diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
index 06d9efbc4..58216fafd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
@@ -70,6 +70,25 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run ledger tests
         run: make test-ledger
 
+  mina-node-native-tests:
+    timeout-minutes: 30
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+      - name: Git checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5
+
+      - name: Setup build dependencies
+        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-build-deps
+
+      - name: Setup Rust
+        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-rust
+        with:
+          toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_STABLE_VERSION }}
+          cache-prefix: mina-node-native-${{ env.CACHE_VERSION }}
+
+      - name: Test mina-node-native crate
+        run: make test-node-native
+
   p2p-messages-tests:
     timeout-minutes: 20
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7e711f3a6..8e901496a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   wallets from the CLI. End-to-end tests are added in the CI and a new target
   `make test-wallet` has been added. This focuses on basic payments
   ([#1543](https://github.com/o1-labs/mina-rust/pull/1543))
+- **Makefile**: add targets to only build and run tests of the package
+  `mina-node-native` ([#1549](https://github.com/o1-labs/mina-rust/pull/1549))
+- **CI**: add a step in tests to run the unit/integration tests of the package
+  `mina-node-native` ([#1549](https://github.com/o1-labs/mina-rust/pull/1549))
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ae4cac1f4..a1c240c09 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ build: ## Build the project in debug mode
 build-ledger: download-circuits ## Build the ledger binary and library, requires nightly Rust
 	@cd ledger && cargo +$(NIGHTLY_RUST_VERSION) build --release --tests
 
+build-node-native: ## Build the package mina-node-native with all features and tests
+	@cargo build -p mina-node-native --all-features --release --tests
+
 .PHONY: build-release
 build-release: ## Build the project in release mode
 	@cargo build --release --package=cli --bin mina
@@ -322,6 +325,10 @@ test-wallet: ## Run wallet CLI end-to-end tests
 test-p2p-messages:
 	cargo test -p mina-p2p-messages --tests --release
 
+.PHONY: test-node-native
+test-node-native: build-node-native ## Run the unit/integration tests of the package mina-node-native
+	cargo test -p mina-node-native --all-features --release --tests
+
 .PHONY: nextest
 nextest: ## Run tests with cargo-nextest for faster execution
 	@cargo nextest run