diff --git a/deckhand/tests/unit/base.py b/deckhand/tests/unit/base.py
index 5e9e7f9f..fec6514a 100644
--- a/deckhand/tests/unit/base.py
+++ b/deckhand/tests/unit/base.py
@@ -105,8 +105,10 @@ class DeckhandWithDBTestCase(DeckhandTestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         super(DeckhandWithDBTestCase, self).setUp()
+        if 'PIFPAF_URL' not in os.environ:
+            raise RuntimeError('Unit tests must be run using `pifpaf run '
+                               'postgresql`.')
         self.override_config(
-            'connection', os.environ.get('DATABASE_URL', 'sqlite://'),
-            group='database')
+            'connection', os.environ['PIFPAF_URL'], group='database')
         db_api.setup_db()
         self.addCleanup(db_api.drop_db)
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 29ab492e..45e0ed13 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ testtools>=1.4.0 # MIT
 bandit>=1.1.0 # Apache-2.0
 gabbi==1.35.1
 pytest-html==1.16.0
+pifpaf==2.0.0
 
 # NOTE(fmontei): The requirement below is only included because readthedocs
 # depends on it to work, since it runs pip install -rtest-requirements.txt.
diff --git a/tools/functional-tests.sh b/tools/functional-tests.sh
index a32600ce..5833b7e5 100755
--- a/tools/functional-tests.sh
+++ b/tools/functional-tests.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+# Script intended for running Deckhand functional tests via gabbi. Requires
+# Docker CE (at least) to run.
+
 # Meant for capturing output of Deckhand image. This requires that logging
 # in the image be set up to pipe everything out to stdout/stderr.
 STDOUT=$(mktemp)
diff --git a/tools/unit-tests.sh b/tools/unit-tests.sh
index 92836f69..cf710c6e 100755
--- a/tools/unit-tests.sh
+++ b/tools/unit-tests.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 # Script for setting up temporary PostgreSQL database for testing unit tests
-# against.
+# against. Requires Docker CE (at least) to be executed. Fallback in case
+# `pifpaf` fails.
 
 function cleanup {
     sudo docker stop $POSTGRES_ID
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 702e9a2d..4e1342e3 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@ commands =
 [testenv:py27]
 commands =
     {[testenv]commands}
-    {toxinidir}/tools/unit-tests.sh '{posargs}'
+    pifpaf run postgresql -- '{toxinidir}'/tools/pretty_tox.sh '--concurrency=1 {posargs}'
 
 [testenv:py35]
 commands =
     {[testenv]commands}
-    {toxinidir}/tools/unit-tests.sh '{posargs}'
+    pifpaf run postgresql -- '{toxinidir}'/tools/pretty_tox.sh '--concurrency=1 {posargs}'
 
 [testenv:functional]
 usedevelop = True