A prototype thick-GEM-based cooling storage ring exteal-target experiment (CEE) time projection chamber (TPC) is constructed and tested with the pulsed ultraviolet laser beams. The results indicate that the pro-totype TPC has a good performance in three-dimensional track resolution. In X direction the position resolution is about 0.2 mm,and in Y direction the position resolution is about 0.5 mm. The results also determine that the energy resolution is about 5.4%, which achieve the requirements of the CEE experiment and can be used to study the nuclear state equation and the quantum chromo dynamics.