diff --git a/.github/workflows/basic.yml b/.github/workflows/basic.yml
index 6d52fc9..72fa882 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/basic.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/basic.yml
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@ jobs:
       with:
         extra_args: '--verbose --all-files'
 
-  test:
+  experiment:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-      - name: testing
+      - name: experiments
         shell: bash
         run: |
-          make test
+          make experiment
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index aed7658..7f99f47 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+checkpoints
+
 .idea
 .vscode
 .python-version
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2ce5085..285d239 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -14,11 +14,6 @@ fmt: install ## Run autoformatting and linting
 	${VENV}/bin/pre-commit install
 	${VENV}/bin/pre-commit run --all-files
 
-.PHONY: test
-test: install ## Run tests
-	${VENV}/bin/pip install pytest
-	${VENV}/bin/pytest tests
-
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:  ## Clean up caches and build artifacts
 	@git clean -X -d -f
diff --git a/experiments.py b/experiments.py
index 0347854..65be312 100644
--- a/experiments.py
+++ b/experiments.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
 from experiments.taming import main as taming_main
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    Path("checkpoints").mkdir(exist_ok=True)
     taming_main()
diff --git a/experiments/backtest.py b/experiments/backtest.py
index 8373de8..c691b4c 100644
--- a/experiments/backtest.py
+++ b/experiments/backtest.py
@@ -4,16 +4,12 @@
 from functools import lru_cache
 from pathlib import Path
 import pickle
-import sys
 import time
 from typing import Callable
 import numpy as np
 import cvxpy as cp
 import pandas as pd
-from utils import synthetic_returns
-
-# hack to allow importing from parent directory without having a package
-sys.path.append(str(Path(__file__).parent.parent))
+from experiments.utils import synthetic_returns
 
 
 def data_folder():
diff --git a/markowitz.py b/experiments/markowitz.py
similarity index 100%
rename from markowitz.py
rename to experiments/markowitz.py
diff --git a/experiments/taming.py b/experiments/taming.py
index 963fe29..dfb63f1 100644
--- a/experiments/taming.py
+++ b/experiments/taming.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 import cvxpy as cp
-from backtest import BacktestResult, OptimizationInput, run_backtest
-from markowitz import Data, Parameters, markowitz
+from experiments.backtest import BacktestResult, OptimizationInput, run_backtest
+from experiments.markowitz import Data, Parameters, markowitz
 
 
 def basic_markowitz(inputs: OptimizationInput) -> np.ndarray:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index ff3c8a1..8115d95 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 cvxpy
 numpy
-pandas
+pandas[output-formatting]
 matplotlib
diff --git a/tests/__init__.py b/tests/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 7290113..0000000
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-"""global fixtures"""
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-from pathlib import Path
-import pytest
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(scope="session", name="resource_dir")
-def resource_fixture():
-    """resource fixture"""
-    return Path(__file__).parent / "resources"
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(scope="session", name="data_dir")
-def data_fixture():
-    """resource fixture"""
-    return Path(__file__).parent.parent / "data"
diff --git a/tests/resources/.gitkeep b/tests/resources/.gitkeep
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/tests/test_markowitz.py b/tests/test_markowitz.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 11d6f7d..0000000
--- a/tests/test_markowitz.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-# """
-# testing the builder
-# """
-import numpy as np
-
-from markowitz import Data
-
-
-def test_foo(resource_dir, data_dir):
-    assert True
-    data = Data
-    data.idio_volas = np.array([1, 2, 3])