diff --git a/tests/test_command_edit.py b/tests/test_command_edit.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da6b9a0a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_command_edit.py
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+from contextlib import suppress
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest import mock
+
+import pytest
+
+from scrapy.cmdline import ScrapyArgumentParser
+from scrapy.commands.edit import Command
+from scrapy.utils.project import get_project_settings
+from tests.test_commands import TestProjectBase
+from tests.utils.cmdline import call, proc
+
+
+class TestEditCommand(TestProjectBase):
+    """unit testing of the 'scrapy edit' command"""
+
+    @pytest.fixture
+    def create_spider(self, proj_path: Path):
+        """creates spider needed for tests"""
+        # setup: add "cat" as test environment editor
+        editor_to_restore = None
+        if "EDITOR" in os.environ:
+            editor_to_restore = os.environ["EDITOR"]
+
+        os.environ["EDITOR"] = "cat"
+
+        # setup: preserve scrapy settings in local environment
+        scrapy_settings_to_restore = None
+        if "SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE" in os.environ:
+            scrapy_settings_to_restore = os.environ["SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE"]
+
+        # setup: create spider to edit
+        test_name = "test_name"
+        call("genspider", test_name, "test.com", cwd=proj_path)
+        spider = proj_path / self.project_name / "spiders" / "test_name.py"
+
+        try:
+            yield proj_path, spider, test_name
+
+        finally:
+            # teardown: remove spider from project
+            Path.unlink(spider)
+
+            # teardown: restore previous editor
+            if editor_to_restore is not None:
+                os.environ["EDITOR"] = editor_to_restore
+            else:
+                # remove editor from os.environ if it exists
+                with suppress(KeyError):
+                    os.environ.pop("EDITOR")
+
+            # teardown: restore project settings in local environment
+            if scrapy_settings_to_restore is not None:
+                os.environ["SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE"] = scrapy_settings_to_restore
+            else:
+                # remove "SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE" from os.environ if it exists
+                with suppress(KeyError):
+                    os.environ.pop("SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE")
+
+    def test_edit_valid_spider(self, create_spider) -> None:
+        """test call to edit command with correct spider name"""
+        proj_path, spider, test_name = create_spider
+        assert spider.exists()
+        assert call("edit", test_name, cwd=proj_path) == 0
+
+    def test_edit_nospider(self, proj_path: Path) -> None:
+        """test call to edit if no spider has been specified"""
+        assert call("edit", "not_a_valid_spider", cwd=proj_path) == 1
+
+    def test_edit_short_desc(self, proj_path: Path) -> None:
+        """Check that short description included in scrapy -h"""
+        rtn_code, out, _ = proc("-h", cwd=proj_path)
+        assert rtn_code == 0
+        cmd = Command()
+        assert cmd.short_desc() in out
+
+    def test_edit_command_valid_directory(self, create_spider):
+        """calls editor command directly from project directory"""
+        proj_path, spider, test_name = create_spider
+        failures = []
+
+        # change into cwd
+        current = Path.cwd()
+        os.chdir(proj_path)
+
+        try:
+            # create edit command object
+            # teardown required as get_project_settings() mutates os.environ
+            cmd = Command()
+            cmd.settings = get_project_settings()
+            # grabs system editor to mock
+            editor = cmd.settings.get("EDITOR")
+
+            # parse commandline arguments
+            parser = ScrapyArgumentParser()
+            opts, _ = parser.parse_known_args(["edit", test_name])
+
+            with mock.patch(
+                "scrapy.commands.edit.os.system", return_value=0
+            ) as mock_sys:
+                cmd.run([test_name], opts)
+                mock_sys.assert_called_once_with(f'{editor} "{spider}"')
+
+        # catch failure so we can restore cwd
+        except AssertionError as e:
+            failures.append(e)
+
+        finally:
+            # restore previous cwd
+            os.chdir(current)
+
+            # report test failure
+            if failures:
+                pytest.fail(f"{failures[0]}")
+
+    def test_edit_as_subprocess(self, create_spider):
+        """check that subprocess calls editor"""
+        proj_path, _, test_name = create_spider
+
+        spider_text = """
+class TestNameSpider(scrapy.Spider):
+    name = "test_name"
+"""
+
+        _, out, _ = proc("edit", test_name, cwd=proj_path)
+        assert spider_text in out
+
+    def test_edit_subprocess_no_project(self, create_spider):
+        """check that subprocess does not call editor outside project"""
+        proj_path, _, test_name = create_spider
+
+        no_proj = """
+The edit command is not available from this location.
+These commands are only available from within a project: check, crawl, edit, list, parse.
+"""
+        _, out, _ = proc("edit", test_name, cwd=proj_path.parent)
+        assert no_proj in out