diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 84364ff..c3aa7a5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -53,7 +53,9 @@ dynamic = ["version"]
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 docs = []
 test = [
+    "asgi-lifespan",
     "httpx",
+    "httpx-ws",
     "pytest>=6",
 ]
 
diff --git a/tests/test_application.py b/tests/test_application.py
index 6919d9a..c918a6b 100644
--- a/tests/test_application.py
+++ b/tests/test_application.py
@@ -3,7 +3,12 @@
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from starlette.testclient import TestClient
+import anyio
+import httpx
+import pytest
+from asgi_lifespan import LifespanManager
+from httpx_ws import aconnect_ws
+from httpx_ws.transport import ASGIWebSocketTransport
 
 from sphinx_autobuild.__main__ import _create_app
 from sphinx_autobuild.build import Builder
@@ -12,11 +17,18 @@
 ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent
 
 
-def test_application(tmp_path):
+@pytest.fixture
+def anyio_backend():
+    return "asyncio"
+
+
+async def test_application(tmp_path, anyio_backend):  # noqa: ARG001
     src_dir = tmp_path / "docs"
     out_dir = tmp_path / "build"
     shutil.copytree(ROOT / "docs", tmp_path / "docs")
     out_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    index_file = anyio.Path(src_dir / "index.rst")
+    await index_file.write_text("hello")
 
     url_host = "127.0.0.1:7777"
     ignore_handler = IgnoreFilter([out_dir], [])
@@ -27,9 +39,20 @@ def test_application(tmp_path):
         post_build_commands=[],
     )
     app = _create_app([src_dir], ignore_handler, builder, out_dir, url_host)
-    client = TestClient(app)
 
-    builder(changed_paths=())
+    async with (
+        LifespanManager(app) as manager,
+        httpx.AsyncClient(
+            transport=ASGIWebSocketTransport(manager.app), base_url="http://testserver"
+        ) as client,
+    ):
+        builder(changed_paths=())
+
+        response = await client.get("/")
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+
+        async with aconnect_ws("/websocket-reload", client) as websocket:
+            await index_file.write_text("world")
 
-    response = client.get("/")
-    assert response.status_code == 200
+            data = await websocket.receive_text()
+            assert data == "refresh"