diff --git a/testing/CMakeLists.txt b/testing/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..919c604
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)
+
+# Set the project name to your project name
+project(main C CXX)
+
+set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
+
+add_executable(main_app
+    ${CMAKE_BINARY_SOURCE_DIR}main.c
+)
+target_include_directories(main_app PUBLIC ${CMAKE_BINARY_SOURCE_DIR})
diff --git a/tests/test_clang_tidy.py b/tests/test_clang_tidy.py
index 16f6ef2..4259a9b 100644
--- a/tests/test_clang_tidy.py
+++ b/tests/test_clang_tidy.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import pytest
+import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from cpp_linter_hooks.clang_tidy import run_clang_tidy
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@
     ),
 )
 def test_run_clang_tidy_valid(args, expected_retval, tmp_path):
+    subprocess.run(['mkdir', '-p', 'build', '&&', 'cmake', '-Bbuild', 'testing/'], shell=True)
     # copy test file to tmp_path to prevent modifying repo data
     test_file = tmp_path / "main.c"
     test_file.write_bytes(Path("testing/main.c").read_bytes())