diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 09ca45e..bc0daa2 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -31,3 +31,14 @@ namespace_packages = True
 strict_optional = False
 warn_unreachable = True
 explicit_package_bases = True
+
+[coverage:run]
+parallel = true
+branch = true
+omit =
+        tests/*
+        *gt_cache*
+        .dacecache*
+        external/*
+        __init__.py
+source_pkgs = pySHiELD
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0ea2a99..197ed53 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
     "xarray",
 ]
 
-test_requirements = ["pytest", "pytest-subtests", "serialbox"]
-ndsl_requirements = ["ndsl @ git+https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/NDSL.git@2024.04.00"]
+test_requirements = ["pytest", "pytest-subtests", "serialbox", "coverage"]
+ndsl_requirements = ["ndsl @ git+https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/NDSL.git@develop"]
 pyFV3_requirements = ["pyFV3 @ git+https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/PyFV3.git@develop"]
 develop_requirements = (
     test_requirements + ndsl_requirements + pyFV3_requirements + ["pre-commit"]
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
deleted file mode 100644
index f7e506a..0000000
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-import pytest
-
-
-@pytest.fixture()
-def backend(pytestconfig):
-    backend = pytestconfig.getoption("backend")
-    return backend
-
-
-def pytest_addoption(parser):
-    parser.addoption("--backend", action="store", default="numpy")
-    parser.addoption("--which_modules", action="store")
-    parser.addoption("--which_rank", action="store")
-    parser.addoption("--skip_modules", action="store")
-    parser.addoption("--print_failures", action="store_true")
-    parser.addoption("--failure_stride", action="store", default=1)
-    parser.addoption("--data_path", action="store", default="./")
-    parser.addoption("--threshold_overrides_file", action="store", default=None)
-    parser.addoption("--compute_grid", action="store_true")
-    parser.addoption("--dperiodic", action="store_true")
-
-
-def pytest_configure(config):
-    # register an additional marker
-    config.addinivalue_line(
-        "markers", "sequential(name): mark test as running sequentially on ranks"
-    )
-    config.addinivalue_line(
-        "markers", "parallel(name): mark test as running in parallel across ranks"
-    )
-    config.addinivalue_line(
-        "markers",
-        "mock_parallel(name): mark test as running in mock parallel across ranks",
-    )