diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5a69612b2..07968053a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ config/certs/*
 config/cli_environments/development.rb
 config/cli_environments/stage.rb
 config/cli_environments/local.rb
+db/*.sqlite3
 spec/test_data/logging/*
 doc/*
 log/*
diff --git a/.rspec b/.rspec
index 4e1e0d2f7..83e16f804 100644
--- a/.rspec
+++ b/.rspec
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 --color
+--require spec_helper
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 7180a0aff..23dc561e4 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ end
 
 group :development, :test do
   gem 'byebug'
+  gem 'rspec-rails', '~> 3.7'
   gem 'rubocop', '~> 0.58'
   gem 'rubocop-rspec'
 end
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 6f1b92abd..125c344c2 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -349,6 +349,14 @@ GEM
     rspec-mocks (3.8.0)
       diff-lcs (>= 1.2.0, < 2.0)
       rspec-support (~> 3.8.0)
+    rspec-rails (3.8.0)
+      actionpack (>= 3.0)
+      activesupport (>= 3.0)
+      railties (>= 3.0)
+      rspec-core (~> 3.8.0)
+      rspec-expectations (~> 3.8.0)
+      rspec-mocks (~> 3.8.0)
+      rspec-support (~> 3.8.0)
     rspec-support (3.8.0)
     rubocop (0.58.2)
       jaro_winkler (~> 1.5.1)
@@ -475,6 +483,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   retries
   roo
   rspec (~> 3.0)
+  rspec-rails (~> 3.7)
   rubocop (~> 0.58)
   rubocop-rspec
   ruby-prof
diff --git a/spec/rails_helper.rb b/spec/rails_helper.rb
index 18009db9d..4c853b8c8 100644
--- a/spec/rails_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/rails_helper.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 # Prevent database truncation if the environment is production
 abort("The Rails environment is running in production mode!") if Rails.env.production?
 
+require 'rspec/rails'
 # Add additional requires below this line. Rails is not loaded until this point!
 
 # auto-require all ruby files in the support directory