diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3b5622
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+def temp_data_dir():
+    """Create a temporary directory for test data"""
+    return Path(tempfile.mkdtemp())
+
diff --git a/tests/test_tests.py b/tests/test_tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c934ffb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# I do not trust python and it's tests, so I'm testing them. May not be worth much, but at least it shows me a few things.
+
+import os
+import pytest  # noqa: F401 do not remove this import. This is needed for pytest fixtures to work
+
+import senju  # noqa: F401
+
+# Note: these weird arguments are an indicator of what should be dome before. For example,
+# `temp_data_dir` is a function in `conftest.py`. If we put it in the arguments, it seems
+# to run before our test, and the return value becomes a local.
+#
+# This is all very confusing for someone used to Rust's libtest
+
+
+def test_tests_are_loaded():
+    assert True  # if we make it here, they are
+
+
+def test_temp_data_dir(temp_data_dir):
+    print(temp_data_dir)
+    testpath = temp_data_dir / "__test"
+    with open(testpath, "w") as f:
+        f.write("that dir actually works")
+    os.remove(testpath)
+