diff --git a/pkg/cluster/spec/prometheus_test.go b/pkg/cluster/spec/prometheus_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..131419a69e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/cluster/spec/prometheus_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Copyright 2020 PingCAP, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package spec
+
+import (
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
+	"os/user"
+	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/cluster/executor"
+	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/meta"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestLocalRuleDirs(t *testing.T) {
+	deployDir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "tiup-*")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	defer os.RemoveAll(deployDir)
+	// the dashboard json files are under the bin dir,
+	// which is needed to copy into the dashboard dir
+	err = os.MkdirAll(path.Join(deployDir, "bin/prometheus"), 0755)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	localDir, err := filepath.Abs("./testdata/rules")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+	err = ioutil.WriteFile(path.Join(deployDir, "bin/prometheus", "dummy.rules.yml"), []byte("dummy"), 0644)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+	topo := new(Specification)
+	topo.Monitors = append(topo.Monitors, PrometheusSpec{
+		Host:    "127.0.0.1",
+		Port:    9090,
+		RuleDir: localDir,
+	})
+
+	comp := MonitorComponent{topo}
+	ints := comp.Instances()
+
+	assert.Equal(t, len(ints), 1)
+	promInstance := ints[0].(*MonitorInstance)
+
+	user, err := user.Current()
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	e, err := executor.New(executor.SSHTypeNone, false, executor.SSHConfig{Host: "127.0.0.1", User: user.Username})
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+	err = promInstance.initRules(e, promInstance.InstanceSpec.(PrometheusSpec), meta.DirPaths{Deploy: deployDir})
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+	assert.FileExists(t, path.Join(deployDir, "conf", "dummy.rules.yml"))
+	fs, err := ioutil.ReadDir(localDir)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	for _, f := range fs {
+		assert.FileExists(t, path.Join(deployDir, "conf", f.Name()))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/cluster/spec/testdata/rules/tidb.rules.yml b/pkg/cluster/spec/testdata/rules/tidb.rules.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7019aed45f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/cluster/spec/testdata/rules/tidb.rules.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# magic-string-for-test
+groups:
+  - name: alert.rules
+    rules:
+      - alert: TiDB_schema_error
+        expr: increase(tidb_session_schema_lease_error_total{type="outdated"}[15m]) > 0
+        for: 1m
+        labels:
+          env: ENV_LABELS_ENV
+          level: emergency
+          expr: increase(tidb_session_schema_lease_error_total{type="outdated"}[15m]) > 0
+        annotations:
+          description: "cluster: ENV_LABELS_ENV, instance: {{ $labels.instance }}, values:{{ $value }}"
+          value: "{{ $value }}"
+          summary: TiDB schema error