diff --git a/test/integration/kubectl_test.go b/test/integration/kubectl_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8b15b3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/kubectl_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package integration
+
+import (
+	"os/exec"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestGetNodes(t *testing.T) {
+	err := exec.Command("kubectl", "get", "nodes").Run()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/main_test.go b/test/integration/main_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..75afd53b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/main_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package integration
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// force users to opt-in to running the integration tests
+// this prevents them from running if someone does `go test ./...`
+// these tests could be destructive to the cluster under test
+const magicIntegrationTestsEnvVar = "NAME_TEST_INTEGRATION"
+
+var shouldRunIntegrationTests bool
+
+func init() {
+	shouldRunIntegrationTests, _ = strconv.ParseBool(os.Getenv(magicIntegrationTestsEnvVar))
+}
+
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	if !shouldRunIntegrationTests {
+		fmt.Printf("SKIP: %s=true env var must be explicitly set for integration tests to run\n", magicIntegrationTestsEnvVar)
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
+
+	os.Exit(m.Run())
+}