diff --git a/direct-file/backend/src/test/test-file.txt b/direct-file/backend/src/test/test-file.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31dd925
--- /dev/null
+++ b/direct-file/backend/src/test/test-file.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+this is just a test file to cause the backend test suite tests to run
\ No newline at end of file