diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3ebc4a14..b91d8b93 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
-language: generic
-
+language: python
+python:
+    - 3.6
 sudo: required
 services:
     - docker
-
+install:
+    - pip install pytest docker
 script:
     - make build-test-all
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 677dcb9b..8fea83e7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -54,15 +54,8 @@ dev/%: PORT?=8888
 dev/%: ## run a foreground container for a stack
 	docker run -it --rm -p $(PORT):8888 $(DARGS) $(OWNER)/$(notdir $@) $(ARGS)
 
+test/%:
+	@TEST_IMAGE="$(OWNER)/$(notdir $@)" pytest test
 
-
-test/%: ## run a stack container, check for jupyter server liveliness
-	@-docker rm -f iut
-	@docker run -d --name iut $(OWNER)/$(notdir $@)
-	@for i in $$(seq 0 9); do \
-		sleep $$i; \
-		docker exec iut bash -c 'wget http://localhost:8888 -O- | grep -i jupyter'; \
-		if [[ $$? == 0 ]]; then exit 0; fi; \
-	done ; exit 1
-
-test-all: $(ALL_IMAGES:%=test/%) ## test all stacks
\ No newline at end of file
+test/base-notebook: ## test supported options in the base notebook
+	@TEST_IMAGE="$(OWNER)/$(notdir $@)" pytest test base-notebook/test
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/test_notebook.py b/test/test_notebook.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ed3c0ebb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_notebook.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Copyright (c) Jupyter Development Team.
+# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+import os
+import time
+
+import docker
+import pytest
+import requests
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='session')
+def docker_client():
+    """Docker client to use"""
+    return docker.from_env()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='session')
+def image_name():
+    """Image name to test"""
+    return os.getenv('TEST_IMAGE', 'jupyter/base-notebook')
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='function')
+def nb_container(docker_client, image_name):
+    """Notebook container to test"""
+    container = docker_client.containers.run(
+        image_name,
+        detach=True,
+        auto_remove=True,
+        ports={
+            '8888/tcp': 8888
+        }
+    )
+    yield container
+    container.kill()
+
+
+def test_server_liveliness(nb_container):
+    """Notebook server should eventually respond with HTTP 200 OK."""
+    for i in range(10):
+        try:
+            resp = requests.get('http://localhost:8888')
+        except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
+            # Wait a bit and try again. Just because the docker container
+            # is running doesn't mean the notebook server is ready to accept
+            # connections inside it.
+            time.sleep(i)
+        else:
+            assert resp.status_code == 200
+            break
+    else:
+        assert False, 'could not connect to server'