diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e0fe453..5a46dd1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -246,4 +246,25 @@ describe 'my example' do
 end
 ```
 
-For this `examples/my_example.pp' must exist and contain valid Puppet code. It then uses the idempotent resource shared example.
+For this `examples/my_example.pp` must exist and contain valid Puppet code. It then uses the idempotent resource shared example.
+
+## Serverspec extensions
+
+Some [Serverspec](https://serverspec.org/) extensions are shipped and enabled by default. These make it easier to write tests but were not accepted by Serverspec upstream.
+
+### `curl_command`
+
+Often you want to test some service that exposes things over HTTP.
+Instead of using [`command("curl …")`](https://serverspec.org/resource_types.html#command) you can use `curl_command(…)` which behaves like a Serverspec `command` but adds matchers for the HTTP response code and the response body.
+
+```ruby
+describe curl_command("http://localhost:8080/api/ping") do
+  its(:response_code) { is_expected.to eq(200) }
+  its(:exit_status) { is_expected.to eq 0 }
+end
+
+describe curl_command('http://localhost:8080/api/status', headers: { 'Accept' => 'application/json' }) do
+  its(:response_code) { is_expected.to eq(200) }
+  its(:body_as_json) { is_expected.to eq({'status': 'ok'}) }
+end
+```
diff --git a/examples/defaults_serverspec/Gemfile b/examples/defaults_serverspec/Gemfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02fbf59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/defaults_serverspec/Gemfile
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+source 'https://rubygems.org'
+
+gem 'voxpupuli-acceptance', path: '../..'
diff --git a/examples/defaults_serverspec/Rakefile b/examples/defaults_serverspec/Rakefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4abcaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/defaults_serverspec/Rakefile
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+require 'voxpupuli/acceptance/rake'
diff --git a/examples/defaults_serverspec/manifests/init.pp b/examples/defaults_serverspec/manifests/init.pp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e27a04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/defaults_serverspec/manifests/init.pp
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+class defaults_serverspec {
+  package {'nginx':
+    ensure => present
+  }
+  service {'nginx':
+    ensure => running
+  }
+}
diff --git a/examples/defaults_serverspec/metadata.json b/examples/defaults_serverspec/metadata.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..98d5d89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/defaults_serverspec/metadata.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+  "name": "voxpupuliacceptancetests-defaults_serverspec",
+  "version": "0.0.1",
+  "author": "Vox Pupuli",
+  "license": "Apache-2.0",
+  "summary": "The voxpupuli-acceptance test suite defaults_serverspec",
+  "description": "test the serverspec extensions shipped in voxpupuli-acceptance",
+  "source": "https://github.com/voxpupuli/voxpupuli-acceptance",
+  "project_page": "https://github.com/voxpupuli/voxpupuli-acceptance",
+  "issues_url": "https://github.com/voxpupuli/voxpupuli-acceptance/issues",
+  "dependencies": [],
+  "requirements": [],
+  "operatingsystem_support": []
+}
diff --git a/examples/defaults_serverspec/spec/acceptance/basic_spec.rb b/examples/defaults_serverspec/spec/acceptance/basic_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9014a55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/defaults_serverspec/spec/acceptance/basic_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+require 'spec_helper_acceptance'
+
+describe 'Basic integration test' do
+  it_behaves_like 'an idempotent resource' do
+    let(:manifest) { 'include defaults_serverspec' }
+  end
+
+  describe curl_command('http://localhost') do
+    its(:response_code) { is_expected.to eq(200) }
+    its(:exit_status) { is_expected.to eq 0 }
+  end
+end
diff --git a/examples/defaults_serverspec/spec/spec_helper_acceptance.rb b/examples/defaults_serverspec/spec/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffbdaf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/defaults_serverspec/spec/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+require 'voxpupuli/acceptance/spec_helper_acceptance'
+
+configure_beaker
diff --git a/examples/new_example b/examples/new_example
index d41c732..8935c7e 100755
--- a/examples/new_example
+++ b/examples/new_example
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ RAKEFILE
 
 cat > $EXAMPLE/metadata.json <<METADATA
 {
-  "name": "voxpupuli_acceptance_tests-${EXAMPLE}",
+  "name": "voxpupuliacceptancetests-${EXAMPLE}",
   "version": "0.0.1",
   "author": "Vox Pupuli",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
diff --git a/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/serverspec_extensions.rb b/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/serverspec_extensions.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bda8ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/serverspec_extensions.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+require 'serverspec'
+require_relative 'serverspec_extensions/curl_command'
+
+module Serverspec
+  module Helper
+    module Type
+      def curl_command(*args)
+        Voxpupuli::Acceptance::ServerspecExtensions::CurlCommand.new(*args)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/serverspec_extensions/curl_command.rb b/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/serverspec_extensions/curl_command.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebcab14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/serverspec_extensions/curl_command.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# written by https://github.com/ekohl
+# https://github.com/mizzy/serverspec/pull/611 was rejected so adding it here.
+
+require 'serverspec'
+
+module Voxpupuli
+  module Acceptance
+    module ServerspecExtensions
+      class CurlCommand < Serverspec::Type::Command
+        def response_code
+          m = %r{Response-Code: (?<code>\d+)}.match(stderr)
+          return 0 unless m
+
+          m[:code].to_i
+        end
+
+        def body
+          command_result.stdout
+        end
+
+        def body_as_json
+          MultiJson.load(body)
+        end
+
+        private
+
+        def curl_command
+          # curl supports %{stderr} to --write-out since 7.63.0
+          # so the following doesn't work on EL8, which has curl 7.61.1
+          command = "curl --silent --write-out '%{stderr}Response-Code: %{response_code}\\n' '#{@name}'"
+
+          @options.each do |option, value|
+            case option
+            when :cacert, :cert, :key
+              command += " --#{option} '#{value}'"
+            when :headers
+              value.each do |header, header_value|
+                command += if header_value
+                             " --header '#{header}: #{header_value}'"
+                           else
+                             " --header '#{header};'"
+                           end
+              end
+            else
+              raise "Unknown option #{option} (value: #{value})"
+            end
+          end
+
+          command
+        end
+
+        def command_result
+          @command_result ||= @runner.run_command(curl_command)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/spec_helper_acceptance.rb b/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
index f7b327f..e1cb3aa 100644
--- a/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
+++ b/lib/voxpupuli/acceptance/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 require_relative 'examples'
+require_relative 'serverspec_extensions'
 
 def configure_beaker(modules: :metadata, &block)
   collection = ENV['BEAKER_PUPPET_COLLECTION'] || 'puppet'