diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ef8bc3d..c661ff5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,3 +6,5 @@ dist/
 .pytest_cache/
 __pycache__/
 *.pyc
+.coverage
+htmlcov/
diff --git a/faculty_mill/execute.py b/faculty_mill/execute.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd513d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/faculty_mill/execute.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import shutil
+from pathlib import Path
+from io import TextIOWrapper
+
+import click
+from papermill.cli import papermill
+
+
+def run(
+    notebook: TextIOWrapper,
+    directory: Path,
+    execute: bool,
+    click_context: click.Context,
+) -> Path:
+    input_path = directory / "input.ipynb"
+    output_path = directory / "output.ipynb"
+    with input_path.open("w") as input_file:
+        shutil.copyfileobj(notebook, input_file)
+
+    if execute:
+        papermill_click_context = papermill.make_context(
+            "The papermill execution command.",
+            [str(input_path), str(output_path)] + click_context.args,
+            parent=click_context,
+        )
+
+        papermill.invoke(papermill_click_context)
+    else:
+        shutil.copy(str(input_path), str(output_path))
+
+    return output_path
diff --git a/faculty_mill/faculty_reporter.py b/faculty_mill/faculty_reporter.py
index 06787d9..e889c99 100644
--- a/faculty_mill/faculty_reporter.py
+++ b/faculty_mill/faculty_reporter.py
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
-import shutil
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from pathlib import Path
 from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 
 import click
-from papermill.cli import papermill
-from publish import publish
 
+from .publish import publish
 from .version import print_version
+from .execute import run
 
 
 @contextmanager
@@ -69,23 +68,8 @@ def main(
     """
 
     with tmpdir() as directory:
-        input_path = directory / "input.ipynb"
-        output_path = directory / "output.ipynb"
 
-        # write the input file to the new, temporary input file
-        # this is to allow processing of stdin
-        with input_path.open("w") as input_file:
-            shutil.copyfileobj(notebook, input_file)
-
-        if execute:
-            papermill_click_context = papermill.make_context(
-                "The papermill execution command.",
-                [str(input_path), str(output_path)] + click_context.args,
-                parent=click_context,
-            )
-            papermill.invoke(papermill_click_context)
-        else:
-            shutil.copy(input_path, output_path)
+        output_path = run(notebook, directory, execute, click_context)
 
         publish(report_name, output_path, show_code=show_code)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_execute.py b/tests/test_execute.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1dba10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_execute.py
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+from io import StringIO
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
+import pytest
+
+from faculty_mill.execute import run
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def tempdir(tmpdir):
+    """Fixture that wraps pytest fixture to return Path object"""
+    return Path(str(tmpdir))
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def tmpnotebook():
+    test_notebook = StringIO()
+    test_notebook.write("test notebook content")
+    test_notebook.seek(0)
+    return test_notebook
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def mock_click_context():
+    click_context = Mock()
+    click_context.args = ["arg 1", "arg 2"]
+    return click_context
+
+
+def test_that_run_copies_content(tempdir, tmpnotebook, mock_click_context):
+    output_notebook = run(
+        tmpnotebook, tempdir, execute=False, click_context=mock_click_context
+    )
+    assert output_notebook.parent == tempdir
+    assert output_notebook.read_text() == "test notebook content"
+
+
+@patch("faculty_mill.execute.papermill")
+def test_that_run_calls_papermill(
+    mock_papermill, tempdir, tmpnotebook, mock_click_context
+):
+    output_notebook = run(
+        tmpnotebook, tempdir, execute=True, click_context=mock_click_context
+    )
+    assert output_notebook.parent == tempdir
+    mock_papermill.make_context.assert_called_once_with(
+        "The papermill execution command.",
+        [str(tempdir / "input.ipynb"), str(tempdir / "output.ipynb")]
+        + mock_click_context.args,
+        parent=mock_click_context,
+    )
+    mock_papermill.invoke.assert_called_once_with(
+        mock_papermill.make_context.return_value
+    )