diff --git a/tests/_bootstrap.php b/tests/_bootstrap.php
index 243f9c85b..ce4ca11fb 100644
--- a/tests/_bootstrap.php
+++ b/tests/_bootstrap.php
@@ -1,2 +1,38 @@
 <?php
 // This is global bootstrap for autoloading
+
+
+namespace Grav;
+
+
+// Ensure vendor libraries exist
+$autoload = __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';
+
+if (!is_file($autoload)) {
+    throw new \RuntimeException("Please run: <i>bin/grav install</i>");
+}
+
+use Grav\Common\Grav;
+
+// Register the auto-loader.
+$loader = require_once $autoload;
+
+if (version_compare($ver = PHP_VERSION, $req = GRAV_PHP_MIN, '<')) {
+    throw new \RuntimeException(sprintf('You are running PHP %s, but Grav needs at least <strong>PHP %s</strong> to run.', $ver, $req));
+}
+
+// Set timezone to default, falls back to system if php.ini not set
+date_default_timezone_set(@date_default_timezone_get());
+
+// Set internal encoding if mbstring loaded
+if (!extension_loaded('mbstring')) {
+    throw new \RuntimeException("'mbstring' extension is not loaded.  This is required for Grav to run correctly");
+}
+mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');
+
+// Get the Grav instance
+$grav = Grav::instance(
+    array(
+        'loader' => $loader
+    )
+);
diff --git a/tests/unit/_bootstrap.php b/tests/unit/_bootstrap.php
index 8a8855580..f92ef0c09 100644
--- a/tests/unit/_bootstrap.php
+++ b/tests/unit/_bootstrap.php
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 <?php
 // Here you can initialize variables that will be available to your tests
+define('GRAV_CLI', true);
+