diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 760205ab..8e724613 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ option(USE_BUNDLED_DEPS "Bundle hard to find dependencies into the Falco binary"
 option(BUILD_WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS "Enable building with -Wextra -Werror flags" OFF)
 option(MINIMAL_BUILD "Build a minimal version of Falco, containing only the engine and basic input/output (EXPERIMENTAL)" OFF)
 option(MUSL_OPTIMIZED_BUILD "Enable if you want a musl optimized build" OFF)
+option(BUILD_FALCO_UNIT_TESTS "Build falco unit tests" OFF)
 
 # gVisor is currently only supported on Linux x86_64
 if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR STREQUAL "x86_64" AND CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME MATCHES "Linux" AND NOT MINIMAL_BUILD)
@@ -223,3 +224,7 @@ include(falcoctl)
 
 # Packages configuration
 include(CPackConfig)
+
+if(BUILD_FALCO_UNIT_TESTS)
+  add_subdirectory(unit_tests)
+endif()
diff --git a/unit_tests/CMakeLists.txt b/unit_tests/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..77d1675c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unit_tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2023 The Falco Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+# the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+#
+
+message(STATUS "Falco unit tests build enabled")
+
+include(FetchContent)
+
+FetchContent_Declare(
+  googletest
+  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/googletest.git
+  GIT_TAG        release-1.12.1
+)
+
+FetchContent_MakeAvailable(googletest)
+
+file(GLOB_RECURSE ENGINE_TESTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/engine/*.cpp)
+file(GLOB_RECURSE FALCO_TESTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/falco/*.cpp)
+
+set(FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_SOURCES
+  "${ENGINE_TESTS}"
+  "${FALCO_TESTS}"
+)
+
+set(FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_INCLUDES
+    PRIVATE
+    ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/userspace
+    ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/userspace/falco # we need it to include indirectly `config_falco.h` file
+    ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/userspace/engine # we need it to include indirectly `falco_common.h` file
+)
+
+set(FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_DEPENDENCIES
+  gtest
+  gtest_main
+  falco_engine
+  sinsp
+)
+
+set(FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_LIBRARIES
+  gtest
+  gtest_main
+  falco_engine
+  sinsp
+)
+
+message(STATUS "FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_SOURCES: ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_SOURCES}")
+message(STATUS "FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_INCLUDES: ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_INCLUDES}")
+message(STATUS "FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_DEPENDENCIES: ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_DEPENDENCIES}")
+message(STATUS "FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_LIBRARIES: ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_LIBRARIES}")
+
+add_executable(falco_unit_tests ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_SOURCES})
+target_include_directories(falco_unit_tests ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_INCLUDES})
+target_link_libraries(falco_unit_tests ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_DEPENDENCIES})
+add_dependencies(falco_unit_tests ${FALCO_UNIT_TESTS_LIBRARIES})
+
+# add_test(multiply_gtests falco_unit_tests)
diff --git a/unit_tests/README.md b/unit_tests/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0e6284e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unit_tests/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Falco unit tests
+
+## Intro
+
+Under `unit_tests/engine` and `unit_tests/falco` directories, we have different test suites that could be a single file or an entire directory according to the number and the complexity of tests.
+
+## Build and Run
+
+```bash
+cmake -DMINIMAL_BUILD=On -DBUILD_BPF=Off -DBUILD_DRIVER=Off -DBUILD_FALCO_UNIT_TESTS=On ..
+make falco_unit_tests     
+```
diff --git a/unit_tests/engine/test_falco_utils.cpp b/unit_tests/engine/test_falco_utils.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4afc3818
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unit_tests/engine/test_falco_utils.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+Copyright (C) 2023 The Falco Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+#include <engine/falco_utils.h>
+
+TEST(FalcoUtils, is_unix_scheme)
+{
+	/* Wrong prefix */
+	ASSERT_EQ(falco::utils::network::is_unix_scheme("something:///run/falco/falco.sock"), false);
+
+	/* Similar prefix, but wrong */
+	ASSERT_EQ(falco::utils::network::is_unix_scheme("unix///falco.sock"), false);
+
+	/* Right prefix, passed as an `rvalue` */
+	ASSERT_EQ(falco::utils::network::is_unix_scheme("unix:///falco.sock"), true);
+
+	/* Right prefix, passed as a `std::string` */
+	std::string url_string("unix:///falco.sock");
+	ASSERT_EQ(falco::utils::network::is_unix_scheme(url_string), true);
+
+	/* Right prefix, passed as a `char[]` */
+	char url_char[] = "unix:///falco.sock";
+	ASSERT_EQ(falco::utils::network::is_unix_scheme(url_char), true);
+}