diff --git a/t/kvs/kvs-helper.sh b/t/kvs/kvs-helper.sh
index 6f86a4d36287..128e404dd13a 100755
--- a/t/kvs/kvs-helper.sh
+++ b/t/kvs/kvs-helper.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ loophandlereturn() {
     return 0
 }
 
+# arg1 - key to retrieve
+# arg2 - expected value
+test_kvs_key() {
+	flux kvs get --json "$1" >output
+	echo "$2" >expected
+	test_cmp expected output
+}
+
 # arg1 - key to retrieve
 # arg2 - value to wait for
 wait_watch_put() {
diff --git a/t/t1000-kvs.t b/t/t1000-kvs.t
index cb80707ea7ac..f91880954f98 100755
--- a/t/t1000-kvs.t
+++ b/t/t1000-kvs.t
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ These are the basic/core flux kvs tests and should be run before
 any other tests that require kvs functionality.
 '
 
+. `dirname $0`/kvs/kvs-helper.sh
+
 . `dirname $0`/sharness.sh
 
 if test "$TEST_LONG" = "t"; then
@@ -23,12 +25,6 @@ KEY=test.a.b.c
 SUBDIR1=test.a.b.d
 SUBDIR2=test.a.b.e
 
-test_kvs_key() {
-	flux kvs get --json "$1" >output
-	echo "$2" >expected
-	test_cmp expected output
-}
-
 #
 # Basic put, get, unlink tests
 #
diff --git a/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t b/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t
index 1805399d4c9d..6f279f8138aa 100755
--- a/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t
+++ b/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t
@@ -29,12 +29,6 @@ NAMESPACETEST=namespacetest
 NAMESPACETMP=namespacetmp
 NAMESPACERANK1=namespacerank1
 
-test_kvs_key() {
-	flux kvs get --json "$1" >output
-	echo "$2" >expected
-	test_cmp expected output
-}
-
 test_kvs_key_namespace() {
         export FLUX_KVS_NAMESPACE=$1
 	flux kvs get --json "$2" >output