diff --git a/src/bin/pg_ctl/t/003_promote.pl b/src/bin/pg_ctl/t/003_promote.pl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1461234f2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bin/pg_ctl/t/003_promote.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+use PostgresNode;
+use TestLib;
+use Test::More tests => 9;
+
+my $tempdir = TestLib::tempdir;
+
+command_fails_like([ 'pg_ctl', '-D', "$tempdir/nonexistent", 'promote' ],
+				   qr/directory .* does not exist/,
+				   'pg_ctl promote with nonexistent directory');
+
+my $node_primary = get_new_node('primary');
+$node_primary->init(allows_streaming => 1);
+
+command_fails_like([ 'pg_ctl', '-D', $node_primary->data_dir, 'promote' ],
+				   qr/PID file .* does not exist/,
+				   'pg_ctl promote of not running instance fails');
+
+$node_primary->start;
+
+command_fails_like([ 'pg_ctl', '-D', $node_primary->data_dir, 'promote' ],
+				   qr/not in standby mode/,
+				   'pg_ctl promote of primary instance fails');
+
+my $node_standby = get_new_node('standby');
+$node_primary->backup('my_backup');
+$node_standby->init_from_backup($node_primary, 'my_backup', has_streaming => 1);
+$node_standby->start;
+
+is($node_standby->safe_psql('postgres', 'SELECT pg_is_in_recovery()'),
+   't', 'standby is in recovery');
+
+command_ok([ 'pg_ctl', '-D', $node_standby->data_dir, 'promote' ],
+		   'pg_ctl promote of standby runs');
+
+ok($node_standby->poll_query_until('postgres', 'SELECT NOT pg_is_in_recovery()'),
+   'promoted standby is not in recovery');
diff --git a/src/test/perl/TestLib.pm b/src/test/perl/TestLib.pm
index c7b3262087..51b533e08c 100644
--- a/src/test/perl/TestLib.pm
+++ b/src/test/perl/TestLib.pm
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ our @EXPORT = qw(
   program_version_ok
   program_options_handling_ok
   command_like
+  command_fails_like
 
   $windows_os
 );
@@ -281,4 +282,14 @@ sub command_like
 	like($stdout, $expected_stdout, "$test_name: matches");
 }
 
+sub command_fails_like
+{
+	my ($cmd, $expected_stderr, $test_name) = @_;
+	my ($stdout, $stderr);
+	print("# Running: " . join(" ", @{$cmd}) . "\n");
+	my $result = IPC::Run::run $cmd, '>', \$stdout, '2>', \$stderr;
+	ok(!$result, "$test_name: exit code not 0");
+	like($stderr, $expected_stderr, "$test_name: matches");
+}
+
 1;