diff --git a/packages/openapi-v3-types/package.json b/packages/openapi-v3-types/package.json
index 6dd26ee53ff0..b33db0da9723 100644
--- a/packages/openapi-v3-types/package.json
+++ b/packages/openapi-v3-types/package.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@loopback/build": "^0.4.2",
+    "@loopback/testlab": "^0.5.3",
     "@types/node": "^8.10.4"
   },
   "scripts": {
@@ -17,7 +18,10 @@
     "build:apidocs": "lb-apidocs",
     "clean": "lb-clean loopback-openapi-v3-types*.tgz dist package api-docs",
     "prepublishOnly": "npm run build && npm run build:apidocs",
-    "verify": "npm pack && tar xf loopback-openapi-v3-types*.tgz && tree package && npm run clean"
+    "verify": "npm pack && tar xf loopback-openapi-v3-types*.tgz && tree package && npm run clean",
+    "pretest": "npm run build",
+    "test": "lb-mocha \"DIST/test/**/*.js\"",
+    "unit": "npm run build && lb-mocha \"DIST/test/unit/**/*.js\""
   },
   "author": "IBM",
   "copyright.owner": "IBM Corp.",
diff --git a/packages/openapi-v3-types/test/unit/openapi-v3-spec-types.unit.ts b/packages/openapi-v3-types/test/unit/openapi-v3-spec-types.unit.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..55fb62807152
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/openapi-v3-types/test/unit/openapi-v3-spec-types.unit.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2018. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: @loopback/openapi-v3-types
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+import {expect} from '@loopback/testlab';
+import {
+  ExampleObject,
+  ReferenceObject,
+  DiscriminatorObject,
+  XMLObject,
+  ExternalDocumentationObject,
+  ISpecificationExtension,
+  createEmptyApiSpec,
+  OpenAPIObject,
+} from '../..';
+
+describe('openapi-v3-types unit tests', () => {
+  describe('createEmptyApiSpec', () => {
+    let emptySpec: OpenAPIObject;
+
+    beforeEach(createEmptySpec);
+
+    it('sets version 3 for an empty spec', () => {
+      expect(emptySpec.openapi).to.equal('3.0.0');
+    });
+
+    it('sets the spec info object', () => {
+      expect(emptySpec.info).to.be.an.Object();
+      expect(emptySpec.info.title).to.equal('LoopBack Application');
+      expect(emptySpec.info.version).to.equal('1.0.0');
+    });
+
+    it('creates an empty paths object', () => {
+      expect(emptySpec.paths).to.be.an.Object();
+      expect(emptySpec.paths).to.be.empty();
+    });
+
+    it('creates a default servers array', () => {
+      expect(emptySpec.servers).to.be.an.Array();
+      expect(emptySpec.servers).to.have.lengthOf(1);
+      const server = emptySpec.servers ? emptySpec.servers[0] : undefined;
+      expect(server).to.not.be.Undefined();
+      const serverUrl = server ? server.url : '';
+      expect(serverUrl).to.equal('/');
+    });
+
+    function createEmptySpec() {
+      emptySpec = createEmptyApiSpec();
+    }
+  });
+
+  describe('interfaces', () => {
+    /**
+     * The classes below are declared as tests for the Interfaces. The TS Compiler
+     * will complain if an interface changes with a way inconsistent with the
+     * original OAS 3 definition. (Though some interfaces allow for extensibility).
+     */
+
+    // tslint:disable-next-line:no-unused-variable
+    class TestObject implements ExampleObject {
+      summary: 'test object';
+      description: 'test object';
+      value: 1;
+      externalValue: '1';
+      randomProperty: 'extension value';
+    }
+
+    // tslint:disable-next-line:no-unused-variable
+    class ReferenceTestObject implements ReferenceObject {
+      $ref: '#def/reference-object';
+    }
+
+    // tslint:disable-next-line:no-unused-variable
+    class DiscriminatorTestObject implements DiscriminatorObject {
+      propertyName: 'test';
+      mapping: {
+        hello: 'world';
+      };
+    }
+
+    // tslint:disable-next-line:no-unused-variable
+    class XMLTestObject implements XMLObject {
+      name: 'test';
+      namespace: 'test';
+      prefix: 'test';
+      attribute: false;
+      wrapped: false;
+    }
+
+    // tslint:disable-next-line:no-unused-variable
+    class TestExternalDocumentationObject
+      implements ExternalDocumentationObject {
+      url: 'https://test.com/test.html';
+    }
+
+    // tslint:disable-next-line:no-unused-variable
+    class TestISpecificationExtension implements ISpecificationExtension {
+      test: 'test';
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/openapi-v3-types/test/unit/type-guards.unit.ts b/packages/openapi-v3-types/test/unit/type-guards.unit.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f5284048d0fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/openapi-v3-types/test/unit/type-guards.unit.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2018. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: @loopback/openapi-v3-types
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+import {expect} from '@loopback/testlab';
+import {
+  SchemaObject,
+  isSchemaObject,
+  ReferenceObject,
+  isReferenceObject,
+} from '../../src';
+
+describe('type-guards unit tests', () => {
+  describe('isSchemaObject()', () => {
+    it('returns true for a schema object', () => {
+      const schemaObject = new TestSchemaObject();
+      expect(isSchemaObject(schemaObject)).to.be.True();
+    });
+
+    it('returns false for a reference object', () => {
+      const referenceObject = new TestReferenceObject();
+      expect(isSchemaObject(referenceObject)).to.be.False();
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('isReferenceObject()', () => {
+    it('returns true for a reference object', () => {
+      const referenceObject = new TestReferenceObject();
+      expect(isReferenceObject(referenceObject)).to.be.True();
+    });
+
+    it('returns false for a schema object', () => {
+      const schemaObject = new TestSchemaObject();
+      expect(isReferenceObject(schemaObject)).to.be.False();
+    });
+  });
+
+  class TestSchemaObject implements SchemaObject {}
+  class TestReferenceObject implements ReferenceObject {
+    $ref = 'test';
+  }
+});
diff --git a/packages/testlab/package.json b/packages/testlab/package.json
index aa7109947b00..1fc9342f23c8 100644
--- a/packages/testlab/package.json
+++ b/packages/testlab/package.json
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
   "copyright.owner": "IBM Corp.",
   "license": "MIT",
   "dependencies": {
-    "@loopback/openapi-v3-types": "^0.3.3",
     "@types/fs-extra": "^5.0.1",
     "@types/shot": "^3.4.0",
     "@types/sinon": "^4.3.0",
diff --git a/packages/testlab/src/validate-api-spec.ts b/packages/testlab/src/validate-api-spec.ts
index f646066dfe56..67029a01764a 100644
--- a/packages/testlab/src/validate-api-spec.ts
+++ b/packages/testlab/src/validate-api-spec.ts
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@
 // This file is licensed under the MIT License.
 // License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
 
-import {OpenApiSpec} from '@loopback/openapi-v3-types';
 const validator = require('swagger2openapi/validate.js');
 import {promisify} from 'util';
 
 const validateAsync = promisify(validator.validate);
 
-export async function validateApiSpec(spec: OpenApiSpec): Promise<void> {
+// tslint:disable-next-line:no-any
+export async function validateApiSpec(spec: any): Promise<void> {
   const opts = {};
 
   try {