diff --git a/bindings/pydeck/requirements-dev.txt b/bindings/pydeck/requirements-dev.txt
index d6f9503b943..7d4f864c0b6 100644
--- a/bindings/pydeck/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/bindings/pydeck/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ recommonmark
 jupyterlab
 ipython>=5.8.0;python_version<"3.4"
 semver # necessary for PEP440-compliant semantic versions
+wheel
diff --git a/bindings/pydeck/setup.py b/bindings/pydeck/setup.py
index b967126c42b..ae3c9d6a1ab 100644
--- a/bindings/pydeck/setup.py
+++ b/bindings/pydeck/setup.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def read(*parts):
 
 def assert_prelease_on_master():
     """Require that prereleases only be from the master branch"""
-    git_branch = check_output('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD'.split()).strip()
+    git_branch = check_output('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD'.split()).decode('ascii').strip()
     is_prerelease = any([c for c in version_ns['__version__'] if c.isalpha()])
     msg = 'Can only release a prerelease from master, but branch is {} and release version is {}'
     if is_prerelease:
@@ -182,7 +182,6 @@ def js_prerelease(command, strict=False):
     class DecoratedCommand(command):
         def run(self):
             if strict:
-                # Running as sdist
                 assert_prelease_on_master()
             jsdeps = self.distribution.get_command_obj("jsdeps")  # noqa
             self.distribution.run_command("jsdeps")
@@ -239,6 +238,7 @@ def run(self):
             "ipywidgets>=7.0.0",
             "traitlets>=4.3.2",
             "jinja2>=2.10.1",
+            "numpy>=1.16.4"
         ],
         setup_requires=["Jinja2>=2.10.1"],
         tests_require=["pytest>=4.0.2", "pandas", "requests"],
diff --git a/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/build-and-screenshot.sh b/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/build-and-screenshot.sh
index 13b18c7b8e0..791fd6903ec 100755
--- a/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/build-and-screenshot.sh
+++ b/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/build-and-screenshot.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-export PYDECK_VERSION=0.2.1
+export PYDECK_VERSION="0.3.0-b.1"
 export PYPI_INSTALL_URL=https://test.pypi.org/simple/
 docker-compose build --parallel && docker-compose up --no-build -d
 python snap.py
diff --git a/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyterlab/Dockerfile b/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyterlab/Dockerfile
index 3c7a8f20f9c..cda9f53d983 100644
--- a/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyterlab/Dockerfile
+++ b/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyterlab/Dockerfile
@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ RUN echo "Installing $PYDECK_VERSION of pydeck from $PYPI_INSTALL_URL"
 
 RUN pip install jupyterlab && \ 
     pip install ipywidgets && \
+    pip install numpy && \
     jupyter serverextension enable --py jupyterlab --sys-prefix && \
-    pip install -i $PYPI_INSTALL_URL pydeck==$PYDECK_VERSION && \
+    pip install -i $PYPI_INSTALL_URL --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple pydeck==$PYDECK_VERSION --pre && \
     jupyter labextension install @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager && \
     jupyter labextension install @deck.gl/jupyter-widget
 
diff --git a/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyternb/Dockerfile b/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyternb/Dockerfile
index 6218a91e059..29ac47faf18 100644
--- a/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyternb/Dockerfile
+++ b/bindings/pydeck/tests/dev-containers/jupyternb/Dockerfile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ ENV JUPYTER_TOKEN=$JUPYTER_TOKEN
 
 RUN pip install jupyter && \ 
     pip install ipywidgets && \
-    pip install -i $PYPI_INSTALL_URL pydeck==$PYDECK_VERSION && \
+    pip install -i $PYPI_INSTALL_URL --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple pydeck==$PYDECK_VERSION --pre && \
     jupyter nbextension install --sys-prefix --symlink --overwrite --py pydeck && \
     jupyter nbextension enable --sys-prefix --py pydeck