diff --git a/.atom-build.json b/.atom-build.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dea01eda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.atom-build.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+  "cmd": "test/run",
+  "name": "Run All Tests",
+  "args": [ ],
+  "keymap": "ctrl-r",
+  "sh": true,
+  "errorMatch": [
+    "rspec (?<file>[\\/0-9a-zA-Z\\._]+):(?<line>\\d+) #",
+    "# (?<file>\\./.*):(?<line>\\d+)",
+    "\\s+from (?<file>\\./.*):(?<line>\\d+)",
+    "`(require|load)': (?<file>\\./.*):(?<line>\\d+)",
+    "^(<file>/.*):(?<line>\\d+)"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/.editorconfig b/.editorconfig
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index dc868103..f12b3cf1
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,3 +9,5 @@ lib/custom.bash
 plugins/custom.plugins.bash
 *.swp
 .*.un~
+bats
+.idea
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a1745beb..34c38fe7 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
 sudo: false
-install: git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/sstephenson/bats.git
-script: PATH="./bats/bin:$PATH" test/run
+script: test/run
 language: c
diff --git a/lib/helpers.bash b/lib/helpers.bash
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index b5f15c8c..4a2f3906
--- a/lib/helpers.bash
+++ b/lib/helpers.bash
@@ -156,23 +156,42 @@ _bash-it_update() {
 #
 
 _bash-it-search() {
-  local terms=($@)
+  _about 'searches for a '
+  _param '1: subdirectory'
+  _param '2: preposition'
+  _param '3: file_type'
+  _param '4: column_header'
+  _example '$ _bash-it-describe "plugins" "a" "plugin" "Plugin"'
+
   declare -a types=(aliases plugins completions)
   for type in "${types[@]}" ; do
-    declare -a matches=()
-    for term in "${terms[@]}"; do
-      local term_match=($(bash-it show ${type} | grep -i -- ${term} | cut -d ' ' -f 1  | tr '\n' ' '))
-      [[ "${#term_match[@]}" -gt 0 ]] && {
-        matches=(${matches[@]} ${term_match[@]})
-      }
-    done
-    if [[ "${#matches[*]}" -gt 0 ]] ; then
-      printf "${type}: \e[3;32m%s\e[0;0m\n" "$(echo -n ${matches[*]} | tr ' ' '\n' | sort | uniq | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's/ $//g')"
-    fi
-    unset matches
+    _bash-it-search-category  "${type}" "$*"
   done
 }
 
+_bash-it-search-category() {
+  type=$1
+  local func=_bash-it-${type}
+  shift
+  declare -a terms=($@)
+  declare -a matches=()
+  local _grep=$(which egrep || which grep)
+  for term in "${terms[@]}"; do
+    local term_match=($($func | ${_grep} -i -- ${term} | cut -d ' ' -f 1  | tr '\n' ' '))
+    [[ "${#term_match[@]}" -gt 0 ]] && {
+      matches=(${matches[@]} ${term_match[@]})
+    }
+  done
+  [[ -n "$NO_COLOR" && color_on="" ]] || color_on="\e[3;32m"
+  [[ -n "$NO_COLOR" && color_off="" ]] || color_on="\e[0;0m"
+
+  if [[ "${#matches[*]}" -gt 0 ]] ; then
+    printf "%15s: ${color_on}%s${color_off}\n" "${type}" "$(echo -n ${matches[*]} | tr ' ' '\n' | sort | uniq | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's/ $//g')"
+  fi
+  unset matches
+
+}
+
 _bash-it-describe ()
 {
     _about 'summarizes available bash_it components'
diff --git a/test/lib/helpers.bats b/test/lib/helpers.bats
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c601d692
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lib/helpers.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+
+load ../../lib/composure
+cite _about _param _example _group _author _version
+
+load ../../lib/helpers
+load ../../plugins/available/base.plugin
+
+export NO_COLOR=true
+
+@test "helpers search aliases" {
+  run _bash-it-search-category 'plugins' 'base'
+  echo "the lines are: ${output[*]}"
+  [[ "${lines[0]}" =~ 'plugins: base' ]]
+}
diff --git a/test/run b/test/run
index 1fb11518..2efc35d0 100755
--- a/test/run
+++ b/test/run
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
+PATH=$PATH:$(pwd)/bats/bin
+set +e
+[[ -z "$(which bats)" ]] && git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/sstephenson/bats.git
 set -e
-
 exec bats ${CI:+--tap} test/{lib,plugins}