diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index c08df26ebeeb8aa3f046b405d8490cbf28d30068..7a0c580fa2b981ff94a8a47d3ed4bd5eea2999e6 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ repos:
         hooks:
             -   id: toml-sort
                 args: [ --check ]
+                exclude: ^tests/
diff --git a/tests/pre-commit_project/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/tests/pre-commit_project/.pre-commit-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4035d2a2b8c4a8347fa11c54988ed3e3325c43a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/pre-commit_project/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+repos:
+    -   repo: https://github.com/pappasam/toml-sort
+        rev: v0.23.1
+        hooks:
+            -   id: toml-sort
+                args: [ --check ]
diff --git a/tests/pre-commit_project/pyproject.toml b/tests/pre-commit_project/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b3ee9455dc02531b87c298962d555e22746585d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/pre-commit_project/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+this is an invalid toml file, I guess