diff --git a/tests/test_cliUtils.py b/tests/test_cliUtils.py
index 498d9260f2..1f7faff4d6 100644
--- a/tests/test_cliUtils.py
+++ b/tests/test_cliUtils.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def testHelp(self):
         @repo_argument(help="repo help text")
         @directory_argument(help="directory help text")
         def cli():
-            """Return the cli help message."""
+            """The cli help message."""  # noqa: D401
             pass
 
         self.runTest(cli)
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def testHelpWrapped(self):
         @repo_argument(help="repo help text")
         @directory_argument(help="directory help text")
         def cli():
-            """Return the cli help message."""
+            """The cli help message."""  # noqa: D401
             pass
 
         self.runTest(cli)
@@ -199,9 +199,9 @@ def test_help(self):
         arguments are declared.
 
         Verify that MWArgument adds " ..." after the option metavar when
-        `nargs` != 1. The default behavior of click is to add elipsis when
-        nargs does not equal 1, but it does not put a space before the elipsis
-        and we prefer a space between the metavar and the elipsis.
+        `nargs` != 1. The default behavior of click is to add ellipsis when
+        nargs does not equal 1, but it does not put a space before the ellipsis
+        and we prefer a space between the metavar and the ellipsis.
         """
         # nargs can be -1 for any number of args, or >= 1 for a specified
         # number of arguments.
diff --git a/tests/test_flake8.py b/tests/test_flake8.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2a64c6e16b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_flake8.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# This file is part of utils.
+#
+# Developed for the LSST Data Management System.
+# This product includes software developed by the LSST Project
+# (https://www.lsst.org).
+# See the COPYRIGHT file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# for details of code ownership.
+#
+# Use of this source code is governed by a 3-clause BSD-style
+# license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+import os
+import sys
+import unittest
+
+import lsst.utils.tests
+
+SCANDIR = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), os.path.pardir))
+
+
+class Flake8TestCase(lsst.utils.tests.ExecutablesTestCase):
+    def test_flake8(self):
+        """Run flake8 on the source code starting in the parent directory."""
+        self.assertExecutable(
+            sys.executable, args=["-m", "flake8", "-j", "auto", f"{SCANDIR}"], msg="Code failed flake8 check."
+        )
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()