diff --git a/test/harness/config/docker/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.test.yaml
similarity index 64%
rename from test/harness/config/docker/docker-compose.yaml
rename to docker-compose.test.yaml
index 91aff32..b5caaf3 100644
--- a/test/harness/config/docker/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.test.yaml
@@ -4,17 +4,19 @@ services:
   synapse_release:
     build:
       context: .
-      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.synapse.latest
+      dockerfile: test/harness/config/docker/Dockerfile.synapse.latest
     ports:
       - "9999:9999"
     volumes:
-      - ./docker/synapse-data:/data
+      - ./test/harness/synapse-data:/data
+    env_file:
+      - ./test/harness/config/synapse/synapse.env
   synapse_registration:
     build:
       context: .
-      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.synapse.registration
+      dockerfile: test/harness/config/docker/Dockerfile.synapse.registration
     volumes:
-      - ./docker/synapse-data:/data
+      - ./test/harness/synapse-data:/data
     depends_on: [synapse_release]
   mjolnir:
     environment:
diff --git a/mjolnir_testing.sh b/mjolnir_testing.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1b07ebb..0000000
--- a/mjolnir_testing.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-# This script only exists so that the persitent state in volumes
-# is removed. Eventually this should be moved to a module
-# managing the integration tests.
-cleanup () {
-    set +e
-    rm -f docker/synapse-data/homeserver.db
-    set -e
-}
-
-case "$1" in
-    up)
-        cleanup
-        exec docker-compose up
-        ;;
-    down)
-        exec docker-compose down
-        ;;
-    *)
-        echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {up|down}" >&2
-        exit 3
-        ;;
-esac
diff --git a/test/harness/launchScript.ts b/test/harness/launchScript.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..609aa6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/harness/launchScript.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import * as mjolnirTesting from './mjolnirTesting';
+
+console.log('wat')
+switch (process.argv[2]) {
+    case 'up':
+        console.info('hmm')
+        mjolnirTesting.upHarness();
+        break;
+    case 'down':
+        mjolnirTesting.downHarness();
+        break;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/harness/mjolnirTesting.ts b/test/harness/mjolnirTesting.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a5fc6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/harness/mjolnirTesting.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+import * as compose from 'docker-compose';
+import * as path from 'path';
+import * as fs from 'fs/promises';
+import * as HmacSHA1 from 'crypto-js/hmac-sha1';
+import axios from 'axios';
+import config from "../../src/config";
+const composeConfig =  path.join(__dirname, '../../docker-compose.test.yaml');
+
+async function synapseGenerate() {
+    let synapseEnv = path.join(__dirname, 'config/synapse/synapse.env');
+    await fs.writeFile(synapseEnv, `UID=${process.getuid()}\n\
+GID=${process.getuid()}\n\
+SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME=localhost:9999
+SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS=no\n\
+SYNAPSE_CONFIG_DIR=/data`);
+    console.log('generating synapse keys');
+    await compose.run('synapse_release', 'generate', {config: composeConfig, log:true});
+    console.log(process.env.NODE_ENV)
+}
+
+// create synapase-data directory
+// copy config to it
+async function configureSynapseData() {
+    let synapseData = path.join(__dirname, 'synapse-data');
+    let synapseConfig = path.join(__dirname, 'config/synapse');
+    await fs.mkdir(synapseData).catch(e => {
+        if (e.code === 'EEXIST') {
+            console.debug('synapse-data already exists')
+         } else {
+            throw e
+         }
+        }
+    );
+    await fs.mkdir(path.join(synapseData, 'media_store')).catch (e => {
+        if (e.code === 'EEXIST') {
+            console.debug('media_store already exists')
+        } else {
+            throw e
+        }
+    });
+    await fs.copyFile(path.join(synapseConfig, 'homeserver.yaml'),
+    path.join(synapseData, "homeserver.yaml"));
+}
+
+async function startSynpase() {
+    await synapseGenerate();
+    console.info('starting synapse.')
+    await compose.upOne('synapse_release', {config: composeConfig, log: true})
+    await registerTestUser();
+}
+
+async function configureMjolnir() {
+    // do we want to clean mjolnir everytime?
+    //await fs.rm('synapse-data', {recursive: true, force: true});
+    await fs.mkdir(path.join(__dirname, 'mjolnir-data')).catch (e => {
+        if (e.code === 'EEXIST') {
+            console.debug('mjolnir-data already exists')
+        } else {
+            throw e
+        }
+    });
+
+    // now we need to setup the management room alias that it should join.
+    // just make bot sdk and make it here or something
+    // or we should probably have a generic setup module.
+
+}
+
+async function startMjolnir() {
+    await configureMjolnir();
+    console.info('starting mjolnir');
+    // will not work without some additonal config, but also it isn't useful to debug like this.
+    // it would be nice if there was a way to run tests and mjolnir in the same process
+    // to assist with debugging
+    //await compose.upOne('mjolnir', {config: composeConfig, log: true})
+    await import('../../src/index');
+}
+
+async function cleanUpSynpase() {
+    await fs.rm('synapse-data', {recursive: true, force: true});
+}
+
+async function registerUser(username: string, displayname: string, password: string, admin: boolean) {
+    let registerUrl = `${config.homeserverUrl}/_synapse/admin/v1/register`
+    console.log(registerUrl);
+    let { data } = await axios.get(registerUrl);
+    let nonce = data.nonce!;
+    let mac = HmacSHA1(`${nonce}\0${username}\0${password}\0${admin ? 'admin' : 'notadmin'}`, 'REGISTRATION_SHARED_SECRET');
+    return await axios.post(registerUrl, {
+        nonce,
+        username,
+        displayname,
+        password,
+        admin,
+        mac: mac.toString()
+    }).catch(e => {
+        if (e.isAxiosError && e.response.data.errcode === 'M_USER_IN_USE') {
+            console.log('user already registered, skipping')
+        } else {
+            throw e;
+        }
+    });
+}
+
+async function registerTestUser() {
+    return await registerUser('mjolnir', 'mjolnir', 'mjolnir', true);
+}
+
+export async function upHarness() {
+    try {
+    await configureSynapseData();
+    await startSynpase();
+    // this doesn't actually seem to be implented by the library authors (at least it doesn't do what you'd expect)?
+    // see their github issue https://github.com/PDMLab/docker-compose/issues/127
+    //await compose.logs(['mjolnir', 'synapse_release'], {config: composeConfig, follow: true});
+    } catch (e) {
+        console.error(e);
+        throw e;
+    }
+    await startMjolnir();
+}
+
+export async function downHarness() {
+    await cleanUpSynpase();
+}
+