diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8caf3700c2..6687bd6db4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 /GIT-PYTHON-VARS
 /GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES
 /GIT-SPATCH-DEFINES
+/GIT-TEST-SUITES
 /GIT-USER-AGENT
 /GIT-VERSION-FILE
 /bin-wrappers/
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 81a47b6132..e38146b5eb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -914,6 +914,8 @@ REFTABLE_TEST_LIB = reftable/libreftable_test.a
 GENERATED_H += command-list.h
 GENERATED_H += config-list.h
 GENERATED_H += hook-list.h
+GENERATED_H += $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar-decls.h
+GENERATED_H += $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar.suite
 
 .PHONY: generated-hdrs
 generated-hdrs: $(GENERATED_H)
@@ -1334,6 +1336,11 @@ THIRD_PARTY_SOURCES += sha1dc/%
 THIRD_PARTY_SOURCES += $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar/%
 THIRD_PARTY_SOURCES += $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar/clar/%
 
+UNIT_TESTS_PROG = $(UNIT_TEST_BIN)/unit-tests$(X)
+UNIT_TESTS_OBJS = $(patsubst %,$(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/%.o,$(UNIT_TESTS_SUITES))
+UNIT_TESTS_OBJS += $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar/clar.o
+UNIT_TESTS_OBJS += $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/unit-test.o
+
 UNIT_TEST_PROGRAMS += t-ctype
 UNIT_TEST_PROGRAMS += t-example-decorate
 UNIT_TEST_PROGRAMS += t-hash
@@ -2714,6 +2721,7 @@ OBJECTS += $(XDIFF_OBJS)
 OBJECTS += $(FUZZ_OBJS)
 OBJECTS += $(REFTABLE_OBJS) $(REFTABLE_TEST_OBJS)
 OBJECTS += $(UNIT_TEST_OBJS)
+OBJECTS += $(UNIT_TESTS_OBJS)
 
 ifndef NO_CURL
 	OBJECTS += http.o http-walker.o remote-curl.o
@@ -3216,7 +3224,7 @@ endif
 
 test_bindir_programs := $(patsubst %,bin-wrappers/%,$(BINDIR_PROGRAMS_NEED_X) $(BINDIR_PROGRAMS_NO_X) $(TEST_PROGRAMS_NEED_X))
 
-all:: $(TEST_PROGRAMS) $(test_bindir_programs) $(UNIT_TEST_PROGS)
+all:: $(TEST_PROGRAMS) $(test_bindir_programs) $(UNIT_TEST_PROGS) $(UNIT_TESTS_PROG)
 
 bin-wrappers/%: wrap-for-bin.sh
 	$(call mkdir_p_parent_template)
@@ -3648,7 +3656,7 @@ endif
 
 artifacts-tar:: $(ALL_COMMANDS_TO_INSTALL) $(SCRIPT_LIB) $(OTHER_PROGRAMS) \
 		GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS $(TEST_PROGRAMS) $(test_bindir_programs) \
-		$(UNIT_TEST_PROGS) $(MOFILES)
+		$(UNIT_TEST_PROGS) $(UNIT_TESTS_PROG) $(MOFILES)
 	$(QUIET_SUBDIR0)templates $(QUIET_SUBDIR1) \
 		SHELL_PATH='$(SHELL_PATH_SQ)' PERL_PATH='$(PERL_PATH_SQ)'
 	test -n "$(ARTIFACTS_DIRECTORY)"
@@ -3704,6 +3712,7 @@ cocciclean:
 
 clean: profile-clean coverage-clean cocciclean
 	$(RM) -r .build $(UNIT_TEST_BIN)
+	$(RM) GIT-TEST-SUITES
 	$(RM) po/git.pot po/git-core.pot
 	$(RM) git.res
 	$(RM) $(OBJECTS)
@@ -3863,7 +3872,26 @@ $(UNIT_TEST_PROGS): $(UNIT_TEST_BIN)/%$X: $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/%.o \
 	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $(ALL_CFLAGS) -o $@ $(ALL_LDFLAGS) \
 		$(filter %.o,$^) $(filter %.a,$^) $(LIBS)
 
