diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a5ace4e351..8c7450a22f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ addons:
       - mongodb-org-server=4.0.*
       - mongodb-org-shell=4.0.*
       - rabbitmq-server
+      - redis-server
       - libffi-dev
 
 cache:
diff --git a/conf/st2.dev.conf b/conf/st2.dev.conf
index 08aa45870d..846b7f67d4 100644
--- a/conf/st2.dev.conf
+++ b/conf/st2.dev.conf
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ protocol = udp
 # - etcd3gw
 # Keep in mind that zake driver works in process so it won't work when testing cross process 
 # / cross server functionality
-#url = redis://localhost
 #url = kazoo://localhost
+url = redis://127.0.0.1:6379
 
 [webui]
 # webui_base_url = https://mywebhost.domain
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 13e23ddb93..31111ef4d5 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -28,4 +28,11 @@ webtest==2.0.25
 rstcheck>=3.3.1,<3.4
 tox==3.14.1
 pyrabbit
-pip-tools  # For pip-compile, to check for version conflicts
+
+# For pip-compile, to check for version conflicts
+pip-tools
+
+# A number of workflow use cases such as parallel branches, join, and with items task require
+# coordination service to be setup. Redis server is used as the default backend for the
+# coordination service.
+redis