diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd6cca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+dotenv
+
+env_vars_required GOPHER_DIR
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index df7d859..3a9d44e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 /playground/
 /.tests/
+/.env
diff --git a/spec/testutils.lua b/spec/testutils.lua
index 177b9a1..64e0f9d 100644
--- a/spec/testutils.lua
+++ b/spec/testutils.lua
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
--- NOTE: there's a probably a better way to do this
-local base_dir = vim.fn.expand "%:p:h"
+local base_dir = vim.env.GOPHER_DIR or vim.fn.expand "%:p:h"
 local fixtures_dir = vim.fs.joinpath(base_dir, "/spec/fixtures/")
 
 ---@class gopher.TestUtils