diff --git a/t/lib-parallel-checkout.sh b/t/lib-parallel-checkout.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..39fd36fdf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/lib-parallel-checkout.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Helpers for t208* tests
+
+set_checkout_config () {
+	if test $# -ne 2
+	then
+		BUG "set_checkout_config() requires two arguments"
+	fi &&
+
+	test_config_global checkout.workers $1 &&
+	test_config_global checkout.thresholdForParallelism $2
+}
+
+# Run "${@:2}" and check that $1 checkout workers were used
+test_checkout_workers () {
+	if test $# -lt 2
+	then
+		BUG "too few arguments to test_checkout_workers()"
+	fi &&
+
+	expected_workers=$1 &&
+	shift &&
+
+	rm -f trace &&
+	GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/trace" "$@" &&
+
+	workers=$(grep "child_start\[..*\] git checkout--worker" trace | wc -l) &&
+	test $workers -eq $expected_workers &&
+	rm -f trace
+}
+
+# Verify that both the working tree and the index were created correctly
+verify_checkout () {
+	git -C "$1" diff-index --quiet HEAD -- &&
+	git -C "$1" diff-index --quiet --cached HEAD -- &&
+	git -C "$1" status --porcelain >"$1".status &&
+	test_must_be_empty "$1".status
+}
diff --git a/t/t2080-parallel-checkout-basics.sh b/t/t2080-parallel-checkout-basics.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..0cb1493cdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t2080-parallel-checkout-basics.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='parallel-checkout basics
+
+Ensure that parallel-checkout basically works on clone and checkout, spawning
+the required number of workers and correctly populating both the index and the
+working tree.
+'
+
+TEST_NO_CREATE_REPO=1
+. ./test-lib.sh
+. "$TEST_DIRECTORY/lib-parallel-checkout.sh"
+
+# Test parallel-checkout with a branch switch containing file creations,
+# deletions, and modification; with different entry types. Switching from B1 to
+# B2 will have the following changes:
+#
+# - a (file):      modified
+# - e/x (file):    deleted
+# - b (symlink):   deleted
+# - b/f (file):    created
+# - e (symlink):   created
+# - d (submodule): created
+#
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'setup repo for checkout with various types of changes' '
+	git init various &&
+	(
+		cd various &&
+		git checkout -b B1 &&
+		echo a >a &&
+		mkdir e &&
+		echo e/x >e/x &&
+		ln -s e b &&
+		git add -A &&
+		git commit -m B1 &&
+
+		git checkout -b B2 &&
+		echo modified >a &&
+		rm -rf e &&
+		rm b &&
+		mkdir b &&
+		echo b/f >b/f &&
+		ln -s b e &&
+		git init d &&
+		test_commit -C d f &&
+		git submodule add ./d &&
+		git add -A &&
+		git commit -m B2 &&
+
+		git checkout --recurse-submodules B1
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'sequential checkout' '
+	cp -R various various_sequential &&
+	set_checkout_config 1 0 &&
+	test_checkout_workers 0 \
+		git -C various_sequential checkout --recurse-submodules B2 &&
+	verify_checkout various_sequential
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'parallel checkout' '
+	cp -R various various_parallel &&
+	set_checkout_config 2 0 &&
+	test_checkout_workers 2 \
+		git -C various_parallel checkout --recurse-submodules B2 &&
+	verify_checkout various_parallel
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'fallback to sequential checkout (threshold)' '
+	cp -R various various_sequential_fallback &&
+	set_checkout_config 2 100 &&
+	test_checkout_workers 0 \
+		git -C various_sequential_fallback checkout --recurse-submodules B2 &&
+	verify_checkout various_sequential_fallback
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'parallel checkout on clone' '
+	git -C various checkout --recurse-submodules B2 &&
+	set_checkout_config 2 0 &&
+	test_checkout_workers 2 \
+		git clone --recurse-submodules various various_parallel_clone &&
+	verify_checkout various_parallel_clone
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'fallback to sequential checkout on clone (threshold)' '
+	git -C various checkout --recurse-submodules B2 &&
+	set_checkout_config 2 100 &&
+	test_checkout_workers 0 \
+		git clone --recurse-submodules various various_sequential_fallback_clone &&
+	verify_checkout various_sequential_fallback_clone
+'
+
+# Just to be paranoid, actually compare the working trees' contents directly.
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'compare the working trees' '
+	rm -rf various_*/.git &&
+	rm -rf various_*/d/.git &&
+
+	diff -r various_sequential various_parallel &&
+	diff -r various_sequential various_sequential_fallback &&
+	diff -r various_sequential various_parallel_clone &&
+	diff -r various_sequential various_sequential_fallback_clone
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'parallel checkout respects --[no]-force' '
+	set_checkout_config 2 0 &&
+	git init dirty &&
+	(
+		cd dirty &&
+		mkdir D &&
+		test_commit D/F &&
+		test_commit F &&
+
+		rm -rf D &&
+		echo changed >D &&
+		echo changed >F.t &&
+
+		# We expect 0 workers because there is nothing to be done
+		test_checkout_workers 0 git checkout HEAD &&
+		test_path_is_file D &&
+		grep changed D &&
+		grep changed F.t &&
+
+		test_checkout_workers 2 git checkout --force HEAD &&
+		test_path_is_dir D &&
+		grep D/F D/F.t &&
+		grep F F.t
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'parallel checkout checks for symlinks in leading dirs' '
+	set_checkout_config 2 0 &&
+	git init symlinks &&
+	(
+		cd symlinks &&
+		mkdir D untracked &&
+		# Commit 2 files to have enough work for 2 parallel workers
+		test_commit D/A &&
+		test_commit D/B &&
+		rm -rf D &&
+		ln -s untracked D &&
+
+		test_checkout_workers 2 git checkout --force HEAD &&
+		! test -h D &&
+		grep D/A D/A.t &&
+		grep D/B D/B.t
+	)
+'
+
+test_done
