diff --git a/cmd/tmsp/cli.go b/cmd/tmsp/cli.go
index 9f06c3f7..75cd921d 100644
--- a/cmd/tmsp/cli.go
+++ b/cmd/tmsp/cli.go
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ func cmdBatch(app *cli.App, c *cli.Context) {
 			Exit("input line is too long")
 		} else if err == io.EOF {
 			break
+		} else if len(line) == 0 {
+			continue
 		} else if err != nil {
 			Exit(err.Error())
 		}
diff --git a/example/python/app.py b/example/python/app.py
index f7797698..a9e9d3b7 100644
--- a/example/python/app.py
+++ b/example/python/app.py
@@ -38,9 +38,12 @@ class CounterAppContext():
 
 	def append_tx(self, txBytes):
 		if self.serial:
-			txValue = decode_big_endian(BytesReader(txBytes), len(txBytes))
+			txByteArray = bytearray(txBytes)
+			if len(txBytes) >= 2 and txBytes[:2] == "0x":
+				txByteArray = hex2bytes(txBytes[2:])
+			txValue = decode_big_endian(BytesReader(txByteArray), len(txBytes))
 			if txValue != self.txCount:
-				return [], 1
+				return None, 1
 		self.txCount += 1
 		return None, 0
 
@@ -48,7 +51,9 @@ class CounterAppContext():
 		self.hashCount += 1
 		if self.txCount == 0:
 			return "", 0
-		return str(encode_big_endian(self.txCount, 8)), 0
+		h = encode_big_endian(self.txCount, 8)
+		h.reverse()
+		return str(h), 0
 
 	def commit(self):
 		return 0 
diff --git a/example/python/tmsp/reader.py b/example/python/tmsp/reader.py
index edb88e67..f1b3dfae 100644
--- a/example/python/tmsp/reader.py
+++ b/example/python/tmsp/reader.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ class BytesReader():
 
 	def read(self, n):
 		if len(self.buf) < n:
+			print "reader err: buf less than n"
 			# TODO: exception
 			return
 		r = self.buf[:n]
diff --git a/example/python/tmsp/server.py b/example/python/tmsp/server.py
index cc1970c4..e25e4e1f 100644
--- a/example/python/tmsp/server.py
+++ b/example/python/tmsp/server.py
@@ -77,9 +77,9 @@ class TMSPServer():
 		    	ret_code = res
 			res = None
 
+		    print "called", req_type, "ret code:", ret_code
 		    if ret_code != 0:
 			    print "non-zero retcode:", ret_code
-			    return
 
 		    if req_type in ("echo", "info"): # these dont return a ret code
 		    	response += bytearray([resTypeByte]) + encode(res)
diff --git a/example/python/tmsp/wire.py b/example/python/tmsp/wire.py
index e1d37eff..fde4e160 100644
--- a/example/python/tmsp/wire.py
+++ b/example/python/tmsp/wire.py
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 # the decoder works off a reader
 # the encoder returns bytearray
 
+def hex2bytes(h):
+	return bytearray(h.decode('hex'))
+
 def bytes2hex(b):
 	if type(b) in (str, unicode):
 		return "".join([hex(ord(c))[2:].zfill(2) for c in b])
diff --git a/tests/test.sh b/tests/test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..848d14cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+
+ROOT=$GOPATH/src/github.com/tendermint/tmsp
+cd $ROOT
+
+# test golang dummy
+bash tests/test_dummy.sh
+
+# test golang counter
+bash tests/test_counter.sh
+
+# test python counter
+cd example/python
+COUNTER_APP="python app.py" bash $ROOT/tests/test_counter.sh
diff --git a/tests/test_counter.sh b/tests/test_counter.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..41909dde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_counter.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+
+# so we can test other languages
+if [[ "$COUNTER_APP" == "" ]]; then
+	COUNTER_APP="counter"
+fi
+
+echo "Testing counter app for: $COUNTER_APP"
+
+# run the counter app
+$COUNTER_APP &> /dev/null &
+PID=`echo $!`
+
+if [[ "$?" != 0 ]]; then
+	echo "Error running tmsp command"
+	echo $OUTPUT
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+sleep 1
+OUTPUT=`(tmsp batch) <<STDIN 
+set_option serial on
+get_hash
+append_tx abc
+STDIN`
+
+if [[ "$?" != 0 ]]; then
+	echo "Error running tmsp command"
+	echo $OUTPUT
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+# why can't we pick up the non-zero exit code here?
+# echo $?
+
+HASH1=`echo "$OUTPUT" | tail -n +2 | head -n 1`
+if [[ "${HASH1}" != "" ]]; then
+	echo "Expected opening hash to be empty. Got $HASH1"	
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+OUTPUT=`(tmsp batch) <<STDIN 
+set_option serial on
+append_tx 0x00
+get_hash
+append_tx 0x01
+get_hash
+STDIN`
+
+if [[ "$?" != 0 ]]; then
+	echo "Error running tmsp command"
+	echo $OUTPUT
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+HASH1=`echo "$OUTPUT" | tail -n +3 | head -n 1`
+HASH2=`echo "$OUTPUT" | tail -n +5 | head -n 1`
+
+if [[ "${HASH1:0:2}" != "01" ]]; then
+	echo "Expected hash to lead with 01. Got $HASH1"	
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+if [[ "${HASH2:0:2}" != "02" ]]; then
+	echo "Expected hash to lead with 02. Got $HASH2"	
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "... Pass!"
+echo ""
+
+ps -p $PID > /dev/null
+if [[ "$?" == "0" ]]; then
+	kill -9 $PID
+fi
+
diff --git a/test.sh b/tests/test_dummy.sh
similarity index 56%
rename from test.sh
rename to tests/test_dummy.sh
index 2f445861..b88475df 100755
--- a/test.sh
+++ b/tests/test_dummy.sh
@@ -51,50 +51,3 @@ echo ""
 
 kill $PID
 sleep 1
-
-# test the counter app
-echo "Counter test ..."
-counter &> /dev/null &
-PID=`echo $!`
-sleep 1
-OUTPUT=`(tmsp batch) <<STDIN 
-set_option serial on
-get_hash
-append_tx abc
-STDIN`
-
-# why can't we pick up the non-zero exit code here?
-# echo $?
-
-HASH1=`echo "$OUTPUT" | tail -n +2 | head -n 1`
-if [[ "$HASH1" != "" ]]; then
-	echo "Expected opening hash to be empty. Got $HASH1"
-	exit 1
-fi
-
-OUTPUT=`(tmsp batch) <<STDIN 
-set_option serial on
-append_tx 0x00
-get_hash
-append_tx 0x01
-get_hash
-STDIN`
-
-HASH1=`echo "$OUTPUT" | tail -n +3 | head -n 1`
-HASH2=`echo "$OUTPUT" | tail -n +5 | head -n 1`
-
-if [[ "${HASH1:0:2}" != "01" ]]; then
-	echo "Expected hash to lead with 01. Got $HASH1"
-	exit 1
-fi
-
-if [[ "${HASH2:0:2}" != "02" ]]; then
-	echo "Expected hash to lead with 02. Got $HASH2"
-	exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "... Pass!"
-echo ""
-
-kill $PID
-