diff --git a/substrate/simnet_tests/README.md b/substrate/simnet_tests/README.md
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+++ b/substrate/simnet_tests/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Simulation tests, or high level integration tests.
+
+
+_The content of this directory is meant to be used by Parity's private CI/CD
+infrastructure with private tools. At the moment those tools are still early
+stage of development and we don't when if / when they will available for
+public use._
+
+
+## Content of this dir. 
+
+`configs` dir contains config files in toml format that describe how to
+configure the simulation network that you want to launch.
+
+`tests` dir contains [cucumber](https://cucumber.io/) files. Those are 
+Behavior-Driven Development test files that describe tests in plain English.
+Under the hood there are assertions that specific metrics should have specific
+values. 
+
+At the moment we have 2 tests: `tests/quick/001-smoketest.feature` and
+`tests/long/002-loadtest.feature`
+The load test uses a JS script that we added to simnet image and it's launched
+by this step in the cucumber file:
+`Then launch 'node' with parameters '/usr/local/bin/sub-flood --finalization --url ws://localhost:11222'`
+
+`run_test.sh` is a script meant to ease up launching a test.
+In order to use this script locally, you need to install 
+[gurke](https://github.com/paritytech/gurke)
+This script also helps preparing the test environment. Once you have access to 
+a kubernetes cluster (meaning you can do `kubectl get pods`) you can run this 
+script with no arguments, like `./run_test.sh` and tests should run.
+Kubernetes cluster can be local, spawned with 
+[kind](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start/#installation)
+or an instance living in the 
+[cloud](https://github.com/paritytech/gurke/blob/main/docs/How-to-setup-access-to-gke-k8s-cluster.md) 
+
+
+### [Here is link to barcamp presenation of simnet](https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ph49xu01)
+### [Here is link to the simnet repo, hosted on private gitlab](https://gitlab.parity.io/parity/simnet/-/tree/master)
diff --git a/substrate/simnet_tests/configs/default_local_testnet.toml b/substrate/simnet_tests/configs/default_local_testnet.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..066bd4c9e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/substrate/simnet_tests/configs/default_local_testnet.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[settings]
+bootnode-domain-name = "bootnode.{{get_env(name="NAMESPACE")}}.svc.cluster.local"
+
+
+[settings.setup]
+timeout = 300
+
+[settings.defaults]
+timeout = 300
+
+[nodes]
+alice = { extra-args = ["--alice"], validator = true }
+bob = { extra-args = ["--bob"], validator = true }
+charlie = { extra-args = ["--charlie"], validator = true }
diff --git a/substrate/simnet_tests/run_tests.sh b/substrate/simnet_tests/run_tests.sh
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+++ b/substrate/simnet_tests/run_tests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+### ARGS FOR THIS SCRIPT ###
+# ./${SCRIPT_NAME} NAMESPACE IMAGE LOG_PATH FEATURES
+#   NAMESPACE the kubernetes namespace where the test will run
+#   IMAGE Substrate image used to spawn network
+#   LOG_PATH path to dir where to save logs from external JS script that is run as part 
+# of step in features file
+#   FEATURES directory containing cucumber files or single  cucumber file that describes 
+# what to test.   
