diff --git a/tests/spread/store/registries/editor.sh b/tests/spread/store/registries/editor.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..46b07515a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/spread/store/registries/editor.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+
+registries_file="$1"
+
+# flip-flop between 'access' being read and write
+if grep -q "^ *access:.*read" "$registries_file"; then
+  access="write"
+else
+  access="read"
+fi
+
+sed -i "s/^\([[:space:]]*\)access:.*/\1access: $access/g" "$registries_file"
diff --git a/tests/spread/store/registries/task.yaml b/tests/spread/store/registries/task.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8441a863c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/spread/store/registries/task.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+summary: test the registries commands
+
+environment:
+  SNAPCRAFT_ASSERTION_KEY: "$(HOST: echo ${SNAPCRAFT_ASSERTION_KEY})"
+  SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS: "$(HOST: echo ${SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS_STAGING})"
+
+prepare: |
+  if [[ -z "$SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS" ]]; then
+    ERROR "No credentials set in env SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS"
+  fi
+
+  if [[ -z "$SNAPCRAFT_ASSERTION_KEY" ]]; then
+    ERROR "No gpg key set in env SNAPCRAFT_ASSERTION_KEY"
+  fi
+
+  # setup snap gpg dir
+  mkdir -p "$HOME/.snap/gnupg"
+  chmod 700 "$HOME/.snap/gnupg"
+
+  # import a registered key
+  gpg --homedir "$HOME/.snap/gnupg" --import <(echo "$SNAPCRAFT_ASSERTION_KEY" | base64 --decode)
+
+  snap install yq
+  # registries only available in edge
+  snap refresh snapd --edge
+
+execute: |
+  # ensure snapcraft is logged in and can access the store
+  snapcraft whoami
+
+  # snapcraft will use a fake file editor
+  export EDITOR="$PWD/editor.sh"
+
+  snapcraft edit-registries "$(snapcraft whoami | yq .id)" testset --key-name testspreadkey
+
+  snapcraft list-registries | MATCH testset
+
+restore: |
+  rm -rf "$HOME/.snap/gnupg"
+
+  snap remove --purge yq
+  snap refresh snapd --stable
diff --git a/tests/spread/store/validation-sets/task.yaml b/tests/spread/store/validation-sets/task.yaml
index 277ee9d8e1..599f01aad6 100644
--- a/tests/spread/store/validation-sets/task.yaml
+++ b/tests/spread/store/validation-sets/task.yaml
@@ -18,9 +18,7 @@ prepare: |
   chmod 700 "$HOME/.snap/gnupg"
 
   # import a registered key
-  echo "$SNAPCRAFT_ASSERTION_KEY" | base64 --decode > store-key.txt
-  gpg --homedir "$HOME/.snap/gnupg" --import store-key.txt
-  rm -f store-key.txt
+  gpg --homedir "$HOME/.snap/gnupg" --import <(echo "$SNAPCRAFT_ASSERTION_KEY" | base64 --decode)
 
   snap install yq