diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index eba6fb4..f96ab72 100755
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -35,8 +35,11 @@ import sys
 import shutil
 import json
 
-TEMP = "/tmp/test"
+TEMP = "/tmp/bam_test"
+# Separate tmp folder for server, since we don't reset the server at every test
+TEMP_SERVER = "/tmp/bam_test_server"
 PORT = 5555
+PROJECT_NAME = "test_project"
 
 def run(cmd, cwd=None):
     # print(">>> ", " ".join(cmd))
@@ -98,6 +101,8 @@ class StdIO:
 def svn_repo_create(id_, dirname):
     run(["svnadmin", "create", id_], cwd=dirname)
 
+def svn_repo_checkout(path, dirname):
+    run(["svnadmin", "checkout", path, dirname])
 
 def bam_run(argv, cwd=None):
 
@@ -117,16 +122,42 @@ def bam_run(argv, cwd=None):
 # Server
 
 
-def server():
+def server(mode='testing', debug=False):
+    """Start development server via Flask app.run() in a separate thread. We need server
+    to run in order to check most of the client commands.
+    """
     import threading
 
-    def _():
+    def run_testing_server():
         from application import app
-        app.run(port=PORT, debug=False)
+        # If we run the server in testing mode (the default) we override sqlite database, 
+        # with a testing, disposable one (create TMP dir)
+        if mode == 'testing':
+            from application import db
+            from application.modules.projects.model import Project, ProjectSetting
+            # Override sqlite database
+            if not os.path.isdir(TEMP_SERVER):
+                os.makedirs(TEMP_SERVER)
+            app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:///' + TEMP_SERVER + '/bam_test.db'
+            # Use the model definitions to create all the tables
+            db.create_all()
+            # Create a testing project, based on the global configuration (depends on a
+            # correct initialization of the SVN repo and on the creation of a checkout)
 
+            # TODO(fsiddi): turn these values in variables
+            project = Project(
+                name=PROJECT_NAME,
+                repository_path="/tmp/bam_test/remote_store/svn_checkout",
+                upload_path="/tmp/bam_test/remote_store/upload",
+                status="active"
+                )
+            db.session.add(project)
+            db.session.commit()
+        # Run the app in production mode (prevents tests to run twice)
+        app.run(port=PORT, debug=debug)
 
     from multiprocessing import Process
-    p = Process(target=_, args=())
+    p = Process(target=run_testing_server, args=())
     p.start()
 
     os.system("sleep 1")
@@ -144,14 +175,30 @@ class BamSessionTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         if not os.path.isdir(TEMP):
             os.makedirs(TEMP)
+        # Create local storage folder
+        if not os.path.isdir(self.path_local_store):
+            os.makedirs(self.path_local_store)
 
-        if not os.path.isdir(self.path_repo):
-            os.makedirs(self.path_repo)
+        # Create remote storage (usually is on the server). 
+        # SVN repo and SVN checkout will live here
+        if not os.path.isdir(self.path_remote_store):
+            os.makedirs(self.path_remote_store)
 
-        if not os.path.isdir(self.path_remote):
-            os.makedirs(self.path_remote)
+        # Check for SVN repo folder
+        path_svn_repo = os.path.join(self.path_remote_store, "svn_repo")
+        if not os.path.isdir(path_svn_repo):
+            os.makedirs(path_svn_repo)
 
-        svn_repo_create(self.proj_name, self.path_repo)
+        # Create a fresh SVN repository
+        svn_repo_create(self.proj_name, path_svn_repo)
+
+        # Check for SVN checkout
+        path_svn_checkout = os.path.join(self.path_remote_store, "svn_checkout")
+        if not os.path.isdir(path_svn_checkout):
+            os.makedirs(path_svn_checkout)
+
+        # Create an SVN checkout of the freshly created repo
+        svn_repo_checkout(path_svn_checkout, self.proj_name)
 
     def tearDown(self):
         shutil.rmtree(TEMP)
@@ -162,16 +209,16 @@ class BamSessionTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         return url_full, user_name, url
 
     def init_defaults(self):
-        self.path_repo = os.path.join(TEMP, "remote_store")
-        self.path_remote = os.path.join(TEMP, "local_store")
+        self.path_local_store = os.path.join(TEMP, "local_store")
+        self.path_remote_store = os.path.join(TEMP, "remote_store")
 
-        self.proj_name = "test"
+        self.proj_name = PROJECT_NAME
         self.user_name = "user"
         self.server_addr = "http://localhost:%s" % PORT
 
     def init_repo(self):
         url_full, user_name, url = self.get_url()
-        bam_run(["init", url_full], self.path_remote)
+        bam_run(["init", url_full], self.path_local_store)
 
 
 class BamInitTest(BamSessionTestCase):
@@ -188,7 +235,7 @@ class BamInitTest(BamSessionTestCase):
         self.init_repo()
 
         url_full, user_name, url = self.get_url()
-        with open(os.path.join(self.path_remote, self.proj_name, ".bam", "config")) as f:
+        with open(os.path.join(self.path_local_store, self.proj_name, ".bam", "config")) as f:
             cfg = json.load(f)
             self.assertEqual(url, cfg["url"])
             self.assertEqual(user_name, cfg["user"])
@@ -206,7 +253,8 @@ class BamListTest(BamSessionTestCase):
     def test_ls(self):
         self.init_repo()
 
-        d = os.path.join(self.path_remote, self.proj_name)
+        d = os.path.join(self.path_local_store, self.proj_name)
+        
         stdout, stderr = bam_run(["ls", "--json"], d)
 
         self.assertEqual("", stderr)
@@ -219,4 +267,5 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     p = server()
     unittest.main(exit=False)
     p.terminate()
+    shutil.rmtree(TEMP_SERVER)