diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdc3806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+stages:
+- build 
+- test
+#running the bash script in test 
+
+build_and_push:
+  image: registry.gitlab.com/grassrootseconomics/cic-base-images:python-3.8.6-dev
+  stage: build
+  variables:
+    #CI_DEBUG_TRACE: "true"
+    CIC_PACKAGE_REGISTRY_PROJECT_ID: 27624814
+  script:
+    #- python -m pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel pip twine semver
+    - python -m pip install --extra-index-url https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/27624814/packages/pypi/simple --extra-index-url https://pip.grassrootseconomics.net:8433 install -r requirements.txt
+    - python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
+    - TWINE_PASSWORD=${CI_JOB_TOKEN} TWINE_USERNAME=gitlab-ci-token python -m twine upload --skip-existing --repository-url ${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CIC_PACKAGE_REGISTRY_PROJECT_ID}/packages/pypi dist/*
+    # Below are the built dependencies
+    #- TWINE_PASSWORD=${CI_JOB_TOKEN} TWINE_USERNAME=gitlab-ci-token python -m twine upload --repository-url ${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CIC_PACKAGE_REGISTRY_PROJECT_ID}/packages/pypi /tmp/wheelhouse/*
+  only: 
+  - master 
+  - daven/* 
+
+tests:
+  image: registry.gitlab.com/grassrootseconomics/cic-base-images:python-3.8.6-dev
+  stage: test
+  variables:
+    #CI_DEBUG_TRACE: "true"
+    CIC_PACKAGE_REGISTRY_PROJECT_ID: 27624814
+  script:
+    - ls
+    - python -m pip install --extra-index-url https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/27624814/packages/pypi/simple --extra-index-url https://pip.grassrootseconomics.net:8433 install -r requirements.txt -r test_requirements.txt
+    - python -m pip freeze
+    - ls
+    - export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:.
+    - PYTHONPATH=. bash run_tests.sh 
+
+  only: 
+  - master 
+  - daven/0.0.0
+
+#   rules:
+# - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
diff --git a/run_tests.sh b/run_tests.sh
index 2a36ca3..b8e4beb 100644
--- a/run_tests.sh
+++ b/run_tests.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+set -a
 set -e
 set -x
-export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH:.}
+default_pythonpath=$PYTHONPATH:.
+export PYTHONPATH=${default_pythonpath:-.}
+>&2 echo using pythonpath $PYTHONPATH
 for f in `ls tests/*.py`; do
 	python $f
 done
 set +x
 set +e
+set +a
diff --git a/tests/base.py b/tests/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8e3a04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import unittest
+
+
+class TestBase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        pass
+
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        pass