diff --git a/IPython/html/services/kernels/tests/__init__.py b/IPython/html/services/kernels/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/html/services/kernels/tests/__init__.py
diff --git a/IPython/html/services/kernels/tests/test_api.py b/IPython/html/services/kernels/tests/test_api.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4dbf2f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/html/services/kernels/tests/test_api.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+"""Test the kernels service API."""
+
+
+import os
+import sys
+import json
+
+import requests
+
+from IPython.html.tests.launchnotebook import NotebookTestBase
+
+
+class KernelAPITest(NotebookTestBase):
+    """Test the kernels web service API"""
+
+    def base_url(self):
+        return super(KernelAPITest,self).base_url() + 'api/kernels'
+
+    def test_no_kernels(self):
+        """Make sure there are no kernels running at the start"""
+        url = self.base_url()
+        r = requests.get(url)
+        assert r.json() == []
diff --git a/IPython/html/tests/launchnotebook.py b/IPython/html/tests/launchnotebook.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a83cbc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/html/tests/launchnotebook.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+"""Base class for notebook tests."""
+
+import sys
+import time
+from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from IPython.utils.tempdir import TemporaryDirectory
+
+
+class NotebookTestBase(TestCase):
+    """A base class for tests that need a running notebook.
+    
+    This creates an empty profile in a temp ipython_dir
+    and then starts the notebook server with a separate temp notebook_dir.
+    """
+
+    port = 12342
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.ipython_dir = TemporaryDirectory()
+        self.notebook_dir = TemporaryDirectory()
+        notebook_args = [
+            sys.executable, '-c',
+            'from IPython.html.notebookapp import launch_new_instance; launch_new_instance()',
+            '--port=%d' % self.port,
+            '--no-browser',
+            '--ipython-dir=%s' % self.ipython_dir.name,
+            '--notebook-dir=%s' % self.notebook_dir.name
+        ]
+        self.notebook = Popen(notebook_args, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
+        time.sleep(3.0)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self.notebook.terminate()
+        self.ipython_dir.cleanup()
+        self.notebook_dir.cleanup()
+
+    def base_url(self):
+        return 'http://localhost:%i/' % self.port