diff --git a/foreman/start-evaluator.sh b/foreman/start-evaluator.sh
index 249c4047..a2858003 100755
--- a/foreman/start-evaluator.sh
+++ b/foreman/start-evaluator.sh
@@ -3,5 +3,4 @@
 # wait for hydra-server to listen
 while ! nc -z localhost 63333; do sleep 1; done
 
-touch .hydra-data/hydra.conf
 HYDRA_CONFIG=$(pwd)/.hydra-data/hydra.conf exec hydra-evaluator
diff --git a/foreman/start-hydra.sh b/foreman/start-hydra.sh
index 79b4fdb8..66773f81 100755
--- a/foreman/start-hydra.sh
+++ b/foreman/start-hydra.sh
@@ -8,5 +8,11 @@ createdb -h $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres -p 64444 hydra
 hydra-init
 hydra-create-user alice --password foobar --role admin
 
-touch .hydra-data/hydra.conf
+if [ ! -f ./.hydra-data/hydra.conf ]; then
+    echo "Creating a default hydra.conf"
+    cat << EOF > .hydra-data/hydra.conf
+# test-time instances likely don't want to bootstrap nixpkgs from scratch
+use-substitutes = true
+EOF
+fi
 HYDRA_CONFIG=$(pwd)/.hydra-data/hydra.conf exec hydra-dev-server --port 63333
diff --git a/foreman/start-notify.sh b/foreman/start-notify.sh
index f63997ae..6a647e54 100755
--- a/foreman/start-notify.sh
+++ b/foreman/start-notify.sh
@@ -3,5 +3,4 @@
 # wait for hydra-server to listen
 while ! nc -z localhost 63333; do sleep 1; done
 
-touch .hydra-data/hydra.conf
 HYDRA_CONFIG=$(pwd)/.hydra-data/hydra.conf exec hydra-notify
diff --git a/foreman/start-queue-runner.sh b/foreman/start-queue-runner.sh
index 7c92f4e9..9796b105 100755
--- a/foreman/start-queue-runner.sh
+++ b/foreman/start-queue-runner.sh
@@ -3,5 +3,4 @@
 # wait until hydra is listening on port 63333
 while ! nc -z localhost 63333; do sleep 1; done
 
-touch .hydra-data/hydra.conf
 HYDRA_CONFIG=$(pwd)/.hydra-data/hydra.conf exec hydra-queue-runner