diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test-eessi.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from .github/workflows/test.yml
rename to .github/workflows/test-eessi.yml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5fa7f2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# documentation: https://help.github.com/en/articles/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions
+name: Unit tests
+on: [push, pull_request, workflow_dispatch]
+permissions:
+  contents: read # to fetch code (actions/checkout)
+jobs:
+  ubuntu-minimal:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        python: ['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13', '3.14']
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 # v4.1.6
+    - name: set up Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@82c7e631bb3cdc910f68e0081d67478d79c6982d # v5.1.0
+      with:
+        python-version: ${{matrix.python}}
+
+    - name: Install eessi command line tool
+      id: install
+      run: |
+        pip install .
+
+    - name: Install pytest
+      run: |
+        pip install pytest
+
+    - name: Run tests
+      run: |
+        pytest
diff --git a/src/eessi/cli/check.py b/src/eessi/cli/check.py
index b9cebb7..7c296e4 100644
--- a/src/eessi/cli/check.py
+++ b/src/eessi/cli/check.py
@@ -102,14 +102,19 @@ def get_repo_attribute(repo: str, key: str):
     Get repository attribute
     """
     repo_path = os.path.join(CVMFS_ROOT, repo)
+
+    value = UNKNOWN
+
     (stdout, stderr, exit_code) = run_cmd(f"attr -g {key} {repo_path}")
     if exit_code == 0:
-        # expected output is something like:
-        # Attribute "revision" had a 5 byte value for /cvmfs/software.eessi.io:
-        # 13972
-        value = stdout.splitlines()[-1]
-    else:
-        value = UNKNOWN
+        # Expected output is something like:
+        #   Attribute "revision" had a 5 byte value for /cvmfs/software.eessi.io:
+        #   13972
+        #
+        # If there's no value found ('0 byte value'), then last line is *empty*
+        regex = re.compile("had a [1-9][0-9]* byte value", re.M)
+        if regex.search(stdout):
+            value = stdout.splitlines()[-1].strip()
 
     return value
 
diff --git a/tests/test_check.py b/tests/test_check.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e53184
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_check.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import eessi.cli.check
+from eessi.cli.check import UNKNOWN, get_repo_attribute
+
+
+def test_get_repo_attribute(monkeypatch):
+    """
+    Tests for get_repo_attribute
+    """
+
+    out = '\n'.join([
+        'Attribute "revision" had a 5 byte value for /cvmfs/software.eessi.io:',
+        '13972',
+    ])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(eessi.cli.check, 'run_cmd', lambda x: (out, '', 0))
+    res = get_repo_attribute('software.eessi.io', 'revision')
+    assert res == '13972'
+
+    # check that UNKNOWN is returned when attr returns '0 byte value' with empty last line
+    out = '\n'.join([
+        'Attribute "ncleanup24" had a 0 byte value for /cvmfs/software.eessi.io:',
+        '',
+    ])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(eessi.cli.check, 'run_cmd', lambda x: (out, '', 0))
+    res = get_repo_attribute('software.eessi.io', 'ncleanup24')
+    assert res == UNKNOWN