diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4340594..925456f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ $ pip install cookiecutter
 ```
 
 or
- 
+
 ``` bash
 $ conda config --add channels conda-forge
 $ conda install cookiecutter
@@ -30,3 +30,18 @@ $ conda install cookiecutter
 
 
 [![asciicast](https://asciinema.org/a/9bgl5qh17wlop4xyxu9n9wr02.png)](https://asciinema.org/a/9bgl5qh17wlop4xyxu9n9wr02)
+
+
+## Contributing
+
+We welcome contributions! [See the docs for guidelines](https://drivendata.github.io/cookiecutter-data-science/#contributing).
+
+### Installing development requirements
+------------
+
+    pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+### Running the tests
+------------
+
+    py.test tests
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index ab0a33a..07f48f4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 mkdocs
 mkdocs-cinder
 cookiecutter
+pytest
diff --git a/tests/test_creation.py b/tests/test_creation.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cc077e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_creation.py
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+import os
+import shutil
+
+from cookiecutter import main
+import pytest
+
+CCDS_ROOT = os.path.abspath(
+                os.path.join(
+                    __file__,
+                    os.pardir,
+                    os.pardir
+                )
+            )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='function')
+def default_baked_project(tmpdir):
+    out_dir = str(tmpdir.mkdir('data-project'))
+
+    main.cookiecutter(
+        CCDS_ROOT,
+        no_input=True,
+        extra_context={},
+        output_dir=out_dir
+    )
+
+    # default project name is project_name
+    yield os.path.join(out_dir, 'project_name')
+
+    # cleanup after
+    shutil.rmtree(out_dir)
+
+
+def test_readme(default_baked_project):
+    readme_path = os.path.join(default_baked_project, 'README.md')
+
+    assert os.path.exists(readme_path)
+    assert no_curlies(readme_path)
+
+
+def test_license(default_baked_project):
+    license_path = os.path.join(default_baked_project, 'LICENSE')
+
+    assert os.path.exists(license_path)
+    assert no_curlies(license_path)
+
+
+def test_requirements(default_baked_project):
+    reqs_path = os.path.join(default_baked_project, 'requirements.txt')
+
+    assert os.path.exists(reqs_path)
+    assert no_curlies(reqs_path)
+
+
+def test_makefile(default_baked_project):
+    makefile_path = os.path.join(default_baked_project, 'Makefile')
+
+    assert os.path.exists(makefile_path)
+    assert no_curlies(makefile_path)
+
+
+def test_folders(default_baked_project):
+    expected_dirs = [
+        'data',
+        os.path.join('data', 'external'),
+        os.path.join('data', 'interim'),
+        os.path.join('data', 'processed'),
+        os.path.join('data', 'raw'),
+        'docs',
+        'models',
+        'notebooks',
+        'references',
+        'reports',
+        os.path.join('reports', 'figures'),
+        'src',
+        os.path.join('src', 'data'),
+        os.path.join('src', 'features'),
+        os.path.join('src', 'models'),
+        os.path.join('src', 'visualization')
+    ]
+
+    ignored_dirs = [
+        default_baked_project,
+        os.path.join(default_baked_project, '__pycache__')
+        ]
+
+    abs_expected_dirs = [os.path.join(default_baked_project, d) for
+                            d in expected_dirs]
+
+    abs_dirs, _, _ = list(zip(*os.walk(default_baked_project)))
+
+    assert len(set(abs_expected_dirs + ignored_dirs) - set(abs_dirs)) == 0
+
+
+def no_curlies(filepath):
+    """ Utility to make sure no curly braces appear in a file.
+        That is, was jinja able to render everthing?
+    """
+    with open(filepath, 'r') as f:
+        data = f.read()
+
+    template_strings = [
+        '{{',
+        '}}',
+        '{%',
+        '%}'
+    ]
+
+    template_strings_in_file = [s in data for s in template_strings]
+
+    return not any(template_strings_in_file)