diff --git a/src/BUILD b/src/BUILD
index 2d9516162d8d08..16194e1821c8b8 100644
--- a/src/BUILD
+++ b/src/BUILD
@@ -369,6 +369,7 @@ filegroup(
         "//src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib:srcs",
         "//src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/skyframe:srcs",
         "//src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options:srcs",
+        "//src/test/py/bazel:srcs",
         "//src/test/shell:srcs",
         "//src/tools/android/java/com/google/devtools/build/android:srcs",
         "//src/tools/benchmark:srcs",
diff --git a/src/test/py/bazel/BUILD b/src/test/py/bazel/BUILD
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..edda44d8a8a07b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/py/bazel/BUILD
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+package(default_visibility = ["//visibility:private"])
+
+filegroup(
+    name = "srcs",
+    srcs = glob(["**"]),
+    visibility = ["//src:__pkg__"],
+)
+
+filegroup(
+    name = "test-deps",
+    testonly = 1,
+    srcs = ["//src:bazel"],
+)
+
+py_library(
+    name = "test_base",
+    testonly = 1,
+    srcs = ["test_base.py"],
+    data = [":test-deps"],
+)
+
+py_test(
+    name = "bazel_server_mode_test",
+    size = "medium",
+    srcs = ["bazel_server_mode_test.py"],
+    deps = [":test_base"],
+)
diff --git a/src/test/py/bazel/bazel_server_mode_test.py b/src/test/py/bazel/bazel_server_mode_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..1cd2a86c66ec87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/py/bazel/bazel_server_mode_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Copyright 2017 The Bazel Authors. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import unittest
+
+from src.test.py.bazel import test_base
+
+
+class BazelCleanTest(test_base.TestBase):
+
+  def testBazelClean(self):
+    self.ScratchFile('WORKSPACE')
+
+    exit_code, stdout, _ = self.RunBazel(['info', 'server_pid'])
+    self.assertEqual(exit_code, 0)
+    pid1 = stdout[0]
+
+    exit_code, stdout, _ = self.RunBazel(['info', 'server_pid'])
+    self.assertEqual(exit_code, 0)
+    pid2 = stdout[0]
+
+    self.assertEqual(pid1, pid2)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+  unittest.main()
diff --git a/src/test/py/bazel/test_base.py b/src/test/py/bazel/test_base.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..2a2b2e574ea794
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/py/bazel/test_base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,233 @@
+# Copyright 2017 The Bazel Authors. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import unittest
+
+
+class Error(Exception):
+  """Base class for errors in this module."""
+  pass
+
+
+class ArgumentError(Error):
+  """A function received a bad argument."""
+  pass
+
+
+class EnvVarUndefinedError(Error):
+  """An expected environment variable is not defined."""
+
+  def __init__(self, name):
+    Error.__init__(self, 'Environment variable "%s" is not defined' % name)
+
+
+class TestBase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+  _stderr = None
+  _stdout = None
+  _runfiles = None
+  _temp = None
+  _tests_root = None
+
+  def setUp(self):
+    unittest.TestCase.setUp(self)
+    if self._runfiles is None:
+      self._runfiles = TestBase._LoadRunfiles()
+    test_tmpdir = TestBase.GetEnv('TEST_TMPDIR')
+    self._stdout = os.path.join(test_tmpdir, 'bazel.stdout')
+    self._stderr = os.path.join(test_tmpdir, 'bazel.stderr')
+    self._temp = os.path.join(test_tmpdir, 'tmp')
+    self._tests_root = os.path.join(test_tmpdir, 'tests_root')
+    os.mkdir(self._tests_root)
+    os.chdir(self._tests_root)
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def GetEnv(name, default=None):
+    """Returns environment variable `name`.
+
+    Args:
+      name: string; name of the environment variable
+      default: anything; return this value if the envvar is not defined
+    Returns:
+      string, the envvar's value if defined, or `default` if the envvar is not
+      defined but `default` is
+    Raises:
+      EnvVarUndefinedError: if `name` is not a defined envvar and `default` is
+        None
+    """
+    value = os.getenv(name, '__undefined_envvar__')
+    if value == '__undefined_envvar__':
+      if default:
+        return default
+      raise EnvVarUndefinedError(name)
+    return value
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def IsWindows():
+    """Returns true if the current platform is Windows."""
+    return os.name == 'nt'
+
+  def Path(self, path):
+    """Returns the absolute path of `path` relative to the scratch directory.
+
+    Args:
+      path: string; a path, relative to the test's scratch directory,
+        e.g. "foo/bar/BUILD"
+    Returns:
+      an absolute path
+    Raises:
+      ArgumentError: if `path` is absolute or contains uplevel references
+    """
+    if os.path.isabs(path) or '..' in path:
+      raise ArgumentError(('path="%s" may not be absolute and may not contain '
+                           'uplevel references') % path)
+    return os.path.join(self._tests_root, path)
+
+  def Rlocation(self, runfile):
+    """Returns the absolute path to a runfile."""