+#
+# All args have default values, specify args to override
+# e.g: ./${SCRIPT_NAME} test-name parity/substrate:latest logs quick
+
+set -eou pipefail
+SCRIPT_NAME="$0"
+SCRIPT_PATH=$(dirname "${SCRIPT_NAME}")     # relative
+SCRIPT_PATH=$(cd "${SCRIPT_PATH}" && pwd)   # absolutized and normalized
+
+function random_string {
+   head -1 <(fold -w 30  <(tr -dc 'a-z0-9' < /dev/urandom))
+ }
+
+#
+### Script args
+#
+
+NAMESPACE=${1:-gurke-"$(random_string)"-runtest}
+IMAGE=${2:-"parity/substrate:latest"}
+LOG_PATH=${3:-"${SCRIPT_PATH}/logs"}
+FEATURES=${4:-"ALL"}
+
+mkdir -p "${SCRIPT_PATH}"/logs
+
+echo "Running tests in namespace: ${NAMESPACE}"
+echo "Testing image: ${IMAGE}"
+echo "Storing scripts logs to: ${LOG_PATH}"
+echo "Using features files from: ${FEATURES}"
+
+#
+### Script logic
+#
+
+function forward_port {
+  # RUN_IN_CONTAINER is env var that is set in the dockerfile
+  # use the -v operator to explicitly test if a variable is set
+  if  [[ ! -v RUN_IN_CONTAINER  ]]  ; then 
+    if is_port_forward_running ; then
+      kill_previous_job
+    fi
+  fi
+  start_forwading_job 
+}
+
+FORWARD_GREP_FILTER='kubectl.*[p]ort-forward.*svc/rpc.*11222'
+
+function is_port_forward_running {
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2009
+  ps aux | grep -qE "${FORWARD_GREP_FILTER}" 
+}
+
+function kill_previous_job {
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2009
+  job_pid=$(ps aux | grep -E "${FORWARD_GREP_FILTER}" | awk '{ print $2 }')
+  echo  "INFO Killed forwading port 9944 into bootnode"
+  kill "${job_pid}"
+}
+
+function start_forwading_job {
+  kubectl -n "${NAMESPACE}" \
+          expose pod bootnode \
+          --name=rpc \
+          --type=NodePort \
+          --target-port=9944 \
+          --port=9944
+  kubectl -n "${NAMESPACE}" \
+          port-forward svc/rpc 11222:9944 &> "${LOG_PATH}/forward-${NAMESPACE}.log" &
+  sleep 2
+  echo "INFO Started forwading port 9944 into bootnode"
+}
+
+function update_api {
+  echo "INFO: Updating Polkadot JS API"
+  pwd
+  cd "${SCRIPT_PATH}"/../../sub-flood/
+  npm run build
+  cd -
+}
+
+function run_test {
+    case "${FEATURES}" in
+      quick)         
+        gurke test "${NAMESPACE}" "${SCRIPT_PATH}"/tests/quick  --log-path "${LOG_PATH}"
+        ;;
+      long)  
+        gurke test "${NAMESPACE}" "${SCRIPT_PATH}"/tests/long   --log-path "${LOG_PATH}"
+        ;;
+      ALL )  
+        gurke test "${NAMESPACE}" "${SCRIPT_PATH}"/tests        --log-path "${LOG_PATH}"
+        ;;  
+      ??* )  
+        gurke test \
+              "${NAMESPACE}" \
+              "${SCRIPT_PATH}"/"${FEATURES}" \
+              --log-path  "${LOG_PATH}"
+        ;;  
+    esac
+}
+
+
+export NAMESPACE="${NAMESPACE}"
+
+set -x  # echo the commands to stdout
+gurke spawn --config "${SCRIPT_PATH}"/configs/default_local_testnet.toml \
+            -n "${NAMESPACE}" \
+            --image "${IMAGE}"
+
+echo "INFO: Checking if pods launched correctly"
+kubectl -n "${NAMESPACE}" get pods -o wide
+
+update_api
+
+forward_port
+run_test
+
+
diff --git a/substrate/simnet_tests/tests/long/002-loadtest.feature b/substrate/simnet_tests/tests/long/002-loadtest.feature
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..67d108ea55
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+++ b/substrate/simnet_tests/tests/long/002-loadtest.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Feature: LoadTesting
+
+  Scenario: spawn 50k transactions and wait their finalization
+    Given a test network
+    Then launch 'node' with parameters '/usr/local/bin/sub-flood --finalization --url ws://localhost:11222'
diff --git a/substrate/simnet_tests/tests/quick/001-smoketest.feature b/substrate/simnet_tests/tests/quick/001-smoketest.feature
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a07041e4ea
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+++ b/substrate/simnet_tests/tests/quick/001-smoketest.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+Feature: Smoketest
+
+  Scenario: Minimal Example
+    Given a test network
+    Then alice is up
+    And alice reports substrate_node_roles is 4
+    And alice reports substrate_sub_libp2p_is_major_syncing is 0
+    When alice's best block should be above 30
+    Then alice reports block height is greater than 30
+    And alice reports peers count is at least 2
+    Then bob is up
+    And bob reports block height is greater than 30
+    And bob reports peers count is at least 2
+    Then charlie is up
+    And charlie reports block height is greater than 30
+    And charlie reports peers count is at least 2