diff --git a/plugins/available/base.plugin.bash b/plugins/available/base.plugin.bash
index 10f5a2bf..8c8a2c50 100644
--- a/plugins/available/base.plugin.bash
+++ b/plugins/available/base.plugin.bash
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ function myip ()
     echo -e "Your public IP is: ${echo_bold_green} $res ${echo_normal}"
 }
 
-
 function pickfrom ()
 {
     about 'picks random line from file'
@@ -92,7 +91,6 @@ function lsgrep ()
     ls | grep "$*"
 }
 
-
 function pman ()
 {
     about 'view man documentation in Preview'
@@ -102,7 +100,6 @@ function pman ()
     man -t "${1}" | open -f -a $PREVIEW
 }
 
-
 function pcurl ()
 {
     about 'download file and Preview it'
@@ -125,16 +122,16 @@ function quiet ()
 {
     about 'what *does* this do?'
     group 'base'
-	$* &> /dev/null &
+    $* &> /dev/null &
 }
 
 function banish-cookies ()
 {
     about 'redirect .adobe and .macromedia files to /dev/null'
     group 'base'
-	rm -r ~/.macromedia ~/.adobe
-	ln -s /dev/null ~/.adobe
-	ln -s /dev/null ~/.macromedia
+    rm -r ~/.macromedia ~/.adobe
+    ln -s /dev/null ~/.adobe
+    ln -s /dev/null ~/.macromedia
 }
 
 function usage ()
@@ -184,7 +181,6 @@ function command_exists ()
 
 mkiso ()
 {
-
     about 'creates iso from current dir in the parent dir (unless defined)'
     param '1: ISO name'
     param '2: dest/path'
diff --git a/test/plugins/base.plugin.bats b/test/plugins/base.plugin.bats
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..9bc9f0e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/plugins/base.plugin.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+
+load ../test_helper
+load ../../lib/composure
+load ../../plugins/available/base.plugin
+
+@test 'plugins base: ips()' {
+  if [[ $CI ]]; then
+    skip 'ifconfig probably requires sudo on TravisCI'
+  fi
+
+  declare -r localhost='127.0.0.1'
+  run ips
+  assert_success
+  assert_line $localhost
+}
+
+@test 'plugins base: myip()' {
+  if [[ ! $CI ]]; then
+    skip 'myip is slow - run only on CI'
+  fi
+
+  run myip
+  assert_success
+  declare -r mask_ip=$(echo $output | tr -s '[0-9]' '?')
+  [[ $mask_ip == 'Your public IP is: ?.?.?.?' ]]
+}
+
+@test 'plugins base: pickfrom()' {
+  mkdir -p $BASH_IT_ROOT
+  stub_file="${BASH_IT_ROOT}/stub_file"
+  printf "l1\nl2\nl3" > $stub_file
+  run pickfrom $stub_file
+  assert_success
+  [[ $output == l? ]]
+}
diff --git a/test/test_helper.bash b/test/test_helper.bash
index da34c438..850b6161 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.bash
+++ b/test/test_helper.bash
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-unset BASH_IT
 unset BASH_IT_THEME
 unset GIT_HOSTING
 unset NGINX_PATH
@@ -6,7 +5,13 @@ unset IRC_CLIENT
 unset TODO
 unset SCM_CHECK
 
-BASH_IT_TEST_DIR="${BATS_TMPDIR}/bash_it"
+BASH_IT_TEST_DIR="${BATS_TMPDIR}/.bash_it"
+
+# guard against executing this block twice due to bats internals
+if [ "$BASH_IT_ROOT" != "${BASH_IT_TEST_DIR}/root" ]; then
+  export BASH_IT_ROOT="${BASH_IT_TEST_DIR}/root"
+  export BASH_IT=$BASH_IT_TEST_DIR
+fi
 
 teardown() {
   rm -rf "$BASH_IT_TEST_DIR"