One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for testing a binding Application Programming Interface (API) on a device, wherein the binding API is bound to a native API for the device and provides different commands than the native API. During operation, the system executes a native-API test on the device through the native API to produce a native-API test-result. The system subsequently receives the native-API test-result from the device at a test-harness. Next, the system sends a binding-API test to a test-agent on the device which enables the test-agent to execute the binding-API test through the binding API to produce a binding-API test-result. The system then receives the binding-API test-result from the test-agent. Finally, the system compares the native-API test-result to the binding-API test-result to determine if the binding API is functionally equivalent to the native API.