diff --git a/services/director/src/simcore_service_director/models/__init__.py b/services/director/src/simcore_service_director/models/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/services/director/tests/conftest.py b/services/director/tests/conftest.py
index 925c6c26d03..d09e4623d40 100644
--- a/services/director/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/services/director/tests/conftest.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
 
 import os
+from collections.abc import AsyncIterator
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import AsyncIterator
 
 import pytest
 import simcore_service_director
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 pytest_plugins = [
     "fixtures.fake_services",
+    "pytest_simcore.cli_runner",
     "pytest_simcore.docker_compose",
     "pytest_simcore.docker_registry",
     "pytest_simcore.docker_swarm",
diff --git a/services/director/tests/test__model_examples.py b/services/director/tests/test__model_examples.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d9604d738d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/director/tests/test__model_examples.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# pylint: disable=protected-access
+# pylint: disable=redefined-outer-name
+# pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
+# pylint: disable=unused-argument
+# pylint: disable=unused-variable
+
+import json
+from typing import Any
+
+import pytest
+import simcore_service_director.models
+from pydantic import BaseModel, ValidationError
+from pytest_simcore.pydantic_models import walk_model_examples_in_package
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "model_cls, example_name, example_data",
+    walk_model_examples_in_package(simcore_service_director.models),
+)
+def test_director_service_model_examples(
+    model_cls: type[BaseModel], example_name: int, example_data: Any
+):
+    try:
+        assert model_cls.parse_obj(example_data) is not None
+    except ValidationError as err:
+        pytest.fail(
+            f"\n{example_name}: {json.dumps(example_data, indent=1)}\nError: {err}"
+        )
diff --git a/services/director/tests/test_cli.py b/services/director/tests/test_cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3b42989bcff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/director/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# pylint: disable=redefined-outer-name
+# pylint: disable=unused-argument
+# pylint: disable=unused-variable
+# pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
+import os
+
+from pytest_simcore.helpers.typing_env import EnvVarsDict
+from simcore_service_director._meta import API_VERSION
+from simcore_service_director.cli import main
+from simcore_service_director.core.settings import ApplicationSettings
+from typer.testing import CliRunner
+
+
+def test_cli_help_and_version(cli_runner: CliRunner):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(main, "--help")
+    assert result.exit_code == os.EX_OK, result.output
+
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(main, "--version")
+    assert result.exit_code == os.EX_OK, result.output
+    assert result.stdout.strip() == API_VERSION
+
+
+def test_settings(cli_runner: CliRunner, app_environment: EnvVarsDict):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(main, ["settings", "--show-secrets", "--as-json"])
+    assert result.exit_code == os.EX_OK
+
+    settings = ApplicationSettings.parse_raw(result.output)
+    assert settings.dict() == ApplicationSettings.create_from_envs().dict()
+
+
+def test_run(cli_runner: CliRunner):
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(main, ["run"])
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert "disabled" in result.stdout