diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94514b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+gem 'rake'
+gem 'serverspec'
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 839aeb1..8cfca12 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,3 +13,32 @@ you can use the gem `kitchen-sharedtests`
 - https://github.com/ehaselwanter/kitchen-sharedtests/
 
 to make them available to your project. Use `thor kitchen:fetch-remote-tests` to put the repo into `test/integration`   
+
+## Standalone Usage
+
+you can target the integration tests to any host were you have ssh access
+
+rake -T gives you a list of suites you can run (well ignore directories which are obviously not suites for now)
+
+```
+± rake -T
+rake serverspec:data_bags  # Run serverspec suite data_bags
+rake serverspec:default    # Run serverspec suite default
+```
+
+run it with:
+
+```
+bundle install
+
+# default user and ssh-key
+
+bundle exec rake serverspec:default target_host=<name-or-ip-of-target-server>
+
+# or with user, host, password
+
+ASK_LOGIN_PASSWORD=true bundle exec rake serverspec:default target_host=192.168.1.222 user=stack
+```
+
+add `format=html` to get a report.html document
+
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4d1cf3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+require 'rake'
+require 'rspec/core/rake_task'
+
+suites = Dir.glob('*').select{|entry| File.directory?(entry) }
+
+class ServerspecTask < RSpec::Core::RakeTask
+
+  attr_accessor :target
+
+  def spec_command
+
+    if target.nil? 
+      puts "specify either env TARGET_HOST or target_host="
+      exit 1
+    end
+
+    cmd = super
+    "env TARGET_HOST=#{target} STANDALONE_SPEC=true #{cmd}  --format documentation --no-profile"
+  end
+
+end
+
+namespace :serverspec do
+  suites.each do |suite|
+    desc "Run serverspec suite #{suite}"
+    ServerspecTask.new(suite.to_sym) do |t|
+      t.rspec_opts = "--no-color --format html --out report.html" if ENV['format'] == 'html'
+      t.target = ENV['TARGET_HOST'] || ENV['target_host']
+      t.ruby_opts = "-I #{suite}/serverspec"
+      t.pattern = "#{suite}/serverspec/*_spec.rb"
+    end
+  end
+end
+
diff --git a/default/serverspec/spec_helper.rb b/default/serverspec/spec_helper.rb
index ba9b6d3..cbfbfe9 100644
--- a/default/serverspec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/default/serverspec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,11 +1,56 @@
-require 'serverspec'
-require 'pathname'
+if ENV['STANDALONE_SPEC']
 
-include Serverspec::Helper::Exec
-include Serverspec::Helper::DetectOS
+  require 'serverspec'
+  require 'pathname'
+  require 'net/ssh'
+  require 'highline/import'
 
-RSpec.configure do |c|
-  c.before :all do
-    c.os = backend(Serverspec::Commands::Base).check_os
+  include Serverspec::Helper::Ssh
+  include Serverspec::Helper::DetectOS
+
+  RSpec.configure do |c|
+
+    if ENV['ASK_SUDO_PASSWORD']
+      c.sudo_password = ask('Enter sudo password: ') { |q| q.echo = false }
+    else
+      c.sudo_password = ENV['SUDO_PASSWORD']
+    end
+
+    options = {}
+
+    if ENV['ASK_LOGIN_PASSWORD']
+      options[:password] = ask("\nEnter login password: ") { |q| q.echo = false }
+    else
+      options[:password] = ENV['LOGIN_PASSWORD']
+    end
+
+    if ENV['ASK_LOGIN_USERNAME']
+      user = ask("\nEnter login username: ") { |q| q.echo = false }
+    else
+      user = ENV['LOGIN_USERNAME'] || ENV['user'] || Etc.getlogin
+    end
+
+    if user.nil?
+      puts 'specify login user env LOGIN_USERNAME= or user='
+      exit 1
+    end
+
+    c.host  = ENV['TARGET_HOST']
+    options.merge(Net::SSH::Config.for(c.host))
+    c.ssh   = Net::SSH.start(c.host, user, options)
+    c.os    = backend.check_os
+
+  end
+
+else
+  require 'serverspec'
+
+  include Serverspec::Helper::Exec
+  include Serverspec::Helper::DetectOS
+
+  RSpec.configure do |c|
+    c.before :all do
+      c.path = '/sbin:/usr/sbin'
+    end
   end
 end