]
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+    - name: Set up Python 3.8
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+      with:
+        python-version: 3.8
+    - name: Install dependencies
+      run: |
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        pip install flake8 pytest
+        if [ -f requirements.txt ]; then pip install -r requirements.txt; fi
+   # - name: Lint with flake8
+   #   run: |
+   #     # stop the build if there are Python syntax errors or undefined names
+   #     flake8 . --count --select=E9,F63,F7,F82 --show-source --statistics
+   #     # exit-zero treats all errors as warnings. The GitHub editor is 127 chars wide
+   #     flake8 . --count --exit-zero --max-complexity=10 --max-line-length=127 --statistics
+    - name: Test with pytest
+      run: |
+        python -m pytest UIserver/tests
diff --git a/UIserver/__init__.py b/UIserver/__init__.py
index 6e41021f..d047518f 100644
--- a/UIserver/__init__.py
+++ b/UIserver/__init__.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 app.config['UPLOAD_FOLDER'] = "./UIserver/static/Drawings"
 socketio = SocketIO(app)
 
-file_path = os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())+"\database.db"
+file_path = os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.getcwd()), "database.db")
 app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:///'+file_path
 app.config['SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS'] = False
 db = SQLAlchemy(app)
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@
 
 
 # scss compiler (already minified)
-sass.compile(dirname=(os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())+"/UIserver/static/scss", os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())+"/UIserver/static/css"), output_style='compressed')
+if os.path.isdir('./UIserver/static/js/node_modules/bootstrap'):     # check if the bootstrap folder is available (it will not be available in the github workflow for testing)
+    sass.compile(dirname=(os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())+"/UIserver/static/scss", os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())+"/UIserver/static/css"), output_style='compressed')
 # js and html minifier (on request)
 minify(app=app, html=True, js=False)
 
diff --git a/UIserver/tests/test_app.py b/UIserver/tests/test_app.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d08b51a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/UIserver/tests/test_app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import os
+import tempfile
+from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
+
+import pytest
+
+from UIserver import UIserver
+
+# to run tests use "python -m pytest UIserver/tests" in the main project folder
+# at the moment there is a deprecation waring related to the "future" library
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def client():
+    db_fd, UIserver.app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = tempfile.mkstemp()
+    UIserver.app.config['TESTING'] = True
+
+    with UIserver.app.test_client() as client:
+        with UIserver.app.app_context():
+            UIserver.db = SQLAlchemy(UIserver.app)
+        yield client
+
+    os.close(db_fd)
+    os.unlink(UIserver.app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'])
+
+def test_empty_database(client):
+    """Start with a blank database."""
+
+    rv = client.get('/')
+    assert rv.location == 'http://localhost/preview'
+    assert rv.default_status == 200
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/UIserver/utils/settings_utils.py b/UIserver/utils/settings_utils.py
index f48a8469..ffd0972c 100644
--- a/UIserver/utils/settings_utils.py
+++ b/UIserver/utils/settings_utils.py
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ def save_settings(settings):
 
 def load_settings():
     settings = ""
-    with open(settings_path) as f:
+    if not os.path.isfile(settings_path):        # for python tests
+        tmp_settings_path = defaults_path
+    with open(tmp_settings_path) as f:
         settings = json.load(f) 
     return settings
     
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index f2e229c6..21aa2359 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 alembic==1.4.2
+astroid==2.4.2
+atomicwrites==1.4.0
+attrs==20.2.0
 certifi==2020.4.5.1
 chardet==3.0.4
 click==7.1.2
+colorama==0.4.3
 ecdsa==0.15
 Flask==1.1.2
 Flask-Migrate==2.5.3
@@ -11,24 +15,33 @@ Flask-SQLAlchemy==2.4.2
 future==0.18.2
 htmlmin==0.1.12
 idna==2.9
+importlib-metadata==2.0.0
+iniconfig==1.0.1
 iso8601==0.1.12
+isort==4.3.21
 itsdangerous==1.1.0
 Jinja2==2.11.2
 jsmin==2.2.2
+lazy-object-proxy==1.4.3
 lesscpy==0.14.0
 libsass==0.20.1
 Mako==1.1.3
 MarkupSafe==1.1.1
+mccabe==0.6.1
 packaging==20.4
 pid==3.0.3
 Pillow==7.1.2
 pip==20.2.3
+pluggy==0.13.1
 ply==3.11
 psutil==5.7.0
+py==1.9.0
 pyaes==1.6.1
+pylint==2.5.3
 pyparsing==2.4.7
 pyScss==1.3.7
 pyserial==3.4
+pytest==6.1.1
 python-dateutil==2.8.1
 python-dotenv==0.13.0
 python-editor==1.0.4
@@ -40,7 +53,12 @@ serial==0.0.97
 setuptools==47.1.1
 six==1.15.0
 SQLAlchemy==1.3.17
+toml==0.10.1
+typed-ast==1.4.1
 urllib3==1.25.9
 webassets==2.0
 Werkzeug==1.0.1
+wheel==0.34.2
+wrapt==1.12.1
 xxhash==2.0.0
+zipp==3.3.0