diff --git a/tests/modules/__init__.py b/tests/modules/__init__.py
index 42a67171..12aae20d 100644
--- a/tests/modules/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/modules/__init__.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ else:
 	from unittest import main as _main  # NOQA
 	from unittest.case import SkipTest  # NOQA
 
+from tests.modules.lib import PowerlineSingleTest
+
 
 class PowerlineDummyTest(object):
 	def __enter__(self):
diff --git a/tests/modules/lib/terminal.py b/tests/modules/lib/terminal.py
index 72f7c047..7f4bee58 100644
--- a/tests/modules/lib/terminal.py
+++ b/tests/modules/lib/terminal.py
@@ -221,7 +221,11 @@ def get_env(vterm_path, test_dir, *args, **kwargs):
 
 
 def do_terminal_tests(tests, cmd, dim, args, env, suite, cwd=None, fin_cb=None,
-                      last_attempt_cb=None, attempts=3):
+                      last_attempt_cb=None, attempts=None):
+	debugging_tests = not not os.environ.get('_POWERLINE_DEBUGGING_TESTS')
+	default_attempts = 1 if debugging_tests else 3
+	if attempts is None:
+		attempts = default_attempts
 	lib = os.environ.get('POWERLINE_LIBVTERM')
 	if not lib:
 		if os.path.exists('tests/bot-ci/deps/libvterm/libvterm.so'):
@@ -252,9 +256,10 @@ def do_terminal_tests(tests, cmd, dim, args, env, suite, cwd=None, fin_cb=None,
 						pass
 					else:
 						test_prep(p)
-					test_result = test_expected_result(p, test, attempts == 0,
-					                                   last_attempt_cb,
-					                                   test.get('attempts', 3))
+					test_result = test_expected_result(
+						p, test, attempts == 0, last_attempt_cb,
+						test.get('attempts', default_attempts)
+					)
 					if not test_result:
 						ptest.fail('Result does not match expected')
 				ret = ret and test_result
diff --git a/tests/test_in_vterm/shell/inits/dash b/tests/test_in_vterm/shell/inits/dash
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2bf62e6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_in_vterm/shell/inits/dash
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# vim: ft=sh
+
+set_theme_option() {
+	export POWERLINE_THEME_OVERRIDES="${POWERLINE_THEME_OVERRIDES};$1=$2"
+}
+set_theme() {
+	export POWERLINE_CONFIG_OVERRIDES="ext.shell.theme=$1"
+}
+set_theme_option default_leftonly.segment_data.hostname.args.only_if_ssh false
+set_theme default_leftonly
+. "$ROOT/powerline/bindings/shell/powerline.sh"
+export VIRTUAL_ENV=
diff --git a/tests/test_in_vterm/test_shell.py b/tests/test_in_vterm/test_shell.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..4da7bafb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_in_vterm/test_shell.py
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8:noet
+from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import, print_function)
+
+import os
+import sys
+
+from time import sleep
+from subprocess import check_call
+from glob import glob1
+from traceback import print_exc
+
+from argparse import ArgumentParser
+
+from powerline.lib.dict import updated
+
+from tests.modules.lib.terminal import (ExpectProcess, MutableDimensions,
+                                        do_terminal_tests, get_env)
+from tests.modules import PowerlineTestSuite
+
+
+TEST_ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.environ['TEST_ROOT'])
+
+
+def get_parser():
+	parser = ArgumentParser()
+	parser.add_argument('--type', action='store')
+	parser.add_argument('--client', action='store')
+	parser.add_argument('--binding', action='store')
+	parser.add_argument('args', action='append')
+	return parser
+
+
+BINDING_OPTIONS = {
+	'dash': {
+		'cmd': 'dash',
+		'args': ['-i'],
+		'init': [
+			'. "$ROOT/tests/test_in_vterm/shell/inits/dash"',
+		],
+	},
+}
+
+
+def main(argv):
+	script_args = get_parser().parse_args(argv)
+
+	vterm_path = os.path.join(TEST_ROOT, 'path')
+
+	env = get_env(vterm_path, TEST_ROOT)
+	env['ROOT'] = os.path.abspath('.')
+	env['TEST_ROOT'] = TEST_ROOT
+	env['TEST_TYPE'] = script_args.type
+	env['TEST_CLIENT'] = script_args.client
+	env['LANG'] = 'en_US.UTF_8'
+
+	dim = MutableDimensions(rows=50, cols=200)
+
+	binding_opts = BINDING_OPTIONS[script_args.binding]
+
+	cmd = os.path.join(vterm_path, binding_opts['cmd'])
+	args = binding_opts['args']
+
+	def gen_init(binding):
+		def init(p):
+			for line in binding_opts['init']:
+				p.send(line + '\n')
+			while not p[dim.rows - 1, 0].text:
+				p.send('\n')
+				sleep(0.01)
+
+		return init
+
+	base_attrs = {
+		((255, 204,0), (204, 51, 0), 0, 0, 0): 'N',
+		((204, 51, 0), (0, 102, 153), 0, 0, 0): 'H',
+		((255, 255, 255), (0, 102, 153), 1, 0, 0): 'sHU',
+		((0, 102, 153), (44, 44, 44), 0, 0, 0): 'U',
+		((199, 199, 199), (44, 44, 44), 0, 0, 0): 'sUB',
+		((44, 44, 44), (88, 88, 88), 0, 0, 0): 'B',
