diff --git a/src/testloginapi.sh b/src/testloginapi.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a81d5ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testloginapi.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+
+# change this as per instruction to avoid conflicts.
+PORT=10000
+
+COOKIEJAR=cookies.txt
+
+# clear cookies
+/bin/rm ${COOKIEJAR}
+
+# test authentication
+curl -v -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+     -c ${COOKIEJAR} \
+     -X POST \
+     -d '{"username":"user0","password":"password"}' \
+    http://localhost:${PORT}/api/login
+
+# this should succeed if the password is correct
+curl -v \
+    -b ${COOKIEJAR} \
+    http://localhost:${PORT}/api/login
+
+# create a 'private' folder first.
+# this should fail since credentials were not presented
+curl -v \
+    http://localhost:${PORT}/private/secret.txt
+
+# this should succeed since credentials were presented
+curl -v \
+    -b ${COOKIEJAR} \
+    http://localhost:${PORT}/private/secret.txt
+