diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f0e7b240..b5693cf3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 Makefile
 Makefile.in
 .deps
+.hydra-data
 /config.guess
 /config.log
 /config.status
diff --git a/Procfile b/Procfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..42267366
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Procfile
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+hydra-server: ./scripts/start-hydra.sh
+hydra-queue-runner: ./scripts/start-queue-runner.sh
+hydra-evaluator: ./scripts/start-evaluator.sh
+postgres: ./scripts/start-postgres.sh
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index ec6e0349..f8e316f8 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -104,13 +104,16 @@
             [ makeWrapper autoconf automake libtool unzip nukeReferences pkgconfig libpqxx
               gitAndTools.topGit mercurial darcs subversion bazaar openssl bzip2 libxslt
               perlDeps perl final.nix
-              postgresql95 # for running the tests
               boost
               (if lib.versionAtLeast lib.version "20.03pre"
                then nlohmann_json
                else nlohmann_json.override { multipleHeaders = true; })
             ];
 
+          checkInputs = [
+            postgresql95
+          ];
+
           hydraPath = lib.makeBinPath (
             [ subversion openssh final.nix coreutils findutils pixz
               gzip bzip2 lzma gnutar unzip git gitAndTools.topGit mercurial darcs gnused bazaar
@@ -290,6 +293,8 @@
         nixpkgs.overlays = [ self.overlay nix.overlay ];
       };
 
+      runHydra = pkgs.callPackage ./run-hydra.nix {};
+
       nixosModules.hydraTest = {
         imports = [ self.nixosModules.hydra ];
 
diff --git a/run-hydra.nix b/run-hydra.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7012e26e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run-hydra.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{ foreman, mkShell, hydra, netcat, postgresql95 }:
+{ doCheck ? true }:
+mkShell {
+  buildInputs = [
+    foreman (hydra.overrideAttrs (_: { inherit doCheck; })) netcat postgresql95
+  ];
+
+  shellHook = ''
+    export HYDRA_HOME="src/"
+    mkdir -p .hydra-data
+    export HYDRA_DATA="$(pwd)/.hydra-data"
+    export HYDRA_DBI='dbi:Pg:dbname=hydra;host=localhost;'
+
+    exec foreman start
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/scripts/start-evaluator.sh b/scripts/start-evaluator.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..c0b43cf3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/start-evaluator.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# wait for hydra-server to listen
+while ! nc -z localhost 3000; do sleep 1; done
+
+exec hydra-evaluator
diff --git a/scripts/start-hydra.sh b/scripts/start-hydra.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..70bd9beb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/start-hydra.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# wait for postgresql to listen
+while ! nc -z localhost 5432; do sleep 1; done
+
+createdb -h $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres hydra
+
+hydra-init
+hydra-create-user alice --password foobar --role admin
+
+exec hydra-server
diff --git a/scripts/start-postgres.sh b/scripts/start-postgres.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..fae2c4cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/start-postgres.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+initdb ./.hydra-data/postgres
+exec postgres -D ./.hydra-data/postgres -k $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres
diff --git a/scripts/start-queue-runner.sh b/scripts/start-queue-runner.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..4b2741f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/start-queue-runner.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# wait until hydra is listening on port 3000
+while ! nc -z localhost 3000; do sleep 1; done
+
+hydra-queue-runner