diff --git a/.coveragerc b/.coveragerc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4f0eb412
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.coveragerc
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[run]
+concurrency = multiprocessing, thread
+parallel = true
+sigterm = true
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 96c529fd..02c38a88 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ htmlcov/
 .cache
 nosetests.xml
 coverage.xml
+report.xml
 pytest_report.xml
 
 # Translations
@@ -82,4 +83,4 @@ openflexure_microscope/cobertura.xml
 /openflexure_settings/
 
 # web app build
-/src/openflexure_microscope_server/static/
\ No newline at end of file
+/src/openflexure_microscope_server/static/
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index d02cbd1d..7dab41ab 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -104,11 +104,8 @@ pytest:
   stage: testing
   extends: .python
   script:
-    - >
-      pytest --cov --cov-report term
-      --cov-report xml:coverage.xml
-      --junitxml=report.xml
-#      --gitlab-code-quality-report=pytest-warnings.json # can restore when it installs ok
+    - pytest
+#    --gitlab-code-quality-report=pytest-warnings.json # can restore when it installs ok
   coverage: '/(?i)total.*? (100(?:\.0+)?\%|[1-9]?\d(?:\.\d+)?\%)$/'
   artifacts:
     when: always
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 0da3b957..747efe26 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -73,8 +73,14 @@ target-version = "py311"
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 addopts = [
     "--import-mode=importlib",
+    "--cov=openflexure_microscope_server",
+    "--cov-report=term",
+    "--cov-report=xml:coverage.xml",
+    "--junitxml=report.xml",
 ]
 
+norecursedirs = [".git", "build", "node_modules"]
+
 [tool.ruff.format]
 # Use native line endings for all files
 line-ending = "native"
diff --git a/pytest.ini b/pytest.ini
deleted file mode 100644
index 6a9f1be2..00000000
--- a/pytest.ini
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-[pytest]
-norecursedirs = .git build node_modules
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/openflexure_microscope_server/things/__init__.py b/src/openflexure_microscope_server/things/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b