diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 7720b60a..1e71c2b7 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ var mountFolder = function (connect, dir) {
     'use strict';
     return connect.static(require('path').resolve(dir));
 };
+var proxySnippet = require('grunt-connect-proxy/lib/utils').proxyRequest;
 
 
 module.exports = function (grunt) {
@@ -405,12 +406,21 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
                 port: 9000,
                 hostname: 'localhost'
             },
+            proxies: [
+                {
+                    context: '/v1',
+                    host: 'localhost',
+                    port: 8080,
+                    https: false
+                }
+            ],
             livereload: {
                 options: {
                     middleware: function (connect) {
                         return [
                             lrSnippet,
-                            mountFolder(connect, dir.output)
+                            mountFolder(connect, dir.output),
+                            proxySnippet
                         ];
                     }
                 }
@@ -420,7 +430,8 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
                     keepalive: true,
                     middleware: function (connect) {
                         return [
-                            mountFolder(connect, dir.output)
+                            mountFolder(connect, dir.output),
+                            proxySnippet
                         ];
                     }
                 }
@@ -429,7 +440,8 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
                 options: {
                     middleware: function (connect) {
                         return [
-                            mountFolder(connect, dir.output)
+                            mountFolder(connect, dir.output),
+                            proxySnippet
                         ];
                     }
                 }
@@ -524,6 +536,7 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
         'compile',
         'package',
         'open',
+        'configureProxies:server',
         'connect:dist'
     ]);
 
@@ -535,6 +548,7 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
     grunt.registerTask('server', [
         'clean',
         'compile',
+        'configureProxies:server',
         'connect:livereload',
         'open',
         'watch'
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3f6e6fd6..2cb99153 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ A WebClient for the OpenStack Storyboard project.
 
 * `source .tox/node/bin/activate`
 
+#### Within the virtual environment, you have the following options
+
 **Update/refresh the javascript build and runtime dependencies**
 
 * `npm prune`
@@ -57,3 +59,19 @@ A WebClient for the OpenStack Storyboard project.
 **Package the distro**
 
