diff --git a/rules.bzl b/rules.bzl
index 5f4110c..41c9e8e 100644
--- a/rules.bzl
+++ b/rules.bzl
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ def _bats_test_impl(ctx):
   )
   runfiles = ctx.runfiles(
       files = ctx.files.srcs,
+      transitive_files = depset(ctx.files.data),
       collect_data = True,
   ).merge(ctx.attr._bats.default_runfiles)
   return [DefaultInfo(runfiles = runfiles)]
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ def _bats_test_impl(ctx):
 bats_test = rule(
     _bats_test_impl,
     attrs = {
+      "data": attr.label_list(allow_files = True),
       "deps": attr.label_list(),
       "env": attr.string_dict(
           doc = "A list of key-value pairs of environment variables to define",
diff --git a/tests/BUILD.bazel b/tests/BUILD.bazel
index dffcf4f..e116a15 100644
--- a/tests/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/tests/BUILD.bazel
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ bats_test(
   deps = [":helper"],
 )
 
+bats_test(
+  name = "hello_world_data_test",
+  srcs = ["hello_world_data.bats"],
+  data = ["testdata/golden_4.txt"],
+)
+
 bats_test(
   name = "hello_world_test",
   srcs = ["hello_world.bats"],
diff --git a/tests/hello_world_data.bats b/tests/hello_world_data.bats
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f26c06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/hello_world_data.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+
+@test "can read from data" {
+  run echo 4
+  [ $status -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" == "$(< 'tests/testdata/golden_4.txt')" ]
+}
diff --git a/tests/testdata/golden_4.txt b/tests/testdata/golden_4.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8626c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testdata/golden_4.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+4