diff --git a/doc/source/contributing/source.rst b/doc/source/contributing/source.rst
index e3c00874..123e4c7b 100644
--- a/doc/source/contributing/source.rst
+++ b/doc/source/contributing/source.rst
@@ -68,12 +68,14 @@ run through tox_.
 
       $ tox -e py27 -- api.v2
 
-   To debug tests (ie. break into pdb debugger), you can use ''venv'' command::
+   To debug tests (ie. break into pdb debugger), you can use ''debug'' tox
+   environment. Here's an example, passing the name of a test since you'll
+   normally only want to run the test that hits your breakpoint::
 
-      $ tox -e venv "python -m unittest discover ceilometer"
+       $ tox -e debug ceilometer.tests.test_bin
 
-   Unfortunately, debugging currently has some limitations:
-   You cannot run a specific test, you have to launch the whole test suite.
+   For reference, the ``debug`` tox environment implements the instructions
+   here: https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Testr#Debugging_.28pdb.29_Tests
 
 .. seealso::
 
diff --git a/tools/debug_helper.sh b/tools/debug_helper.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..195aff9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/debug_helper.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+TMP_DIR=`mktemp -d` || exit 1
+trap "rm -rf $TMP_DIR" EXIT
+
+ALL_TESTS=$TMP_DIR/all_tests
+TESTS_TO_RUN=$TMP_DIR/ks_to_run
+
+python -m testtools.run discover -t ./ ./ceilometer/tests --list > $ALL_TESTS
+
+if [ "$1" ]; then
+    grep "$1" < $ALL_TESTS > $TESTS_TO_RUN
+else
+    mv $ALL_TESTS $TESTS_TO_RUN
+fi
+
+STANDARD_THREADS=1 python -m testtools.run discover --load-list $TESTS_TO_RUN
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 3f585a8b..aa0f0a14 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ commands = python setup.py build_sphinx
 [testenv:venv]
 commands = {posargs}
 
+[testenv:debug]
+commands =
+   bash -x {toxinidir}/setup-test-env.sh {toxinidir}/tools/debug_helper.sh {posargs}
+
 [flake8]
 # H305 imports not grouped correctly
 ignore = H305