diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 4f806b00f2..41e8092073 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -60,15 +60,15 @@ jobs:
       - restore_cache:
           key: v1-specs-repo-{{ .Branch }}-{{ .Revision }}
       - restore_cached_venv:
-          venv_name: v1-pyspec
-          reqs_checksum: '{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements.txt" }}-{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements-testing.txt" }}'
+          venv_name: v1-test_libs
+          reqs_checksum: '{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/setup.py" }}'
       - run:
           name: Install pyspec requirements
           command: make install_test
       - save_cached_venv:
-          venv_name: v1-pyspec
-          reqs_checksum: '{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements.txt" }}-{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements-testing.txt" }}'
-          venv_path: ./test_libs/pyspec/venv
+          venv_name: v1-test_libs
+          reqs_checksum: '{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/setup.py" }}'
+          venv_path: ./test_libs/venv
   test:
     docker:
       - image: circleci/python:3.6
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ jobs:
       - restore_cache:
           key: v1-specs-repo-{{ .Branch }}-{{ .Revision }}
       - restore_cached_venv:
-          venv_name: v1-pyspec
-          reqs_checksum: '{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements.txt" }}-{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements-testing.txt" }}'
+          venv_name: v1-test_libs
+          reqs_checksum: '{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/setup.py" }}'
       - run:
           name: Run py-tests
           command: make citest
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3dd86fc805..84938d2985 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ venv
 .venvs
 .venv
 /.pytest_cache
+*.egg
+*.egg-info
+eggs
+.eggs
 
 build/
 output/
@@ -13,3 +17,6 @@ eth2.0-spec-tests/
 
 # Dynamically built from Markdown spec
 test_libs/pyspec/eth2spec/phase0/spec.py
+
+# vscode
+.vscode/**
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 73d8adea89..1351248985 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ SPEC_DIR = ./specs
 SCRIPT_DIR = ./scripts
 TEST_LIBS_DIR = ./test_libs
 PY_SPEC_DIR = $(TEST_LIBS_DIR)/pyspec
+CONFIG_HELPERS_DIR = $(TEST_LIBS_DIR)/config_helpers
 YAML_TEST_DIR = ./eth2.0-spec-tests/tests
 GENERATOR_DIR = ./test_generators
 CONFIGS_DIR = ./configs
@@ -23,7 +24,8 @@ all: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS) $(YAML_TEST_DIR) $(YAML_TEST_TARGETS)
 clean:
 	rm -rf $(YAML_TEST_DIR)
 	rm -rf $(GENERATOR_VENVS)
-	rm -rf $(PY_SPEC_DIR)/venv $(PY_SPEC_DIR)/.pytest_cache
+	rm -rf $(TEST_LIBS_DIR)/venv
+	rm -rf $(PY_SPEC_DIR)/.pytest_cache
 	rm -rf $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)
 
 # "make gen_yaml_tests" to run generators
@@ -31,13 +33,17 @@ gen_yaml_tests: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS) $(YAML_TEST_TARGETS)
 
 # installs the packages to run pyspec tests
 install_test:
-	cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); python3 -m venv venv; . venv/bin/activate; pip3 install -r requirements-testing.txt;
+	cd $(TEST_LIBS_DIR); python3 -m venv venv; . venv/bin/activate; \
+	cd ..; cd $(CONFIG_HELPERS_DIR); pip3 install -e .; \
+	cd ../..; cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); pip3 install -e .[dev];
 
 test: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)
-	cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); . venv/bin/activate; python -m pytest .
+	cd $(TEST_LIBS_DIR); . venv/bin/activate; \
+	cd ..; cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); python -m pytest .;
 
 citest: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)
-	cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); mkdir -p test-reports/eth2spec; . venv/bin/activate; python -m pytest --junitxml=test-reports/eth2spec/test_results.xml .
+	cd $(TEST_LIBS_DIR); . venv/bin/activate; \
+	cd ..; cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); mkdir -p test-reports/eth2spec; python -m pytest --junitxml=test-reports/eth2spec/test_results.xml .
 
 # "make pyspec" to create the pyspec for all phases.
 pyspec: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)
diff --git a/test_generators/README.md b/test_generators/README.md
index 66534e5a8f..94db105c02 100644
--- a/test_generators/README.md
+++ b/test_generators/README.md
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ Note: make sure to run `make pyspec` from the root of the specs repository, to b
 
 Install all the necessary requirements (re-run when you add more):
 ```bash
-pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+pip3 install -e .[pyspec]
 ```
 
