diff --git a/wizard-work/spark/line_counter_test.py b/wizard-work/spark/line_counter_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06b8adf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wizard-work/spark/line_counter_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Test script for line_counter.py - verifies utility works correctly."""
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import json
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+def test_line_counter():
+    """Test the line_counter utility with a temp file."""
+    # Create test file with known content
+    with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode='w', suffix='.txt', delete=False) as f:
+        test_file = f.name
+        for i in range(10):
+            f.write(f"line {i+1}\n")
+    
+    try:
+        # Test count mode
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            ['python3', '/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/spark/line_counter.py', test_file, 'count'],
+            capture_output=True, text=True
+        )
+        
+        if result.returncode != 0:
+            print(f"FAIL: count mode returned {result.returncode}")
+            print(f"stderr: {result.stderr}")
+            return False
+        
+        count = int(result.stdout.strip())
+        if count != 10:
+            print(f"FAIL: expected 10 lines, got {count}")
+            return False
+        
+        # Test non-existent file
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            ['python3', '/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/spark/line_counter.py', '/nonexistent/file.txt', 'count'],
+            capture_output=True, text=True
+        )
+        
+        if result.returncode == 0:
+            print("FAIL: non-existent file should return error")
+            return False
+        
+        print("PASS: All tests successful")
+        print(f"Line count utility verified: {count} lines counted correctly")
+        return True
+        
+    finally:
+        Path(test_file).unlink(missing_ok=True)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(0 if test_line_counter() else 1)
\ No newline at end of file