diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b392e33..93d23ba 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ script:
  - cabal test
  - cabal check
  - cabal sdist   # tests that a source-distribution can be generated
+ - ./scripts/test-official.sh
 
 # Check that the resulting source distribution can be built & installed.
 # If there are no other `.tar.gz` files in `dist`, this can be even simpler:
diff --git a/scripts/test-official.sh b/scripts/test-official.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..dd78945
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test-official.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -ev
+
+# Test that the official database can be loaded
+
+if [ -d "state" ]; then
+  mv state state-old
+fi
+
+git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aelve/guide-database.git
+mv guide-database state
+
+cabal build
+dist/build/guide/guide --dry-run
+
+rm -rf state
+
+if [ -d "state-old" ]; then
+  mv state-old state
+fi
diff --git a/src/Main.hs b/src/Main.hs
index f212726..cfdf23d 100644
--- a/src/Main.hs
+++ b/src/Main.hs
@@ -451,6 +451,11 @@ main = do
         _categoriesDeleted = [],
         _pendingEdits = [],
         _editIdCounter = 0 }
+  do args <- getArgs
+     when (args == ["--dry-run"]) $ do
+       db :: DB <- openLocalStateFrom "state/" (error "couldn't load state")
+       closeAcidState db
+       exitSuccess
   -- When we run in GHCi and we exit the main thread, the EKG thread (that
   -- runs the localhost:5050 server which provides statistics) may keep
   -- running. This makes running this in GHCi annoying, because you have to
diff --git a/src/Utils.hs b/src/Utils.hs
index d7545a9..7c69094 100644
--- a/src/Utils.hs
+++ b/src/Utils.hs
@@ -252,9 +252,6 @@ genVer tyName ver constructors = do
     []
   return [decl]
 
--- TODO: [easy] add a test that takes data from aelve/guide-database and
--- checks that the data can be loaded
-
 data MigrateConstructor = CopyM Name | CustomM Name ExpQ
 
 migrateVer :: Name -> Int -> [MigrateConstructor] -> Q Exp