diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-scripts.yml b/.github/workflows/test-scripts.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7258598631
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-scripts.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# documentation: https://help.github.com/en/articles/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions
+name: Tests for scripts in EESSI software layer
+on: [push, pull_request]
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ${{matrix.os}}
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
+        python: [2.7, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8]
+      fail-fast: false
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+    - name: set up Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+      with:
+        python-version: ${{matrix.python}}
+        architecture: x64
+
+    - name: install OS & Python packages
+      run: |
+        pip install archspec
+
+    - name: test scripts
+      run: |
+        python eessi_cpu_subdir.py
+        source init_eessi.sh
+        # check which $EESSI_* environment variables were defined
+        env | grep '^EESSI' | sort
+        # make sure there are no empty subpaths
+        echo "$EESSI_PATH" | grep -v '//'
diff --git a/eessi_cpu_subdir.py b/eessi_cpu_subdir.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..88599c70b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eessi_cpu_subdir.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Determine subdirectory of EESSI prefix to use, based on CPU microarchitecture of host
+import os
+import archspec.cpu
+
+host_cpu = archspec.cpu.host()
+
+cpu_family = host_cpu.family.name
+cpu_codename = host_cpu.name
+
+print(os.path.join(cpu_family, cpu_codename))
diff --git a/init_eessi.sh b/init_eessi.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..41887aa5dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/init_eessi.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+echo "Initializing environment for EESSI..."
+
+export EESSI_MOUNT="/tmp/cvmfs"
+export EESSI_REPO="pilot.eessi-hpc.org"
+export EESSI_CPU_SUBDIR="$(python eessi_cpu_subdir.py)"
+export EESSI_PATH="$EESSI_MOUNT/$EESSI_REPO/$EESSI_CPU_SUBDIR"
+
+echo ">> EESSI path: $EESSI_PATH"