diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6ed02b43c0..da4f032b58 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
     "type": "svn",
     "url": "https://develop.svn.wordpress.org/trunk"
   },
+  "engines": {
+    "node": "6.9.1"
+  },
   "author": "The WordPress Contributors",
   "license": "GPL-2.0+",
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
index a17f94e7cc..2795824361 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
@@ -23,8 +23,19 @@ class Tests_Basic extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 			$version .= '.0';
 		}
 		$this->assertEquals( $version, $package_json['version'], "package.json's version needs to be updated to $version." );
+		return $package_json;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @depends test_package_json
+	 */
+	function test_package_json_node_engine( $package_json ) {
+		$this->assertArrayHasKey( 'engines', $package_json );
+		$this->assertArrayHasKey( 'node', $package_json['engines'] );
+		$node = $package_json['engines']['node'];
+		$this->assertRegExp( '~^=?\d+\.\d+\.\d+$~', $node, "package.json's node version cannot be a range." );
+ 	}
+
 	// two tests for a lame bug in PHPUnit that broke the $GLOBALS reference
 	function test_globals() {
 		global $test_foo;