diff --git a/examples/examples_test.go b/examples/examples_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..44228e5be61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/examples_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+// +build examples
+
+/*
+Copyright 2020 The Tekton Authors
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package test
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+
+	"github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/names"
+	knativetest "knative.dev/pkg/test"
+)
+
+const (
+	timeoutSeconds = 600
+	sleepBetween   = 10
+
+	// we may want to consider either not running examples that require registry access
+	// or doing something more sophisticated to inject the right registry in when folks
+	// are executing the examples
+	horribleHardCodedRegistry = "gcr.io/christiewilson-catfactory"
+)
+
+// formatLogger is a printf style function for logging in tests.
+type formatLogger func(template string, args ...interface{})
+
+// cmd will run the command c with args and if input is provided, that will be piped
+// into the process as input
+func cmd(logf formatLogger, c string, args []string, input string) (string, error) {
+	// Remove braces from args when logging so users can see the complete call
+	logf("Executing %s %v", c, strings.Trim(fmt.Sprint(args), "[]"))
+
+	cmd := exec.Command(c, args...)
+	cmd.Env = os.Environ()
+
+	if input != "" {
+		cmd.Stdin = strings.NewReader(input)
+	}
+
+	var stderr, stdout bytes.Buffer
+	cmd.Stderr = &stderr
+	cmd.Stdout = &stdout
+	if err := cmd.Run(); err != nil {
+		logf("couldn't run command %s %v: %v, %s", c, args, err, stderr.String())
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	return stdout.String(), nil
+}
+
+// eraseClusterTasks will erase all cluster tasks which do not get cleaned up by namespace.
+func eraseClusterTasks(logf formatLogger) {
+	if _, err := cmd(logf, "kubectl", []string{"delete", "--ignore-not-found=true", "clustertasks.tekton.dev", "--all"}, ""); err != nil {
+		logf("couldn't delete cluster tasks: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// getYamls will look in the directory in examples indicated by version and run for yaml files
+func getYamls(t *testing.T, version, run string) []string {
+	t.Helper()
+	_, filename, _, _ := runtime.Caller(0)
+
+	// Don't read recursively; the only dir within these dirs is no-ci which doesn't
+	// want any tests run against it
+	files, err := ioutil.ReadDir(path.Join(path.Dir(filename), version, run))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Couldn't read yaml files from %s/%s/%s: %v", path.Dir(filename), version, run, err)
+	}
+	yamls := []string{}
+	for _, f := range files {
+		if matches, _ := filepath.Match("*.yaml", f.Name()); matches {
+			yamls = append(yamls, f.Name())
+		}
+	}
+	return yamls
+}
+
+// replaceDockerRepo will look in the content f and replace the hard coded docker
+// repo with the on provided via the KO_DOCKER_REPO environment variable
+func replaceDockerRepo(t *testing.T, f string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	r := os.Getenv("KO_DOCKER_REPO")
+	if r == "" {
+		t.Fatalf("KO_DOCKER_REPO must be set")
+	}
+	read, err := ioutil.ReadFile(f)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("couldnt read contents of %s: %v", f, err)
+	}
+	return strings.Replace(string(read), horribleHardCodedRegistry, r, -1)
+}
+
+// logRun will retrieve the entire yaml of run in namespace n and log it
+func logRun(t *testing.T, n, run string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	yaml, err := cmd(t.Logf, "kubectl", []string{"--namespace", n, "get", run, "-o", "yaml"}, "")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Logf(yaml)
+	}
+}
+
+// pollRun will use kubectl to query the specified run in namespace n
+// to see if it has completed. It will timeout after timeoutSeconds.