 `grunt build`
+
+**Bootstrap your database**
+
+`./bin/api.sh create-db`
+
+**Migrate the database**
+
+`./bin/api.sh migrate-db`
+
+**Start the API**
+
+`./bin/api.sh start`
+
+**Stop the API**
+
+`./bin/api.sh stop`
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bin/api.sh b/bin/api.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..78ef35f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/api.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# This script simplifies the migration of the storyboard database for testing
+# and development purposes.
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "$0" )" && pwd )"
+WORKSPACE="$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")"
+ACTION=$1
+DB_USER='openstack_citest'
+DB_PASSWORD='openstack_citest'
+
+# First we need to ensure that storyboard has been installed and is on our
+# path.
+command -v storyboard-api >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
+    echo >&2 "Could not find Storyboard. Exiting.";
+    exit 1;
+}
+command -v storyboard-db-manage >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
+    echo >&2 "Could not find Storyboard. Exiting.";
+    exit 1;
+}
+
+# This method creates the database.
+function create_db() {
+    # drop and recreate the database
+    echo 'Creating database...'
+    mysql -u $DB_USER -p$DB_PASSWORD -e 'DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS storyboard;'
+    mysql -u $DB_USER -p$DB_PASSWORD -e 'CREATE DATABASE storyboard;'
+}
+
+# This method migrates the configured database.
+function migrate_db() {
+    local config_path=$(detect_storyboard_config)
+
+    echo 'Running migration...'
+    storyboard-db-manage --config-file $config_path upgrade head
+}
+
+# Starts storyboard as a background service.
+function start_service() {
+    echo 'Starting storyboard-api...'
+    local config_path=$(detect_storyboard_config)
+    local config_dir=$( dirname "$config_path" )
+    local log_path="$WORKSPACE/reports/storyboard.log"
+
+    # Delete and clear any previous logs
+    mkdir -p $WORKSPACE/reports
+    rm $log_path
+    storyboard-api --config-dir $config_dir > $log_path 2>&1 &
+    echo "Started, logging to $log_path..."
+}
+
+# Stops storyboard.
+function stop_service() {
+    echo 'Killing storyboard-api...'
+    killall storyboard-api
+}
+
+# This method detects the location of the storyboard configuration file.
+function detect_storyboard_config() {
+    local global_config_path='/etc/storyboard/storyboard.conf'
+    local test_config_path="$WORKSPACE/bin/storyboard_test.conf"
+    local config_path="$WORKSPACE/.tox/node/etc/storyboard/storyboard.conf"
+
+    local source_config_path
+
+    if [ -f $global_config_path ];
+    then
+        # If there's a global config, source our config from there...
+        source_config_path=$global_config_path
+    else
+        source_config_path=$test_config_path
+    fi
+
+    cp $source_config_path $config_path
+    echo $config_path
+}
+
+# Switch based on what the user wants to do.
+case $ACTION in
+    'migrate-db')
+        migrate_db
+        ;;
+    'create-db')
+        create_db
+        migrate_db
+        ;;
+    'start')
+        start_service
+        ;;
+    'stop')
+        stop_service
+        ;;
+    *)
+        echo 'Usage: api.sh [create-db|migrate-db|start|stop]'
+        exit 0;
+        ;;
+esac
+
+echo 'Done!'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bin/storyboard_test.conf b/bin/storyboard_test.conf
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..de8068ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/storyboard_test.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+[DEFAULT]
+# Default log level is INFO
+# verbose and debug has the same result.
+# One of them will set DEBUG log level output
+# debug = False
+# verbose = False
+
+# Where to store lock files
+lock_path = $state_path/lock
+
+# log_format = %(asctime)s %(levelname)8s [%(name)s] %(message)s
+# log_date_format = %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
+
+# use_syslog                           -> syslog
+# log_file and log_dir                 -> log_dir/log_file
+# (not log_file) and log_dir           -> log_dir/{binary_name}.log
+# use_stderr                           -> stderr
+# (not user_stderr) and (not log_file) -> stdout
+# publish_errors                       -> notification system
+
+# use_syslog = False
+# syslog_log_facility = LOG_USER
+
+# use_stderr = True
+# log_file =
+# log_dir =
+
+# publish_errors = False
+
+# Address to bind the API server
+# bind_host = 0.0.0.0
+
+# Port the bind the API server to
+# bind_port = 9696
+
+[database]
+# This line MUST be changed to actually run storyboard
+# Example:
+connection=mysql://openstack_citest:openstack_citest@127.0.0.1:3306/storyboard
+
+# The SQLAlchemy connection string used to connect to the slave database
+# slave_connection =
+
+# Database reconnection retry times - in event connectivity is lost
+# set to -1 implies an infinite retry count
+# max_retries = 10
+
+# Database reconnection interval in seconds - if the initial connection to the
+# database fails
+# retry_interval = 10
+
+# Minimum number of SQL connections to keep open in a pool
+# min_pool_size = 1
+
+# Maximum number of SQL connections to keep open in a pool
+# max_pool_size = 10
+
+# Timeout in seconds before idle sql connections are reaped
+# idle_timeout = 3600
+
+# If set, use this value for max_overflow with sqlalchemy
+# max_overflow = 20
+
+# Verbosity of SQL debugging information. 0=None, 100=Everything
+# connection_debug = 0
+
+# Add python stack traces to SQL as comment strings
+# connection_trace = False
+
+# If set, use this value for pool_timeout with sqlalchemy
+# pool_timeout = 10
+
+[api]
+host="127.0.0.1"
+port=8080
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bf87bfda..66b4b9da 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
         "protractor": "0.15.0",
         "grunt-protractor-runner": "0.2.0",
         "selenium-standalone": "2.39.0-2.7.0",
-        "karma-html-reporter": "~0.1.1"
+        "karma-html-reporter": "~0.1.1",
+        "grunt-connect-proxy": "~0.1.7"
     }
 }
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 77794e26..749ed95d 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@ envlist = node
 skipsdist = True
 
 [testenv]
+whitelist_externals = /bin/bash
 install_command = pip install -U {opts} {packages}
 setenv = VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
          LANG=en_US.UTF-8
          LANGUAGE=en_US:en
          LC_ALL=C
 deps = nodeenv
+       http://tarballs.openstack.org/storyboard/storyboard-master.tar.gz
 
 [testenv:node]
 commands =
@@ -17,4 +19,7 @@ commands =
   npm install -g bower@1.2.8 grunt@0.4.2 grunt-cli@0.1.11
   npm install
   bower install
-  grunt {posargs}
\ No newline at end of file
+  bash ./bin/api.sh create-db
+  bash ./bin/api.sh start
+  grunt {posargs}
+  bash ./bin/api.sh stop