diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 155ef29..1353523 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,9 +1,23 @@
 SQL_DATABASE?=./ratchet.db
 
+# TODO maybe only use -race in an ARG for CI
+FLAGS := -race -v 
+
+# `make <target> ARGS=no-cache` will avoid using cached results in go test.
+ifeq ($(ARGS), no-cache)
+	FLAGS += -count=1
+endif
+
+# make test ARGS=no-cache
 test:
-	go test -v ./...
+	go test $(FLAGS) ./...
 PHONEY: test
 
+# make test-int ARGS=no-cache
+test-int:
+	go test $(FLAGS) ./cmd/...
+.PHONY: test-int
+
 serve:
 	go run ./cmd/ratchetd/main.go
 PHONEY: serve
diff --git a/cmd/ratchetd/main_test.go b/cmd/ratchetd/main_test.go
index 06ab7d0..2210a80 100644
--- a/cmd/ratchetd/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/ratchetd/main_test.go
@@ -1 +1,58 @@
 package main
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"testing"
+
+	"git.runcible.io/learning/ratchet/internal/assert"
+)
+
+// func testingLogger() *slog.Logger {
+// 	return slog.New(slog.NewTextHandler(io.Discard, nil))
+// }
+
+// WITHOUT testutils_test.go helpers
+// func TestPingIntegration(t *testing.T) {
+
+// 	rs := server.NewRatchetApp(testingLogger(), nil, nil, nil)
+
+// 	// We then use the httptest.NewTLSServer() function to create a new test
+// 	// server, passing in the value returned by our app.routes() method as the
+// 	// handler for the server. This starts up a HTTPS server which listens on a
+// 	// randomly-chosen port of your local machine for the duration of the test.
+// 	// Notice that we defer a call to ts.Close() so that the server is shutdown
+// 	// when the test finishes.
+// 	ts := httptest.NewTLSServer(rs)
+// 	defer ts.Close()
+
+// 	resp, err := ts.Client().Get(ts.URL + "/ping")
+// 	if err != nil {
+// 		t.Fatal(err)
+// 	}
+
+// 	assert.Equal(t, resp.StatusCode, http.StatusOK)
+
+// 	defer resp.Body.Close()
+// 	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+// 	if err != nil {
+// 		t.Fatal(err)
+// 	}
+
+// 	body = bytes.TrimSpace(body)
+// 	assert.Equal(t, string(body), "OK")
+// }
+
+func TestPingIntegration(t *testing.T) {
+	// Tests marked using t.Parallel() will be run in parallel with — and only with — other parallel tests.
+	// By default, the maximum number of tests that will be run simultaneously is the current value of
+	// GOMAXPROCS. You can override this by setting a specific value via the -parallel flag.
+	t.Parallel()
+	app := newTestApplication(t)
+
+	ts := newTestServer(t, app)
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	code, _, body := ts.get(t, "/ping")
+	assert.Equal(t, code, http.StatusOK)
+	assert.Equal(t, body, "OK")
+}
diff --git a/cmd/ratchetd/testutils_test.go b/cmd/ratchetd/testutils_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fafee70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/ratchetd/testutils_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"io"
+	"log/slog"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/cookiejar"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+
+	"git.runcible.io/learning/ratchet/internal/server"
+)
+
+// Create a newTestApplication helper which returns an instance of our
+// application struct containing mocked dependencies.
+func newTestApplication(t *testing.T) *server.RatchetApp {
+
+	rs := server.NewRatchetApp(slog.New(slog.NewTextHandler(io.Discard, nil)), nil, nil, nil)
+
+	return rs
+}
+
+// create out own test server with additional receiver functions for ease of testing
+type testServer struct {
+	*httptest.Server
+}
+
+func newTestServer(t *testing.T, h http.Handler) *testServer {
+	ts := httptest.NewTLSServer(h)
+
+	jar, err := cookiejar.New(nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	// Any response cookies will be stored and sent on subsequent requests
+	ts.Client().Jar = jar
+
+	// Disable redirect-following for test server client by setting custom
+	// CheckRedirect function. Called whenever 3xx response. By returning a
+	// http.ErrUseLastResponse error it forces the client to immediately return
+	// the received response
+	ts.Client().CheckRedirect = func(req *http.Request, via []*http.Request) error {
+		return http.ErrUseLastResponse
+	}
+
+	return &testServer{ts}
+}
+
+func (ts *testServer) get(t *testing.T, urlPath string) (int, http.Header, string) {
+	resp, err := ts.Client().Get(ts.URL + urlPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return resp.StatusCode, resp.Header, string(body)
+}
diff --git a/internal/server/routes.go b/internal/server/routes.go
index 9b011ab..50a0680 100644
--- a/internal/server/routes.go
+++ b/internal/server/routes.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ func addRoutes(mux *http.ServeMux,
 	userService *model.UserService,
 	snippetService *model.SnippetService) http.Handler {
 
+	mux.Handle("GET /ping", PingHandler())
+
 	// /{$} is used to prevent subtree path patterns from acting like a wildcard
 	// resulting in this route requiring an exact match on "/" only
 	// You can only include one HTTP method in a route pattern if you choose