diff --git a/tests/test_placeholder.py b/tests/test_placeholder.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba6a741
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_placeholder.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+"""Placeholder so pytest does not exit with code 5 (no tests collected) on the
+empty scaffold. Real tests land alongside #17 / #18 / #19; this file is
+removed once those tests exist and exercise the suite."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+
+def test_placeholder() -> None:
+    assert 1 + 1 == 2