diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5d2cf5b3c9..d7c8567c4b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ check-qjson: check-qjson.o qfloat.o qint.o qdict.o qstring.o qlist.o qbool.o qjs
 
 $(qapi-obj-y): $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
 qapi-dir := qapi-generated
-test-visitor.o: QEMU_CFLAGS += -I $(qapi-dir)
+test-visitor.o test-qmp-commands.o: QEMU_CFLAGS += -I $(qapi-dir)
 
 $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-types.c: $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-types.h
 $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-types.h: $(SRC_PATH)/qapi-schema-test.json $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-types.py
@@ -172,10 +172,16 @@ $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-types.h: $(SRC_PATH)/qapi-schema-test.json $(SRC_PATH)/scr
 $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-visit.c: $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-visit.h
 $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-visit.h: $(SRC_PATH)/qapi-schema-test.json $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-visit.py
 	$(call quiet-command,python $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-visit.py -o "$(qapi-dir)" -p "test-" < $<, "  GEN   $@")
+$(qapi-dir)/test-qmp-commands.h: $(qapi-dir)/test-qmp-marshal.c
+$(qapi-dir)/test-qmp-marshal.c: $(SRC_PATH)/qapi-schema-test.json $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-commands.py
+	    $(call quiet-command,python $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-commands.py -o "$(qapi-dir)" -p "test-" < $<, "  GEN   $@")
 
 test-visitor.o: $(addprefix $(qapi-dir)/, test-qapi-types.c test-qapi-types.h test-qapi-visit.c test-qapi-visit.h) $(qapi-obj-y)
 test-visitor: test-visitor.o qfloat.o qint.o qdict.o qstring.o qlist.o qbool.o $(qapi-obj-y) error.o osdep.o qemu-malloc.o $(oslib-obj-y) qjson.o json-streamer.o json-lexer.o json-parser.o qerror.o qemu-error.o qemu-tool.o $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-visit.o $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-types.o
 
+test-qmp-commands.o: $(addprefix $(qapi-dir)/, test-qapi-types.c test-qapi-types.h test-qapi-visit.c test-qapi-visit.h test-qmp-marshal.c test-qmp-commands.h) $(qapi-obj-y)
+test-qmp-commands: test-qmp-commands.o qfloat.o qint.o qdict.o qstring.o qlist.o qbool.o $(qapi-obj-y) error.o osdep.o qemu-malloc.o $(oslib-obj-y) qjson.o json-streamer.o json-lexer.o json-parser.o qerror.o qemu-error.o qemu-tool.o $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-visit.o $(qapi-dir)/test-qapi-types.o $(qapi-dir)/test-qmp-marshal.o module.o
+
 QEMULIBS=libhw32 libhw64 libuser libdis libdis-user
 
 clean:
diff --git a/test-qmp-commands.c b/test-qmp-commands.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..775290439a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test-qmp-commands.c
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+#include <glib.h>
+#include "qemu-objects.h"
+#include "test-qmp-commands.h"
+#include "qapi/qmp-core.h"
+#include "module.h"
+
+void qmp_user_def_cmd(Error **errp)
+{
+}
+
+void qmp_user_def_cmd1(UserDefOne * ud1, Error **errp)
+{
+}
+
+UserDefTwo * qmp_user_def_cmd2(UserDefOne * ud1a, UserDefOne * ud1b, Error **errp)
+{
+    UserDefTwo *ret;
+    UserDefOne *ud1c = qemu_mallocz(sizeof(UserDefOne));
+    UserDefOne *ud1d = qemu_mallocz(sizeof(UserDefOne));
+
+    ud1c->string = strdup(ud1a->string);
+    ud1c->integer = ud1a->integer;
+    ud1d->string = strdup(ud1b->string);
+    ud1d->integer = ud1b->integer;
+
+    ret = qemu_mallocz(sizeof(UserDefTwo));
+    ret->string = strdup("blah1");
+    ret->dict.string = strdup("blah2");
+    ret->dict.dict.userdef = ud1c;
+    ret->dict.dict.string = strdup("blah3");
+    ret->dict.has_dict2 = true;
+    ret->dict.dict2.userdef = ud1d;
+    ret->dict.dict2.string = strdup("blah4");
+
+    return ret;
+}
+
+/* test commands with no input and no return value */
+static void test_dispatch_cmd(void)
+{
+    QDict *req = qdict_new();
+    QObject *resp;
+
+    qdict_put_obj(req, "execute", QOBJECT(qstring_from_str("user_def_cmd")));
+
+    resp = qmp_dispatch(QOBJECT(req));
+    assert(resp != NULL);
+    assert(!qdict_haskey(qobject_to_qdict(resp), "error"));
+    g_print("\nresp: %s\n", qstring_get_str(qobject_to_json(resp)));
+
+    qobject_decref(resp);
+    QDECREF(req);
+}
+
+/* test commands that return an error due to invalid parameters */
+static void test_dispatch_cmd_error(void)
+{
+    QDict *req = qdict_new();
+    QObject *resp;
+
+    qdict_put_obj(req, "execute", QOBJECT(qstring_from_str("user_def_cmd2")));
+
+    resp = qmp_dispatch(QOBJECT(req));
+    assert(resp != NULL);
+    assert(qdict_haskey(qobject_to_qdict(resp), "error"));
+    g_print("\nresp: %s\n", qstring_get_str(qobject_to_json_pretty(resp)));
+
+    qobject_decref(resp);
+    QDECREF(req);
+}
+
+/* test commands that involve both input parameters and return values */
+static void test_dispatch_cmd_io(void)
+{
+    QDict *req = qdict_new();
+    QDict *args = qdict_new();
+    QDict *ud1a = qdict_new();
+    QDict *ud1b = qdict_new();
+    QObject *resp;
+
+    qdict_put_obj(ud1a, "integer", QOBJECT(qint_from_int(42)));
+    qdict_put_obj(ud1a, "string", QOBJECT(qstring_from_str("hello")));
+    qdict_put_obj(ud1b, "integer", QOBJECT(qint_from_int(422)));
+    qdict_put_obj(ud1b, "string", QOBJECT(qstring_from_str("hello2")));
+    qdict_put_obj(args, "ud1a", QOBJECT(ud1a));
+    qdict_put_obj(args, "ud1b", QOBJECT(ud1b));
+    qdict_put_obj(req, "arguments", QOBJECT(args));
+
+    qdict_put_obj(req, "execute", QOBJECT(qstring_from_str("user_def_cmd2")));
+
+    /* TODO: put in full payload and check for errors */
+    resp = qmp_dispatch(QOBJECT(req));
+    assert(resp != NULL);
+    assert(!qdict_haskey(qobject_to_qdict(resp), "error"));
+    g_print("\nresp: %s\n", qstring_get_str(qobject_to_json_pretty(resp)));
+
+    qobject_decref(resp);
+    QDECREF(req);
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+    g_test_init(&argc, &argv, NULL);
+
+    g_test_add_func("/0.15/dispatch_cmd", test_dispatch_cmd);
+    g_test_add_func("/0.15/dispatch_cmd_error", test_dispatch_cmd_error);
+    g_test_add_func("/0.15/dispatch_cmd_io", test_dispatch_cmd_io);
+
+    module_call_init(MODULE_INIT_QAPI);
+    g_test_run();
+
+    return 0;
+}