+		((199, 199, 199), (88, 88, 88), 0, 0, 0): 'sBD',
+		((144, 144, 144), (88, 88, 88), 0, 0, 0): 'D',
+		((221, 221, 221), (88, 88, 88), 1, 0, 0): 'sD',
+		((88, 88, 88), (0, 0, 0), 0, 0, 0): 'C',
+		((240, 240, 240), (0, 0, 0), 0, 0, 0): 'sCp',
+	}
+
+	tests = (
+		{
+			'expected_result': (
+				'', base_attrs
+			),
+			'prep_cb': gen_init(script_args.binding),
+			'row': dim.rows - 1,
+		},
+	)
+
+	with PowerlineTestSuite('shell') as suite:
+		return do_terminal_tests(
+			tests=tests,
+			cmd=cmd,
+			dim=dim,
+			args=args,
+			env=env,
+			cwd=TEST_ROOT,
+			suite=suite,
+		)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+	if main(sys.argv[1:]):
+		raise SystemExit(0)
+	else:
+		raise SystemExit(1)
diff --git a/tests/test_in_vterm/test_shells.sh b/tests/test_in_vterm/test_shells.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..25a49200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_in_vterm/test_shells.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+. tests/shlib/common.sh
+. tests/shlib/vterm.sh
+
+enter_suite vshells
+
+vterm_setup
+
+HAS_SOCAT=
+HAS_C_CLIENT=
+
+ln -s "$(which env)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which git)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which sleep)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which cat)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which false)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which true)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which kill)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which echo)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which which)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which dirname)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which wc)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which stty)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which cut)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which bc)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which expr)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which mktemp)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which grep)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which sed)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which rm)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which tr)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which uname)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which test)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which pwd)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$(which hostname)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$ROOT/tests/test_shells/bgscript.sh" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$ROOT/tests/test_shells/waitpid.sh" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+
+ln -s "$ROOT/scripts/powerline-config" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$ROOT/scripts/powerline-render" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+ln -s "$ROOT/client/powerline.py" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+
+if test -e "$ROOT/scripts/powerline" ; then
+	ln -s "$ROOT/scripts/powerline" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+elif test -e client/powerline ; then
+	ln -s "$ROOT/client/powerline" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+else
+	echo "Executable powerline was not found"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+if test "$(
+	file --mime-type --brief --dereference "$TEST_ROOT/path/powerline" \
+	| cut -d/ -f1)" = "application" ; then
+	HAS_C_CLIENT=1
+fi
+
+if which socat ; then
+	HAS_SOCAT=1
+	ln -s "$(which socat)" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+	ln -s "$ROOT/client/powerline.sh" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+fi
+
+# Test type: daemon, renderer, …
+# Test client: python, shell, c, none
+# Test binding: *sh, ipython, pdb, …
+test_shell() {
+	local test_type="$1" ; shift
+	local test_client="$1" ; shift
+	local test_binding="$1" ; shift
+
+	if test "$test_client" = shell && test -z "$HAS_SOCAT" ; then
+		echo "Skipping test, socat not available"
+		return
+	fi
+	if test "$test_client" = c && test -z "$HAS_C_CLIENT" ; then
+		echo "Skipping test, C client not available"
+		return
+	fi
+	if which "$test_binding" ; then
+		ln -s "$(which "$test_binding")" "$TEST_ROOT/path"
+	fi
+
+	if ! "${PYTHON}" "$ROOT/tests/test_in_vterm/test_shell.py" \
+		--type=$test_type \
+		--client=$test_client \
+		--binding=$test_binding \
+		-- "$@"
+	then
+		local test_name="$test_type-$test_client-$test_binding"
+		fail "$test_name" F "Failed vterm shell test"
+	fi
+}
+
+test_shell renderer python dash -i || true
+
+vterm_shutdown
+
+exit_suite