 And write your initial test generator, extending the base generator:
diff --git a/test_libs/config_helpers/requirements.txt b/test_libs/config_helpers/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e441a474b8..0000000000
--- a/test_libs/config_helpers/requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-ruamel.yaml==0.15.87
diff --git a/test_libs/config_helpers/setup.py b/test_libs/config_helpers/setup.py
index 90ad94ee44..88669c0928 100644
--- a/test_libs/config_helpers/setup.py
+++ b/test_libs/config_helpers/setup.py
@@ -1,9 +1,20 @@
-from distutils.core import setup
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+
+
+deps = {
+    'preset_loader': [
+        "ruamel.yaml==0.15.87",
+    ],
+}
+
+deps['dev'] = (
+    deps['preset_loader']
+)
+
+install_requires = deps['preset_loader']
 
 setup(
     name='config_helpers',
-    packages=['preset_loader'],
-    install_requires=[
-        "ruamel.yaml==0.15.87"
-    ]
+    packages=find_packages(exclude=["tests", "tests.*"]),
+    install_requires=install_requires,
 )
diff --git a/test_libs/gen_helpers/requirements.txt b/test_libs/gen_helpers/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 3d6a39458e..0000000000
--- a/test_libs/gen_helpers/requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-ruamel.yaml==0.15.87
-eth-utils==1.4.1
diff --git a/test_libs/gen_helpers/setup.py b/test_libs/gen_helpers/setup.py
index 5de27a6dbe..0c84ff2e2b 100644
--- a/test_libs/gen_helpers/setup.py
+++ b/test_libs/gen_helpers/setup.py
@@ -1,10 +1,21 @@
-from distutils.core import setup
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+
+
+deps = {
+    'gen_base': [
+        "ruamel.yaml==0.15.87",
+        "eth-utils==1.4.1",
+    ],
+}
+
+deps['dev'] = (
+    deps['gen_base']
+)
+
+install_requires = deps['gen_base']
 
 setup(
     name='gen_helpers',
-    packages=['gen_base'],
-    install_requires=[
-        "ruamel.yaml==0.15.87",
-        "eth-utils==1.4.1"
-    ]
+    packages=find_packages(exclude=["tests", "tests.*"]),
+    install_requires=install_requires,
 )
diff --git a/test_libs/pyspec/README.md b/test_libs/pyspec/README.md
index df18342100..ab2967024a 100644
--- a/test_libs/pyspec/README.md
+++ b/test_libs/pyspec/README.md
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Install dependencies:
 ```bash
 python3 -m venv venv
 . venv/bin/activate
-pip3 install -r requirements-testing.txt
+pip3 install -e .[dev]
 ```
 Note: make sure to run `make -B pyspec` from the root of the specs repository,
  to build the parts of the pyspec module derived from the markdown specs.
diff --git a/test_libs/pyspec/requirements-testing.txt b/test_libs/pyspec/requirements-testing.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 388a878a90..0000000000
--- a/test_libs/pyspec/requirements-testing.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
--r requirements.txt
-pytest>=3.6,<3.7
-../config_helpers
diff --git a/test_libs/pyspec/requirements.txt b/test_libs/pyspec/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 78d41708dc..0000000000
--- a/test_libs/pyspec/requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-eth-utils>=1.3.0,<2
-eth-typing>=2.1.0,<3.0.0
-pycryptodome==3.7.3
-py_ecc>=1.6.0
diff --git a/test_libs/pyspec/setup.py b/test_libs/pyspec/setup.py
index 1a131a4171..3fd9d4c0f1 100644
--- a/test_libs/pyspec/setup.py
+++ b/test_libs/pyspec/setup.py
@@ -1,13 +1,28 @@
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
-setup(
-    name='pyspec',
-    packages=find_packages(),
-    tests_require=["pytest"],
-    install_requires=[
+
+deps = {
+    'pyspec': [
         "eth-utils>=1.3.0,<2",
         "eth-typing>=2.1.0,<3.0.0",
         "pycryptodome==3.7.3",
         "py_ecc>=1.6.0",
-    ]
+    ],
+    'test': [
+        "pytest>=3.6,<3.7",
+    ],
+}
+
+deps['dev'] = (
+    deps['pyspec'] +
+    deps['test']
+)
+
+install_requires = deps['pyspec']
+
+setup(
+    name='pyspec',
+    packages=find_packages(exclude=["tests", "tests.*"]),
+    install_requires=install_requires,
+    extras_require=deps,
 )
diff --git a/test_libs/setup.py b/test_libs/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b82fc369c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_libs/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+
+
+deps = {
+    'pyspec': [
+        "eth-utils>=1.3.0,<2",
+        "eth-typing>=2.1.0,<3.0.0",
+        "pycryptodome==3.7.3",
+        "py_ecc>=1.6.0",
+    ],
+    'test': [
+        "pytest>=3.6,<3.7",
+    ],
+}
+
+deps['dev'] = (
+    deps['pyspec'] +
+    deps['test']
+)
+
+install_requires = deps['pyspec']
+
+
+setup(
+    name='pyspec',
+    packages=find_packages(exclude=["tests", "tests.*"]),
+    install_requires=install_requires,
+    extras_require=deps,
+)