+GIT-TEST-SUITES: FORCE
+	@FLAGS='$(UNIT_TESTS_SUITES)'; \
+	    if test x"$$FLAGS" != x"`cat GIT-TEST-SUITES 2>/dev/null`" ; then \
+		echo >&2 "    * new test suites"; \
+		echo "$$FLAGS" >GIT-TEST-SUITES; \
+            fi
+
+$(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar-decls.h: $(patsubst %,$(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/%.c,$(UNIT_TESTS_SUITES)) GIT-TEST-SUITES
+	$(QUIET_GEN)for suite in $(UNIT_TESTS_SUITES); do \
+		sed -ne "s/^\(void test_$${suite}__[a-zA-Z_0-9][a-zA-Z_0-9]*(void)$$\)/extern \1;/p" $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/$$suite.c; \
+	done >$@
+$(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar.suite: $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar-decls.h
+	$(QUIET_GEN)awk -f $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar-generate.awk $< >$(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar.suite
+$(UNIT_TESTS_OBJS): $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar-decls.h
+$(UNIT_TESTS_OBJS): EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = -I$(UNIT_TEST_DIR)
+$(UNIT_TESTS_PROG): $(UNIT_TEST_DIR)/clar.suite $(UNIT_TESTS_OBJS) $(GITLIBS) GIT-LDFLAGS
+	$(call mkdir_p_parent_template)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $(ALL_CFLAGS) -o $@ $(ALL_LDFLAGS) $(filter %.o,$^) $(LIBS)
+
 .PHONY: build-unit-tests unit-tests
-build-unit-tests: $(UNIT_TEST_PROGS)
-unit-tests: $(UNIT_TEST_PROGS) t/helper/test-tool$X
+build-unit-tests: $(UNIT_TEST_PROGS) $(UNIT_TESTS_PROG)
+unit-tests: $(UNIT_TEST_PROGS) $(UNIT_TESTS_PROG) t/helper/test-tool$X
 	$(MAKE) -C t/ unit-tests
diff --git a/t/Makefile b/t/Makefile
index d2212de0b7..131ffd778f 100644
--- a/t/Makefile
+++ b/t/Makefile
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ CHAINLINTTESTS = $(sort $(patsubst chainlint/%.test,%,$(wildcard chainlint/*.tes
 CHAINLINT = '$(PERL_PATH_SQ)' chainlint.pl
 UNIT_TEST_SOURCES = $(wildcard unit-tests/t-*.c)
 UNIT_TEST_PROGRAMS = $(patsubst unit-tests/%.c,unit-tests/bin/%$(X),$(UNIT_TEST_SOURCES))
+UNIT_TEST_PROGRAMS += unit-tests/bin/unit-tests$(X)
 UNIT_TESTS = $(sort $(UNIT_TEST_PROGRAMS))
 UNIT_TESTS_NO_DIR = $(notdir $(UNIT_TESTS))
 
diff --git a/t/unit-tests/.gitignore b/t/unit-tests/.gitignore
index 5e56e040ec..d0632ec7f9 100644
--- a/t/unit-tests/.gitignore
+++ b/t/unit-tests/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 /bin
+/clar.suite
+/clar-decls.h
diff --git a/t/unit-tests/clar-generate.awk b/t/unit-tests/clar-generate.awk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ab71ce6c9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/unit-tests/clar-generate.awk
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+function add_suite(suite, initialize, cleanup, count) {
+       if (!suite) return
+       suite_count++
+       callback_count += count
+       suites = suites "    {\n"
+       suites = suites "        \"" suite "\",\n"
+       suites = suites "        " initialize ",\n"
+       suites = suites "        " cleanup ",\n"
+       suites = suites "        _clar_cb_" suite ", " count ", 1\n"
+       suites = suites "    },\n"
+}
+
+BEGIN {
+       suites = "static struct clar_suite _clar_suites[] = {\n"
+}
+
+{
+       print
+       name = $3; sub(/\(.*$/, "", name)
+       suite = name; sub(/^test_/, "", suite); sub(/__.*$/, "", suite)
+       short_name = name; sub(/^.*__/, "", short_name)
+       cb = "{ \"" short_name "\", &" name " }"
+       if (suite != prev_suite) {
+               add_suite(prev_suite, initialize, cleanup, count)
+               if (callbacks) callbacks = callbacks "};\n"
+               callbacks = callbacks "static const struct clar_func _clar_cb_" suite "[] = {\n"
+               initialize = "{ NULL, NULL }"
+               cleanup = "{ NULL, NULL }"
+               count = 0
+               prev_suite = suite
+       }
+       if (short_name == "initialize") {
+               initialize = cb
+       } else if (short_name == "cleanup") {
+               cleanup = cb
+       } else {
+               callbacks = callbacks "    " cb ",\n"
+               count++
+       }
+}
+
+END {
+       add_suite(suite, initialize, cleanup, count)
+       suites = suites "};"
+       if (callbacks) callbacks = callbacks "};"
+       print callbacks
+       print suites
+       print "static const size_t _clar_suite_count = " suite_count ";"
+       print "static const size_t _clar_callback_count = " callback_count ";"
+}
diff --git a/t/unit-tests/unit-test.c b/t/unit-tests/unit-test.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3d12cde6da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/unit-tests/unit-test.c
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#include "unit-test.h"
+
+int cmd_main(int argc UNUSED, const char **argv UNUSED)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/t/unit-tests/unit-test.h b/t/unit-tests/unit-test.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66ec2387cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/unit-tests/unit-test.h
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "clar/clar.h"
+#include "clar-decls.h"