diff --git a/packages/interface-ipfs-core/src/refs-local.js b/packages/interface-ipfs-core/src/refs-local.js
index fa8b9bb826..89a1230fc3 100644
--- a/packages/interface-ipfs-core/src/refs-local.js
+++ b/packages/interface-ipfs-core/src/refs-local.js
@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@
 'use strict'
 
 const { fixtures } = require('./utils')
+const createFile = require('./utils/create-file')
 const { getDescribe, getIt, expect } = require('./utils/mocha')
 const all = require('it-all')
+const UnixFS = require('ipfs-unixfs')
+const { DAGLink, DAGNode } = require('ipld-dag-pb')
 
 /** @typedef { import("ipfsd-ctl/src/factory") } Factory */
 /**
@@ -26,17 +29,14 @@ module.exports = (common, options) => {
     after(() => common.clean())
 
     it('should get local refs', async function () {
-      const content = (name) => ({
-        path: `test-folder/${name}`,
-        content: fixtures.directory.files[name]
-      })
-
-      const dirs = [
-        content('pp.txt'),
-        content('holmes.txt')
-      ]
-
-      await all(ipfs.add(dirs))
+      const pp = await createFile(ipfs, fixtures.directory.files['pp.txt'])
+      const holmes = await createFile(ipfs, fixtures.directory.files['holmes.txt'])
+      const directory = new UnixFS({ type: 'directory' })
+      const serialized = new DAGNode(directory.marshal(), [
+        new DAGLink('pp.txt', pp.cumulativeSize, pp.cid),
+        new DAGLink('holmes.txt', holmes.cumulativeSize, holmes.cid)
+      ]).serialize()
+      await ipfs.block.put(serialized)
 
       const refs = await all(ipfs.refs.local())
 
diff --git a/packages/interface-ipfs-core/src/utils/create-file.js b/packages/interface-ipfs-core/src/utils/create-file.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05b1ce30fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/interface-ipfs-core/src/utils/create-file.js
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const UnixFS = require('ipfs-unixfs')
+const { DAGLink, DAGNode } = require('ipld-dag-pb')
+
+// This function creates blocks from lower-level primitives
+// to simulate an `ipfs add` without explicitly using `ipfs add`
+// for conformance testing clients that haven't implemented UnixFS yet
+module.exports = async (ipfs, data, chunkSize = 262144) => {
+  const chunks = []
+
+  for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i += chunkSize) {
+    const unixfs = new UnixFS({
+      type: 'file',
+      data: data.slice(i, i + chunkSize)
+    })
+    const dagNode = new DAGNode(unixfs.marshal())
+    const block = await ipfs.block.put(dagNode.serialize())
+
+    chunks.push({
+      unixfs,
+      size: block.data.length,
+      cid: block.cid
+    })
+  }
+
+  if (chunks.length === 1) {
+    return {
+      cid: chunks[0].cid,
+      cumulativeSize: chunks[0].size
+    }
+  }
+
+  const unixfs = new UnixFS({
+    type: 'file',
+    blockSizes: chunks.map(chunk => chunk.unixfs.fileSize())
+  })
+  const dagNode = new DAGNode(unixfs.marshal(), chunks.map(chunk => new DAGLink('', chunk.size, chunk.cid)))
+  const block = await ipfs.block.put(dagNode.serialize())
+
+  return {
+    cid: block.cid,
+    cumulativeSize: chunks.reduce((acc, curr) => acc + curr.size, 0) + block.data.length
+  }
+}