diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/json/dirs/presenter_test.go b/imgbom/presenter/json/dirs/presenter_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fbb22564d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/json/dirs/presenter_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package dirs
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"flag"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/go-testutils"
+	"github.com/anchore/imgbom/imgbom/pkg"
+	"github.com/sergi/go-diff/diffmatchpatch"
+)
+
+var update = flag.Bool("update", false, "update the *.golden files for json presenters")
+
+func TestJsonPresenter(t *testing.T) {
+	var buffer bytes.Buffer
+
+	catalog := pkg.NewCatalog()
+
+	// populate catalog with test data
+	catalog.Add(pkg.Package{
+		Name:    "package-1",
+		Version: "1.0.1",
+		Type:    pkg.DebPkg,
+	})
+	catalog.Add(pkg.Package{
+		Name:    "package-2",
+		Version: "2.0.1",
+		Type:    pkg.DebPkg,
+	})
+
+	pres := NewPresenter(catalog, "/some/path")
+
+	// run presenter
+	err := pres.Present(&buffer)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	actual := buffer.Bytes()
+
+	if *update {
+		testutils.UpdateGoldenFileContents(t, actual)
+	}
+
+	var expected = testutils.GetGoldenFileContents(t)
+
+	if !bytes.Equal(expected, actual) {
+		dmp := diffmatchpatch.New()
+		diffs := dmp.DiffMain(string(actual), string(expected), true)
+		t.Errorf("mismatched output:\n%s", dmp.DiffPrettyText(diffs))
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/json/dirs/test-fixtures/snapshot/TestJsonPresenter.golden b/imgbom/presenter/json/dirs/test-fixtures/snapshot/TestJsonPresenter.golden
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ab2fd8317
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/json/dirs/test-fixtures/snapshot/TestJsonPresenter.golden
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"artifacts":[{"name":"package-1","version":"1.0.1","type":"deb","cataloger":"","sources":[],"metadata":null},{"name":"package-2","version":"2.0.1","type":"deb","cataloger":"","sources":[],"metadata":null}],"Source":"/some/path"}
\ No newline at end of file