diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ec81d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# git ls-files --others --exclude-from=.git/info/exclude
+# Lines that start with '#' are comments.
+# For a project mostly in C, the following would be a good set of
+# exclude patterns (uncomment them if you want to use them):
+# *.[oa]
+# *~
+.tests
+doc/tags
diff --git a/tests/minimal_init.lua b/tests/minimal_init.lua
index c79c957..f2ef5d2 100644
--- a/tests/minimal_init.lua
+++ b/tests/minimal_init.lua
@@ -1,3 +1,39 @@
-vim.opt.expandtab = true
+local M = {}
 
-require("nvim-surround").setup()
+function M.root(root)
+    local f = debug.getinfo(1, "S").source:sub(2)
+    return vim.fn.fnamemodify(f, ":p:h:h") .. "/" .. (root or "")
+end
+
+---@param plugin string
+function M.load(plugin)
+    local name = plugin:match(".*/(.*)")
+    local package_root = M.root(".tests/site/pack/deps/start/")
+    if not vim.loop.fs_stat(package_root .. name) then
+        print("Installing " .. plugin)
+        vim.fn.mkdir(package_root, "p")
+        vim.fn.system({
+            "git",
+            "clone",
+            "--depth=1",
+            "https://github.com/" .. plugin .. ".git",
+            package_root .. "/" .. name,
+        })
+    end
+end
+
+function M.setup()
+    vim.cmd([[set runtimepath=$VIMRUNTIME]])
+    vim.opt.runtimepath:append(M.root())
+    vim.opt.packpath = { M.root(".tests/site") }
+    M.load("nvim-lua/plenary.nvim")
+    vim.env.XDG_CONFIG_HOME = M.root(".tests/config")
+    vim.env.XDG_DATA_HOME = M.root(".tests/data")
+    vim.env.XDG_STATE_HOME = M.root(".tests/state")
+    vim.env.XDG_CACHE_HOME = M.root(".tests/cache")
+
+    vim.opt.expandtab = true
+    require("nvim-surround").setup()
+end
+
+M.setup()