diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2b769b9..831a105 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,12 +15,24 @@ include(GNUInstallDirs)
 
 include(FetchContent)
 
+
+option(USE_SANITIZER "Sanitizers for debugging" ON)
+option(DISABLE_WARNINGS "Disbale compilation warnings" OFF)
+option(USE_PYTHON "Build python bindings" ON)
+option(AARE_BUILD_TESTS "Build tests" OFF)
+
 FetchContent_Declare(json
     GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/nlohmann/json
     GIT_TAG v3.11.3
 )
 FetchContent_MakeAvailable(json)
 
+if(AARE_BUILD_TESTS)
+    add_subdirectory(tests)
+endif()
+
+
+
 find_package(fmt 6 REQUIRED)
 
 
@@ -33,9 +45,7 @@ else()
 endif()
 set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
 
-option(USE_SANITIZER "Sanitizers for debugging" ON)
-option(DISABLE_WARNINGS "Disbale compilation warnings" OFF)
-option(USE_PYTHON "Build python bindings" ON)
+
 
 
 set(OPTIONAL_FLAGS "")
@@ -71,6 +81,7 @@ target_link_libraries(aare INTERFACE common core file_io)
 add_subdirectory(examples)
 target_link_libraries(example PUBLIC aare)
 
+
 if(USE_PYTHON)
     find_package (Python 3.11 COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)
     find_package(pybind11 2.11 REQUIRED)
diff --git a/include/common/defs.hpp b/include/common/defs.hpp
index 230452e..1d34db2 100644
--- a/include/common/defs.hpp
+++ b/include/common/defs.hpp
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <vector>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <string_view>
+#include <string>
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <fmt/format.h>
 #include <variant>
diff --git a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
index 22e2bf6..aedc033 100644
--- a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,3 +3,14 @@ add_library(common "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/defs.cpp")
 target_link_libraries(common PUBLIC fmt::fmt)
 
 
+if(AARE_BUILD_TESTS)
+    set(TestSources
+            ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/defs.test.cpp
+        )
+    target_sources(tests PRIVATE ${TestSources} )
+
+    #Work around to remove, this is not the way to do it =) 
+    target_include_directories(tests PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/include/common)
+    target_link_libraries(tests PRIVATE common)
+
+endif()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/common/defs.test.cpp b/src/common/defs.test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e5caf7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/defs.test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#include <catch2/catch_test_macros.hpp>
+#include <string>
+#include "defs.hpp"
+TEST_CASE("Enum to string conversion"){
+    //By the way I don't think the enum string conversions should be in the defs.hpp file
+    //but let's use this to show a test
+    REQUIRE(toString(DetectorType::Jungfrau) == "Jungfrau");
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a2d076
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+FetchContent_Declare(
+    Catch2
+    GIT_SHALLOW    TRUE
+    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/catchorg/Catch2.git
+    GIT_TAG        v3.5.3
+)
+FetchContent_MakeAvailable(Catch2)
+list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${Catch2_SOURCE_DIR}/extras)
+
+add_executable(tests test.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(tests PRIVATE Catch2::Catch2WithMain)
+
+set_target_properties(tests PROPERTIES
+        RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+        OUTPUT_NAME run_tests
+)
+
+include(CTest)
+include(Catch)
+catch_discover_tests(tests)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test.cpp b/tests/test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0191c08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+//Empty file to satisfy CMake when no other tests are added
\ No newline at end of file