diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 6459cbd..e02f746 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "Cython","numpy","protobuf"]
 before-build = [
 "pip install -r requirements_dev.txt",
 ]
-test-command = "python {package}/test/test.py"
+test-command = "python {project}/test/test.py {project}/test/inputs/sanity.test.tgz"
 [tool.cibuildwheel.linux]
 before-all = "bash install_prereqs.sh && bash install_openssl3.sh && bash install_genomicsdbforwheel.sh"
 environment = { LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/local/lib64:/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH", OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR="/usr/local"}
diff --git a/test/test.py b/test/test.py
index f64810f..afde6c1 100644
--- a/test/test.py
+++ b/test/test.py
@@ -141,8 +141,8 @@ def run_test_connect_with_json():
     os.makedirs(tmp_dir)
 else:
     sys.exit("Aborting as temporary directory seems to exist!")
-
-tar = tarfile.open("test/inputs/sanity.test.tgz")
+testfile = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 0 else 'test/inputs/sanity.test.tgz'
+tar = tarfile.open(testfile)
 tar.extractall(tmp_dir)
 
 os.chdir(tmp_dir)