+func pollRun(t *testing.T, n, run string, wg *sync.WaitGroup) {
+	t.Helper()
+	// instead of polling it might be faster to explore using --watch and parsing
+	// the output as it returns
+	for i := 0; i < (timeoutSeconds / sleepBetween); i++ {
+		status, err := cmd(t.Logf, "kubectl", []string{"--namespace", n, "get", run, "--output=jsonpath={.status.conditions[*].status}"}, "")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("couldnt get status of %s: %v", run, err)
+			wg.Done()
+			return
+		}
+
+		switch status {
+		case "", "Unknown":
+			// Not finished running yet
+			time.Sleep(sleepBetween * time.Second)
+		case "True":
+			t.Logf("%s completed successfully", run)
+			wg.Done()
+			return
+		default:
+			t.Errorf("%s has failed with status %s", run, status)
+			logRun(t, n, run)
+
+			wg.Done()
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	t.Errorf("%s did not complete within %d seconds", run, timeoutSeconds)
+	logRun(t, n, run)
+	wg.Done()
+}
+
+// waitForAllRuns will use kubectl to poll all runs in runs in namespace n
+// until completed, failed, or timed out
+func waitForAllRuns(t *testing.T, n string, runs []string) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	for _, run := range runs {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go pollRun(t, n, run, &wg)
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+}
+
+// getRuns will look for "run" in the provided ko output to determine the names
+// of any runs created.
+func getRuns(k string) []string {
+	runs := []string{}
+	// this a pretty naive way of looking for these run names, it would be an
+	// improvement to be more aware of the output format or to parse the yamls and
+	// use a client to apply them so we can get the name of the created runs via
+	// the client
+	for _, s := range strings.Split(k, "\n") {
+		name := strings.TrimSuffix(s, " created")
+		if strings.Contains(name, "run") {
+			runs = append(runs, name)
+		}
+	}
+	return runs
+}
+
+// createRandomNamespace will create a namespace with a randomized name so that anything
+// happening within this namespace will not conflict with other namespaces. It will return
+// the name of the namespace.
+func createRandomNamespace(t *testing.T) string {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	n := names.SimpleNameGenerator.RestrictLengthWithRandomSuffix("irkalla")
+	_, err := cmd(t.Logf, "kubectl", []string{"create", "namespace", n}, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("could not create namespace %s for example: %v", n, err)
+	}
+	return n
+}
+
+// deleteNamespace will delete the namespace with kubectl.
+func deleteNamespace(logf formatLogger, n string) {
+	_, err := cmd(logf, "kubectl", []string{"delete", "namespace", n}, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		logf("could not delete namespace %s for example: %v", n, err)
+	}
+}
+
+// runTests will use ko to create all yamls in the directory indicated by version
+// and run, and wait for all runs (PipelineRuns and TaskRuns) created
+func runTests(t *testing.T, version, run string) {
+	yamls := getYamls(t, version, run)
+	for _, yaml := range yamls {
+		y := yaml
+
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", run, y), func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			// apply the yaml in its own namespace so it can run in parallel
+			// with similar tests (e.g. v1alpha1 + v1beta1) without conflicting with each other
+			// and we can easily cleanup.
+			n := createRandomNamespace(t)
+			knativetest.CleanupOnInterrupt(func() { deleteNamespace(t.Logf, n) }, t.Logf)
+			defer deleteNamespace(t.Logf, n)
+
+			t.Logf("Applying %s to namespace %s", y, n)
+			content := replaceDockerRepo(t, fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s/%s", version, run, y))
+			output, err := cmd(t.Logf, "ko", []string{"create", "--namespace", n, "-f", "-"}, content)
+			if err == nil {
+				runs := getRuns(output)
+
+				if len(runs) == 0 {
+					t.Fatalf("no runs were created for %s, output %s", y, output)
+				}
+
+				t.Logf("Waiting for created runs %v", runs)
+				waitForAllRuns(t, n, runs)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestYaml(t *testing.T) {
+	versions := []string{"v1alpha1", "v1beta1"}
+	runs := []string{"taskruns", "pipelineruns"}
+
+	knativetest.CleanupOnInterrupt(func() { eraseClusterTasks(t.Logf) }, t.Logf)
+	defer eraseClusterTasks(t.Logf)
+
+	for _, version := range versions {
+		for _, run := range runs {
+			runTests(t, version, run)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/examples/v1alpha1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml b/examples/v1alpha1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml
index 9c1818d73e7..c9bf0d776af 100644
--- a/examples/v1alpha1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml
+++ b/examples/v1alpha1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
 kind: ClusterTask
 metadata:
-  name: cluster-task-pipeline-4
+  name: cluster-task-pipeline-4-v1alpha1
 spec:
   steps:
   - name: task-two-step-one
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ spec:
   tasks:
   - name: cluster-task-pipeline-4
     taskRef:
-      name: cluster-task-pipeline-4
+      name: cluster-task-pipeline-4-v1alpha1
       kind: ClusterTask
 ---
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
diff --git a/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml b/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml
index 3e3e1f8f844..876f5a35f6d 100644
--- a/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml
+++ b/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
 kind: ClusterTask
 metadata:
-  name: clustertask
+  name: clustertask-v1alpha1
 spec:
   steps:
   - image: ubuntu
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@ metadata:
   generateName: clustertask-
 spec:
   taskRef:
-    name: clustertask
+    name: clustertask-v1alpha1
     kind: ClusterTask
diff --git a/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml b/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml
index 428e857e94d..53ede3d6979 100644
--- a/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml
+++ b/examples/v1alpha1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
 kind: ClusterTask
 metadata:
-  name: clustertask-with-optional-resources
+  name: clustertask-with-optional-resources-v1alpha1
 spec:
   inputs:
     resources:
@@ -31,5 +31,5 @@ metadata:
   name: clustertask-without-resources
 spec:
   taskRef:
-    name: clustertask-with-optional-resources
+    name: clustertask-with-optional-resources-v1alpha1
     kind: ClusterTask
diff --git a/examples/v1beta1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml b/examples/v1beta1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml
index d70960dbb12..78314a28126 100644
--- a/examples/v1beta1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml
+++ b/examples/v1beta1/pipelineruns/clustertask-pipelinerun.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1
 kind: ClusterTask
 metadata:
-  name: cluster-task-pipeline-4
+  name: cluster-task-pipeline-4-v1beta1
 spec:
   steps:
   - name: task-two-step-one
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ spec:
   tasks:
   - name: cluster-task-pipeline-4
     taskRef:
-      name: cluster-task-pipeline-4
+      name: cluster-task-pipeline-4-v1beta1
       kind: ClusterTask
 ---
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1
diff --git a/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml b/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml
index 10972427dab..9124271adc9 100644
--- a/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml
+++ b/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/clustertask.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1
 kind: ClusterTask
 metadata:
-  name: clustertask
+  name: clustertask-v1beta1
 spec:
   steps:
   - image: ubuntu
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@ metadata:
   generateName: clustertask-
 spec:
   taskRef:
-    name: clustertask
+    name: clustertask-v1beta1
     kind: ClusterTask
diff --git a/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml b/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml
index 1ecae87cf8d..882443c6971 100644
--- a/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml
+++ b/examples/v1beta1/taskruns/optional-resources-with-clustertask.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1
 kind: ClusterTask
 metadata:
-  name: clustertask-with-optional-resources
+  name: clustertask-with-optional-resources-v1beta1
 spec:
   params:
   - name: filename
@@ -30,5 +30,5 @@ metadata:
   name: clustertask-without-resources
 spec:
   taskRef:
-    name: clustertask-with-optional-resources
+    name: clustertask-with-optional-resources-v1beta1
     kind: ClusterTask
diff --git a/test/README.md b/test/README.md
index 5b135f929e8..2bbb82f09da 100644
--- a/test/README.md
+++ b/test/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,23 @@ go test ./...
 go test -v -count=1 -tags=e2e -timeout=20m ./test
 ```
 
+* [Unit tests](#unit-tests)
+  * [Unit testing controllers](#unit-testing-controllers)
+* [End to end tests](#end-to-end-tests)
+  * [Setup](#setup)
+  * [Running](#running)
+  * [Flags](#flags)
+  * [Running specific test cases](#running-specific-test-cases)
+  * [Running example yaml tests](#running-example-yaml-tests)
+  * [Running upgrade tests](#running-upgrade-tests)
+  * [Adding integration tests](#adding-integration-tests)
+    * [Create Tekton objects](#create-tekton-objects)
+    * [Get access to client objects](#get-access-to-client-objects)
+    * [Generate random names](#generate-random-names)
+    * [Poll pipeline resources](#poll-pipeline-resources)
+* [Presubmit tests](#presubmit-tests)
+  * [Running presubmit integration tests](#running-presubmit-integration-tests)
+
 ## Unit tests
 
 Unit tests live side by side with the code they are testing and can be run with:
@@ -201,12 +218,17 @@ TestTaskRun, use
 go test -v -tags=e2e -count=1 ./test -run ^TestTaskRun
 ```
 
-### Running YAML tests
+### Running example YAML tests
+
+To run the tests that exercise [the examples](../examples), you can run the tests
+with go. To run these tests, you must provide `go` with `-tags=examples`. The tests
+run against your current kubeconfig.
