diff --git a/tools/commands.js b/tools/commands.js
index bd8d7374ac..a4dba2a0e3 100644
--- a/tools/commands.js
+++ b/tools/commands.js
@@ -1249,6 +1249,11 @@ main.registerCommand({
     'selenium': { type: Boolean },
     'selenium-browser': { type: String },
 
+    // Undocumented.  Usually we just show a banner saying 'Tests' instead of
+    // the ugly path to the temporary test directory, but if you actually want
+    // to see it you can ask for it.
+    'show-test-app-path': { type: Boolean },
+
     // hard-coded options with all known Cordova platforms
     ios: { type: Boolean },
     'ios-device': { type: Boolean },
@@ -1295,8 +1300,7 @@ main.registerCommand({
   // run multiple "test-packages" commands in parallel without them stomping
   // on each other.
   var testRunnerAppDir =
-    options['test-app-path'] || files.mkdtemp('meteor-test-run');
-  files.cp_r(path.join(__dirname, 'test-runner-app'), testRunnerAppDir);
+        options['test-app-path'] || files.mkdtemp('meteor-test-run');
 
   // Download packages for our architecture, and for the deploy server's
   // architecture if we're deploying.
@@ -1327,8 +1331,8 @@ main.registerCommand({
     release.current.isCheckout() ? "none" : release.current.name);
 
   var packagesToAdd = getTestPackageNames(projectContext, options.args);
-  // Use the driver package as well.
-  packagesToAdd.push(options['driver-package']);
+  // Use the driver package and meteor-platform as well.
+  packagesToAdd.unshift('meteor-platform', options['driver-package']);
   var constraintsToAdd = _.map(packagesToAdd, function (p) {
     return utils.parseConstraint(p);
   });
@@ -1479,7 +1483,7 @@ var runTestAppForPackages = function (projectContext, options) {
       debugPort: options['debug-port'],
       disableOplog: options['disable-oplog'],
       settingsFile: options.settings,
-      banner: "Tests",
+      banner: options['show-test-app-path'] ? null : "Tests",
       buildOptions: buildOptions,
       rootUrl: process.env.ROOT_URL,
       mongoUrl: process.env.MONGO_URL,
diff --git a/tools/project-context.js b/tools/project-context.js
index 55dc3c4846..bb7914d500 100644
--- a/tools/project-context.js
+++ b/tools/project-context.js
@@ -187,6 +187,11 @@ _.extend(exports.ProjectContext.prototype, {
     buildmessage.assertInCapture();
 
     buildmessage.enterJob('reading project metadata', function () {
+      // Ensure this is actually a project directory.
+      self._ensureProjectDir();
+      if (buildmessage.jobHasMessages())
+        return;
+
       // Read .meteor/release.
       self.releaseFile = new exports.ReleaseFile({
         projectDir: self.projectDir
@@ -239,6 +244,24 @@ _.extend(exports.ProjectContext.prototype, {
     self._completedStage = STAGE.READ_PROJECT_METADATA;
   },
 
+  _ensureProjectDir: function () {
+    var self = this;
+    files.mkdir_p(path.join(self.projectDir, '.meteor'));
+
+    // This file existing is what makes a project directory a project directory,
+    // so let's make sure it exists!
+    var constraintFilePath = path.join(self.projectDir, '.meteor', 'packages');
+    if (! fs.existsSync(constraintFilePath)) {
+      files.writeFileAtomically(constraintFilePath, '');
+    }
+
+    // Let's also make sure we have a minimal gitignore.
+    var gitignorePath = path.join(self.projectDir, '.meteor', '.gitignore');
+    if (! fs.existsSync(gitignorePath)) {
+      files.writeFileAtomically(gitignorePath, 'local\n');
+    }
+  },
+
   // This is a WatchSet that ends up being the WatchSet for the app's
   // initFromAppDir PackageSource. Changes to this will cause the whole app to
   // be rebuilt (client and server).
@@ -311,7 +334,7 @@ _.extend(exports.ProjectContext.prototype, {
     var solution;
     buildmessage.enterJob("selecting package versions", function () {
       var resolveOptions = {
-        previousSolution: self.packageMapFile.getCachedVersions(),
+        previousSolution: self.packageMapFile.getCachedVersions()
       };
       if (self._upgradePackageNames)
         resolveOptions.upgrade = self._upgradePackageNames;
@@ -539,9 +562,12 @@ _.extend(exports.ProjectConstraintsFile.prototype, {
     self._constraintLines = [];
     var contents = watch.readAndWatchFile(self.watchSet, self.filename);
 
-    // No .meteor/packages? That's OK, you just get no packages.
+    // No .meteor/packages? This isn't a very good project directory. In fact,
+    // that's the definition of a project directory! (And that should have been
+    // fixed by _ensureProjectDir!)
     if (contents === null)
-      return;
+      throw Error("packages file missing: " + self.filename);
+
     var lines = files.splitBufferToLines(contents);
     // Don't keep a record for the space at the end of the file.
     if (lines.length && _.last(lines) === '')
diff --git a/tools/test-runner-app/.meteor/.gitignore b/tools/test-runner-app/.meteor/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 4083037423..0000000000
--- a/tools/test-runner-app/.meteor/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-local
diff --git a/tools/test-runner-app/.meteor/packages b/tools/test-runner-app/.meteor/packages
deleted file mode 100644
index 006a126776..0000000000
--- a/tools/test-runner-app/.meteor/packages
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-# In addition to the standard app packages, a driver package will be added by
-# "meteor test-packages".
-
-standard-app-packages