+    if TestBase.IsWindows():
+      return self._runfiles.get(runfile)
+    else:
+      return os.path.join(self._runfiles, runfile)
+
+  def ScratchDir(self, path):
+    """Creates directories under the test's scratch directory.
+
+    Args:
+      path: string; a path, relative to the test's scratch directory,
+        e.g. "foo/bar"
+    Raises:
+      ArgumentError: if `path` is absolute or contains uplevel references
+      IOError: if an I/O error occurs
+    """
+    if not path:
+      return
+    abspath = self.Path(path)
+    if os.path.exists(abspath) and not os.path.isdir(abspath):
+      raise IOError('"%s" (%s) exists and is not a directory' % (path, abspath))
+    os.makedirs(abspath)
+
+  def ScratchFile(self, path, lines=None):
+    """Creates a file under the test's scratch directory.
+
+    Args:
+      path: string; a path, relative to the test's scratch directory,
+        e.g. "foo/bar/BUILD"
+      lines: [string]; the contents of the file (newlines are added
+        automatically)
+    Raises:
+      ArgumentError: if `path` is absolute or contains uplevel references
+      IOError: if an I/O error occurs
+    """
+    if not path:
+      return
+    abspath = self.Path(path)
+    if os.path.exists(abspath) and not os.path.isfile(abspath):
+      raise IOError('"%s" (%s) exists and is not a file' % (path, abspath))
+    self.ScratchDir(os.path.dirname(path))
+    with open(abspath, 'w') as f:
+      if lines:
+        for l in lines:
+          f.write(l)
+          f.write('\n')
+
+  def RunBazel(self, args):
+    """Runs "bazel <args>", waits for it to exit.
+
+    Args:
+      args: [string]; flags to pass to bazel (e.g. ['--batch', 'build', '//x'])
+    Returns:
+      (int, [string], [string]) tuple: exit code, stdout lines, stderr lines
+    """
+    with open(self._stdout, 'w') as stdout:
+      with open(self._stderr, 'w') as stderr:
+        proc = subprocess.Popen(
+            [
+                self.Rlocation('io_bazel/src/bazel'), '--bazelrc=/dev/null',
+                '--nomaster_bazelrc'
+            ] + args,
+            stdout=stdout,
+            stderr=stderr,
+            cwd=self._tests_root,
+            env=self._BazelEnvMap())
+        exit_code = proc.wait()
+
+    with open(self._stdout, 'r') as f:
+      stdout = [l.strip() for l in f.readlines()]
+    with open(self._stderr, 'r') as f:
+      stderr = [l.strip() for l in f.readlines()]
+    return exit_code, stdout, stderr
+
+  def _BazelEnvMap(self):
+    """Returns the environment variable map to run Bazel."""
+    if TestBase.IsWindows():
+      result = []
+      if sys.version_info.major == 3:
+        # Python 3.2 has os.listdir
+        result = [
+            n for n in os.listdir('c:\\program files\\java')
+            if n.startswith('jdk')
+        ]
+      else:
+        # Python 2.7 has os.path.walk
+        def _Visit(result, _, names):
+          result.extend(n for n in names if n.startswith('jdk'))
+          while names:
+            names.pop()
+
+        os.path.walk('c:\\program files\\java\\', _Visit, result)
+      env = {
+          'SYSTEMROOT': TestBase.GetEnv('SYSTEMROOT'),
+          # TODO(laszlocsomor): Let Bazel pass BAZEL_SH and JAVA_HOME to tests
+          # and use those here instead of hardcoding paths.
+          'JAVA_HOME': 'c:\\program files\\java\\' + sorted(result)[-1],
+          'BAZEL_SH': 'c:\\tools\\msys64\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe'
+      }
+    else:
+      env = {'HOME': os.path.join(self._temp, 'home')}
+
+    env['PATH'] = TestBase.GetEnv('PATH')
+    # The inner Bazel must know that it's running as part of a test (so that it
+    # uses --max_idle_secs=15 by default instead of 3 hours, etc.), and it knows
+    # that by checking for TEST_TMPDIR.
+    env['TEST_TMPDIR'] = TestBase.GetEnv('TEST_TMPDIR')
+    env['TMP'] = self._temp
+    return env
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def _LoadRunfiles():
+    """Loads the runfiles manifest from ${TEST_SRCDIR}/MANIFEST.
+
+    Only necessary to use on Windows, where runfiles are not symlinked in to the
+    runfiles directory, but are written to a MANIFEST file instead.
+
+    Returns:
+      on Windows: {string: string} dictionary, keys are runfiles-relative paths,
+        values are absolute paths that the runfiles entry is mapped to;
+      on other platforms: string; value of $TEST_SRCDIR
+    """
+    test_srcdir = TestBase.GetEnv('TEST_SRCDIR')
+    if not TestBase.IsWindows():
+      return test_srcdir
+
+    result = {}
+    with open(os.path.join(test_srcdir, 'MANIFEST'), 'r') as f:
+      for l in f:
+        tokens = l.strip().split(' ')
+        if len(tokens) == 2:
+          result[tokens[0]] = tokens[1]
+    return result