+
 
-To run the YAML e2e tests, run the following command:
+For example:
 
 ```bash
-./test/e2e-tests-yaml.sh
+go test -v -count=1 -tags=examples -timeout 15m ./examples
 ```
 
 ### Running upgrade tests
diff --git a/test/e2e-common.sh b/test/e2e-common.sh
index e0a6328bc33..ee6261c42e9 100755
--- a/test/e2e-common.sh
+++ b/test/e2e-common.sh
@@ -62,71 +62,6 @@ function dump_extra_cluster_state() {
   kubectl -n tekton-pipelines logs $(get_app_pod tekton-pipelines-webhook tekton-pipelines)
 }
 
-function validate_run() {
-  local tests_finished=0
-  for i in {1..90}; do
-    local finished="$(kubectl get $1.tekton.dev --output=jsonpath='{.items[*].status.conditions[*].status}')"
-    if [[ ! "$finished" == *"Unknown"* ]]; then
-      tests_finished=1
-      break
-    fi
-    sleep 10
-  done
-
-  return ${tests_finished}
-}
-
-function check_results() {
-  local failed=0
-  results="$(kubectl get $1.tekton.dev --output=jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.metadata.name}={.status.conditions[*].type}{.status.conditions[*].status}{" "}{end}')"
-  for result in ${results}; do
-    if [[ ! "${result,,}" == *"=succeededtrue" ]]; then
-      echo "ERROR: test ${result} but should be succeededtrue"
-      failed=1
-    fi
-  done
-
-  return ${failed}
-}
-
-function create_resources() {
-  local resource=$1
-  echo ">> Creating resources ${resource}"
-
-  # Applying the resources, either *taskruns or * *pipelineruns except those
-  # in the no-ci directory
-  for file in $(find ${REPO_ROOT_DIR}/examples/${resource}s/ -name '*.yaml' -not -path '*/no-ci/*' | sort); do
-    perl -p -e 's/gcr.io\/christiewilson-catfactory/$ENV{KO_DOCKER_REPO}/g' ${file} | ko create -f - || return 1
-  done
-}
-
-function run_tests() {
-  local resource=$1
-
-  # Wait for tests to finish.
-  echo ">> Waiting for tests to finish for ${resource}"
-  if validate_run $resource; then
-    echo "ERROR: tests timed out"
-  fi
-
-  # Check that tests passed.
-  echo ">> Checking test results for ${resource}"
-  if check_results $resource; then
-    echo ">> All YAML tests passed"
-    return 0
-  fi
-  return 1
-}
-
-function run_yaml_tests() {
-  echo ">> Starting tests for the resource ${1}/${2}"
-  create_resources ${1}/${2} || fail_test "Could not create ${2}/${1} from the examples"
-  if ! run_tests ${2}; then
-    return 1
-  fi
-  return 0
-}
-
 function install_pipeline_crd() {
   echo ">> Deploying Tekton Pipelines"
   ko resolve -f config/ \
diff --git a/test/e2e-tests-yaml.sh b/test/e2e-tests-yaml.sh
index 6d2061dca9f..e83637982d9 100755
--- a/test/e2e-tests-yaml.sh
+++ b/test/e2e-tests-yaml.sh
@@ -32,24 +32,8 @@ set +o pipefail
 install_pipeline_crd
 
 # Run the tests
-failed=0
-for version in v1alpha1 v1beta1; do
-  for test in taskrun pipelinerun; do
-    header "Running YAML e2e tests for ${version} ${test}s"
-    if ! run_yaml_tests ${version} ${test}; then
-      echo "ERROR: one or more YAML tests failed"
-      output_yaml_test_results ${test}
-      output_pods_logs ${test}
-      failed=1
-    fi
-  done
-  # Clean resources
-  delete_pipeline_resources
-  for res in services pods configmaps secrets serviceaccounts persistentvolumeclaims; do
-    kubectl delete --ignore-not-found=true ${res} --all
-  done
-done
-
+set -x
+failed=$(go test -v -count=1 -tags=examples -timeout 15m ./examples)
 (( failed )) && fail_test
 
 success