diff --git a/tests/examples/conftest.py b/tests/examples/conftest.py
index c41132d4f..b17e58cd3 100644
--- a/tests/examples/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/examples/conftest.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ SUBMODULES_PATH = MODULES_PATH / 'cloud-config-container'
 
 FILE_TEST_RE = re.compile(r'# tftest file (\w+) ([\S]+)')
 
-Example = collections.namedtuple('Example', 'code files')
+Example = collections.namedtuple('Example', 'code module files')
 File = collections.namedtuple('File', 'path content')
 
 
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ def pytest_generate_tests(metafunc):
           if 'tftest skip' in code:
             continue
           if child.lang == 'hcl':
-            examples.append(Example(code, files))
             path = module.relative_to(FABRIC_ROOT)
+            examples.append(Example(code, path, files))
             name = f'{path}:{last_header}'
             if index > 1:
               name += f' {index}'
diff --git a/tests/examples/test_plan.py b/tests/examples/test_plan.py
index 2bb45af12..d5aaf46fe 100644
--- a/tests/examples/test_plan.py
+++ b/tests/examples/test_plan.py
@@ -16,16 +16,20 @@ import re
 from pathlib import Path
 
 BASE_PATH = Path(__file__).parent
-COUNT_TEST_RE = re.compile(
-    r'# tftest modules=(\d+) resources=(\d+)(?: files=([\w,]+))?')
+COUNT_TEST_RE = re.compile(r'# tftest modules=(\d+) resources=(\d+)' +
+                           r'(?: files=([\w,-.]+))?' +
+                           r'(?: inventory=([\w\-.]+))?')
 
 
-def test_example(recursive_e2e_plan_runner, tmp_path, example):
+def test_example(plan_validator, tmp_path, example):
   if match := COUNT_TEST_RE.search(example.code):
-    (tmp_path / 'fabric').symlink_to(Path(BASE_PATH, '../../'))
-    (tmp_path / 'variables.tf').symlink_to(Path(BASE_PATH, 'variables.tf'))
+    (tmp_path / 'fabric').symlink_to(BASE_PATH.parents[1])
+    (tmp_path / 'variables.tf').symlink_to(BASE_PATH / 'variables.tf')
     (tmp_path / 'main.tf').write_text(example.code)
 
+    expected_modules = int(match.group(1))
+    expected_resources = int(match.group(2))
+
     if match.group(3) is not None:
       requested_files = match.group(3).split(',')
       for f in requested_files:
@@ -33,11 +37,18 @@ def test_example(recursive_e2e_plan_runner, tmp_path, example):
         destination.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         destination.write_text(example.files[f].content)
 
-    expected_modules = int(match.group(1)) if match is not None else 1
-    expected_resources = int(match.group(2)) if match is not None else 1
+    inventory = []
+    if match.group(4) is not None:
+      inventory = BASE_PATH.parent / example.module / 'examples'
+      inventory = inventory / match.group(4)
 
-    num_modules, num_resources = recursive_e2e_plan_runner(
-        str(tmp_path), tmpdir=False)
+    # TODO: force plan_validator to never copy files (we're already
+    # running from a temp dir)
+    summary = plan_validator(module_path=tmp_path, inventory_paths=inventory,
+                             tf_var_files=[])
+
+    counts = summary.counts
+    num_modules, num_resources = counts['modules'], counts['resources']
     assert expected_modules == num_modules, 'wrong number of modules'
     assert expected_resources == num_resources, 'wrong number of resources'
 
diff --git a/tests/fixtures.py b/tests/fixtures.py
index c483063f4..788f81786 100644
--- a/tests/fixtures.py
+++ b/tests/fixtures.py
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ def plan_summary(module_path, basedir, tf_var_files=None, **tf_vars):
     # compute resource type counts and address->values map
     values = {}
     counts = collections.defaultdict(int)
+    counts['modules'] = counts['resources'] = 0
     q = collections.deque([plan.root_module])
     while q:
       e = q.popleft()
@@ -113,8 +114,10 @@ def plan_summary(module_path, basedir, tf_var_files=None, **tf_vars):
         values[e['address']] = e['values']
 
       for x in e.get('resources', []):
+        counts['resources'] += 1
         q.append(x)
       for x in e.get('child_modules', []):
+        counts['modules'] += 1
         q.append(x)
 
     # extract planned outputs
@@ -224,7 +227,7 @@ def plan_validator_fixture(request):
       basedir = Path(request.fspath).parent
     return plan_validator(module_path=module_path,
                           inventory_paths=inventory_paths, basedir=basedir,
-                          tf_var_files=tf_var_paths, **tf_vars)
+                          tf_var_files=tf_var_files, **tf_vars)
 
   return inner