diff --git a/tests/util/test_cli.py b/tests/util/test_cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30fccee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/util/test_cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import unittest
+
+import util.cli
+
+class cli(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.nonExistentCommand = 'i-do-not-exist'
+        self.validCommand = 'echo test'
+        self.validCommandOutput = 'test\n'
+        self.utfCommand = 'echo ÖPmŧß'
+        self.utfCommandOutput = 'ÖPmŧß\n'
+
+    def test_valid_command(self):
+        rv = util.cli.execute(self.validCommand)
+        self.assertEqual(self.validCommandOutput, rv)
+
+    def test_utf_command(self):
+        rv = util.cli.execute(self.utfCommand)
+        self.assertEqual(self.utfCommandOutput, rv)
+
+    def test_invalid_command(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+            util.cli.execute(self.nonExistentCommand)
+
+    def test_command_exit_code(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+            util.cli.execute('cat {}'.format(self.nonExistentCommand))
+
+    def test_async(self):
+        rv = util.cli.execute(self.validCommand, wait=False)
+        self.assertEqual('', rv)
+
+# vim: tabstop=8 expandtab shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
diff --git a/util/cli.py b/util/cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e7b74a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import shlex
+import subprocess
+import logging
+
+def execute(cmd, wait=True):
+    args = shlex.split(cmd)
+    logging.debug(cmd)
+    try:
+        proc = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+    except FileNotFoundError as e:
+        raise RuntimeError('{} not found'.format(cmd))
+
+    if wait:
+        out, _ = proc.communicate()
+        if proc.returncode != 0:
+            raise RuntimeError('{} exited with {}'.format(cmd, proc.returncode))
+        return out.decode('utf-8')
+    return '' 
+
+# vim: tabstop=8 expandtab shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4