diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/.gitignore b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/.gitignore
index 13567ebd0..884c920d1 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/.gitignore
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/.gitignore
@@ -55,3 +55,4 @@ node_modules/
 
 # virtual environments
 .env
+.hitch
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/README.rst b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b5403bfbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+Hitch tests
+===========
+
+Note: This has been tested on up to date versions Debian, Ubuntu, Arch and
+Mac OS X (Mavericks).
+
+To initialize and run the hitch tests in your project, enter this (tests) directory and
+run the following command::
+
+  $ curl -sSL https://hitchtest.com/init.sh > init.sh ; chmod +x init.sh ; ./init.sh
+
+Note: if you are running Mac OS X you will need to install firefox as well.
+You can do this while it is running.
+
+This should download install all the necessary packages and run the stub test.
+It will take about 10 or 15 minutes to set up.
+
+Once it is ready, you should see a browser window and an interactive IPython prompt::
+
+    IPython 4.0.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
+    ?         -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
+    %quickref -> Quick reference.
+    help      -> Python's own help system.
+    object?   -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.
+
+    In [1]:
+
+For more documentation on hitch, see: https://hitchtest.readthedocs.org/en/latest/api/index.html
+
+If anything goes wrong during the set up process, please raise an issue at
+https://github.com/hitchtest/hitch/issues
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/base.yml b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/base.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 844f12712..000000000
--- a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/base.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-{% raw %}{% for python_version in python_versions %}
-{% block test scoped %}
-{% endblock %}
-{% endfor %}{% endraw %}
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/engine.py b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/engine.py
index 388b08fde..36b8c0feb 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/engine.py
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/engine.py
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ class ExecutionEngine(hitchtest.ExecutionEngine):
 
     def set_up(self):
         """Ensure virtualenv present, then run all services."""
-        python_package = hitchpython.PythonPackage(
-            python_version=self.preconditions['python_version']
-        )
+        {% if cookiecutter.use_python2 == 'n' -%}
+        python_package = hitchpython.PythonPackage("2.7.10")
+        {%- else -%}
+        python_package = hitchpython.PythonPackage("3.5.0")
+        {%- endif %}
         python_package.build()
         python_package.verify()
 
@@ -45,12 +47,20 @@ class ExecutionEngine(hitchtest.ExecutionEngine):
             shutdown_timeout=5.0,
         )
 
-        postgres_user = hitchpostgres.PostgresUser("{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}", "password")
+        postgres_user = hitchpostgres.PostgresUser(
+            "{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}",
+            "password"
+        )
 
         self.services['Postgres'] = hitchpostgres.PostgresService(
             postgres_package=postgres_package,
             users=[postgres_user, ],
-            databases=[hitchpostgres.PostgresDatabase("{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}", postgres_user), ]
+            databases=[
+                hitchpostgres.PostgresDatabase(
+                    "{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}",
+                    postgres_user
+                ),
+            ]
         )
 
         self.services['HitchSMTP'] = hitchsmtp.HitchSMTPService(port=1025)
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/hitchreqs.txt b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/hitchreqs.txt
index ddb453bf8..a6125a695 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/hitchreqs.txt
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/hitchreqs.txt
@@ -1,26 +1,41 @@
 click==5.1
 colorama==0.3.3
+decorator==4.0.2
+docopt==0.6.2
 faketime==0.9.6.3
 hitchcron==0.2
 hitchpostgres==0.6.3
-hitchpython==0.3.5
+hitchpython==0.3.6
 hitchredis==0.4.3
-hitchselenium==0.4.1
-hitchserve==0.4.4
+hitchselenium==0.4.3
+hitchserve==0.4.5
 hitchsmtp==0.2.1
 hitchtest==0.8.0
 humanize==0.5.1
+ipykernel==4.0.3
 ipython==4.0.0
+ipython-genutils==0.1.0
 Jinja2==2.8
+jupyter-client==4.0.0
+jupyter-console==4.0.2
+jupyter-core==4.0.6
 MarkupSafe==0.23
+path.py==8.1.1
 patool==1.8
+pexpect==3.3
+pickleshare==0.5
 psutil==3.2.1
+pykwalify==1.4.1
 python-build==0.2.3
+python-dateutil==2.4.2
 pyuv==1.2.0
 PyYAML==3.11
+pyzmq==14.7.0
 requests==2.7.0
 selenium==2.47.3
+simplegeneric==0.8.1
 six==1.9.0
 tblib==1.1.0
 tornado==4.2.1
-xeger==0.3
+traitlets==4.0.0
+unixpackage==0.3.2
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/settings.yml b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/settings.yml
index 7ea14f07e..c3b0c8e2f 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/settings.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/settings.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 postgres_version: 9.3.9
 redis_version: 2.8.4
-django_version: 1.8.3
+django_version: 1.8.4
 celery_version: 3.1.18
 pause_on_success: false
 pause_on_failure: true
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ environment_variables:
   DATABASE_URL: postgres://{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}:password@127.0.0.1:15432/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}
   SECRET_KEY: cj5^uos4tfCdfghjkf5hq$9$(@-79^e9&x$3vyf#igvsfm4d=+
   CELERY_BROKER_URL: redis://localhost:16379
+  DJANGO_EMAIL_BACKEND: django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend
 window_size:
   width: 450
   height: 450
@@ -18,26 +19,11 @@ environment:
   - approved_platforms:
     - linux
     - darwin
-  - freeports:
-    - 1025
-    - 8000
-    - 15432
-    - 16379
-  - brew:
-    - libtool
-    - automake
-    - node
-  - debs:
-    - python-setuptools
-    - python3-dev
-    - python-virtualenv
-    - python-pip
+  - packages:
     - firefox
     - automake
     - libtool
-    - libreadline6
     - libreadline6-dev
-    - libreadline-dev
     - libsqlite3-dev
     - libpq-dev
     - libxml2
@@ -55,5 +41,3 @@ environment:
     - libwebp-dev
     - zlib1g-dev
     - gettext
-    - python-dev
-    - build-essential
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/stub.test b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/stub.test
index 88b4a1d0d..7772217d3 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/stub.test
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/tests/stub.test
@@ -1,10 +1,4 @@
-{% raw %}{% extends "base.yml" %}
-{% block test %}
-- engine: engine.py:ExecutionEngine
-  name: Stub {{ python_version }}
-  preconditions:
-    python_version: "{{ python_version }}"
+- name: Stub
   scenario:
     - Load website
     - Pause
-{% endblock %}{% endraw %}