diff --git a/app/__init__.py b/app/__init__.py
index 5e96ca1..e69de29 100644
--- a/app/__init__.py
+++ b/app/__init__.py
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-import dramatiq
diff --git a/app/app.py b/app/app.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5668592
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import requests
+
+# TODO add error handling logic for request
+def count_words(url):
+    response = requests.get(url, timeout=5)
+    word_count = len(response.text.split(" "))
+    print(f"There are {word_count} words in {url}")
+    return word_count
diff --git a/tasks.py b/tasks.py
index f2bc15c..b98864b 100644
--- a/tasks.py
+++ b/tasks.py
@@ -12,10 +12,18 @@ def start_app(docs=False, extra=""):
         print(f"Building docs. Docs value: {extra}")
 
 
+@task
+def run_unit_tests(c):
+    """Triggers a local unittest run for the app."""
+    # Pytest will hide color output when it thinks it's running
+    # outside of a terminal therefore pty=True is used.
+    c.run("python3 -m pytest -vvv tests/unit", pty=True)
+
+
 @task
 def fix_eof(c):
     """Fixes any missing newlines for end of files."""
-    c.run("pre-commit run end-of-file-fixer --all-files")
+    c.run("pre-commit run end-of-file-fixer --all-files", pty=True)
 
 
 @task
diff --git a/tests/unit/__init__.py b/tests/unit/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_app.py b/tests/unit/test_app.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e584d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+from app.app import count_words
+
+
+@patch("app.app.requests")
+def test_count_words(mock_requests):
+    mock_response = MagicMock()
+    mock_response.text = "example word count split"
+    mock_requests.get.return_value = mock_response
+
+    wc = count_words("http://anyurl.com")
+    assert wc == 4
+
+
+# TODO add test coverage for failure