diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 91a80c9e2..0e4f161e0 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ install:
   # See also `apt-cache showsrc awesome | grep -E '^(Version|Build-Depends)'`.
   - sudo apt-get install -y libcairo2-dev gir1.2-gtk-3.0 xmlto asciidoc libpango1.0-dev libxcb-xtest0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libdbus-1-dev libxdg-basedir-dev libstartup-notification0-dev imagemagick libxcb1-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-util0-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev
 
-  # Deps for functional tests.
-  - sudo apt-get install -y dbus-x11 xterm xdotool xterm xvfb
+  # Deps for tests.
+  - sudo apt-get install -y dbus-x11 xterm xdotool xterm xvfb zsh
 
   # Need xorg-macros
   - sudo apt-get install -y xutils-dev
diff --git a/spec/awful/completion_spec.lua b/spec/awful/completion_spec.lua
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f6fbfea0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/awful/completion_spec.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+local compl = require("awful.completion")
+local shell = function(...)
+    local command, pos, matches = compl.shell(...)
+    return {command, pos, matches}
+end
+local gfs = require("gears.filesystem")
+
+describe("awful.completion.shell in empty directory", function()
+    local orig_popen = io.popen
+
+    setup(function()
+        gfs.make_directories('/tmp/awesome-tests/empty')
+        io.popen = function(...)  --luacheck: ignore
+            return orig_popen('cd /tmp/awesome-tests/empty && ' .. ...)
+        end
+    end)
+
+    teardown(function()
+        os.remove('/tmp/awesome-tests/empty')
+        io.popen = orig_popen  --luacheck: ignore
+    end)
+
+    it("handles completion of true", function()
+        assert.same(shell('true', 5, 1, 'zsh'), {'true', 5, {'true'}})
+        assert.same(shell('true', 5, 1, 'bash'), {'true', 5, {'true'}})
+        assert.same(shell('true', 5, 1, nil), {'true', 5, {'true'}})
+    end)
+end)
+
+describe("awful.completion.shell", function()
+    local orig_popen = io.popen
+
+    setup(function()
+        gfs.make_directories('/tmp/awesome-tests/dir')
+        os.execute('cd /tmp/awesome-tests/dir && touch localcommand && chmod +x localcommand')
+        io.popen = function(...)  --luacheck: ignore
+            return orig_popen('cd /tmp/awesome-tests/dir && ' .. ...)
+        end
+    end)
+
+    teardown(function()
+        os.remove('/tmp/awesome-tests/dir')
+        io.popen = orig_popen  --luacheck: ignore
+    end)
+
+    it("handles empty input", function()
+        assert.same(shell('', 1, 1, 'zsh'), {'', 1})
+        assert.same(shell('', 1, 1, 'bash'), {'', 1})
+        assert.same(shell('', 1, 1, nil), {'', 1})
+    end)
+
+    it("completes local command", function()
+        assert.same(shell('./localcomm', 12, 1, 'zsh'), {'./localcommand', 15, {'./localcommand'}})
+        assert.same(shell('./localcomm', 12, 1, 'bash'), {'./localcommand', 15, {'./localcommand'}})
+    end)
+
+    it("completes local file", function()
+        assert.same(shell('ls ', 4, 1, 'zsh'), {'ls localcommand', 16, {'localcommand'}})
+        assert.same(shell('ls ', 4, 1, 'bash'), {'ls localcommand', 16, {'localcommand'}})
+    end)
+end)
+
+-- vim: ft=lua:et:sw=4:ts=8:sts=4:tw=80