diff --git a/CONTRIBUTE.md b/CONTRIBUTE.md
index 5da7ae8..07f9321 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTE.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTE.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ alias dhall-to-yaml="$CR run --rm --entrypoint dhall-to-yaml -i docker.io/zuul/z
 alias yaml-to-dhall="$CR run --rm --entrypoint yaml-to-dhall -i docker.io/zuul/zuul-operator"
 ```
 
-## Evaluate the dhall expression manually:
+## Evaluate the dhall expression manually
 
 First you need to convert a CR spec to a dhall record, for example using the test file `playbooks/files/cr_spec.yaml`:
 
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ dhall-to-yaml --omit-empty <<< "(./conf/zuul/resources.dhall ($INPUT)).List"
 Given a working `~/.kube/config` context, you can execute the Ansible roles directly using:
 
 ```bash
+export ANSIBLE_CONFIG=playbooks/files/ansible.cfg
 ansible-playbook -v playbooks/files/local.yaml
 ```
 
@@ -64,3 +65,40 @@ Then cleanup the resources using:
 ```bash
 ansible-playbook -v playbooks/files/local.yaml -e k8s_state=absent
 ```
+
+
+## Run the integration test locally
+
+First you need to build the operator image:
+
+```bash
+make build
+```
+
+Or you can update an existing image with the local dhall and ansible content:
+
+```bash
+./playbooks/files/update-operator.sh
+```
+
+Then you can run the job using:
+
+```bash
+ansible-playbook -e @playbooks/files/local-vars.yaml -v playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/run.yaml
+ansible-playbook -e @playbooks/files/local-vars.yaml -v playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/test.yaml
+```
+
+Alternatively, you can run the job without using the operator pod by including the ansible role directly.
+To do that run the playbooks with:
+
+```
+ansible-playbook -e use_local_role=true ...
+```
+
+## Delete all kubernetes resources
+
+To wipe your namespace run this command:
+
+```bash
+kubectl delete $(for obj in statefulset deployment service secret; do kubectl get $obj -o name; done)
+```
diff --git a/playbooks/files/ansible.cfg b/playbooks/files/ansible.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f2d03e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/files/ansible.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[defaults]
+roles_path = ../../roles/
+inventory  = hosts.yaml
diff --git a/playbooks/files/hosts.yaml b/playbooks/files/hosts.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df8b5f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/files/hosts.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[all]
+localhost ansible_connection=local
diff --git a/playbooks/files/local-vars.yaml b/playbooks/files/local-vars.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a5a64c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/files/local-vars.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# A local vars file to run the zuul jobs locally:
+# ansible-playbook -i playbooks/files/hosts.yaml -e @playbooks/files/local-vars.yaml -v playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/run.yaml -e use_local_role=true
+---
+namespace: default
+zuul_app_path: "/home/fedora/src/opendev.org/zuul/zuul-operator/conf/zuul"
+zuul:
+  projects:
+    'opendev.org/zuul/zuul-operator':
+      src_dir: "{{ ansible_user_dir|default(ansible_env.HOME) }}/src/opendev.org/zuul/zuul-operator"
diff --git a/playbooks/files/roles b/playbooks/files/roles
deleted file mode 120000
index 148b132..0000000
--- a/playbooks/files/roles
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../../roles/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/playbooks/files/update-operator.sh b/playbooks/files/update-operator.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..3b0dd35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/files/update-operator.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/bash -e
+# Update the operator image
+echo "Remove previous operator"
+kubectl delete -f deploy/operator.yaml || :
+
+BUILDAH_OPTS=${BUILDAH_OPTS:-}
+if test -d /var/lib/silverkube/storage; then
+    BUILDAH_OPTS="${BUILDAH_OPTS} --root /var/lib/silverkube/storage --storage-driver vfs"
+fi
+
+echo "Update local image"
+CTX=$(sudo buildah from  ${BUILDAH_OPTS} docker.io/zuul/zuul-operator:latest)
+MNT=$(sudo buildah mount ${BUILDAH_OPTS} $CTX)
+
+sudo rsync -avi --delete roles/ ${MNT}/opt/ansible/roles/
+sudo rsync -avi --delete conf/ ${MNT}/opt/ansible/conf/
+
+sudo buildah commit ${BUILDAH_OPTS} --rm ${CTX} docker.io/zuul/zuul-operator:latest
+
+kubectl apply -f deploy/operator.yaml
diff --git a/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/run.yaml b/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/run.yaml
index fb1a25d..6a83179 100644
--- a/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/run.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/run.yaml
@@ -84,9 +84,30 @@
               current-context: local
 
     - name: Deploy CR
-      command: make deploy-cr
-      args:
-        chdir: "{{ zuul.projects['opendev.org/zuul/zuul-operator'].src_dir }}"
+      include_tasks: tasks/apply_cr.yaml
+      vars:
+        spec:
+          executor:
+            count: 1
+            ssh_key:
+              secretName: executor-ssh-key
+          merger:
+            count: 1
+          scheduler:
+            config:
+              secretName: zuul-yaml-conf
+          launcher:
+            config:
+              secretName: nodepool-yaml-conf
+          connections:
+            gits:
+              - baseurl: https://opendev.org
+                name: opendev.org
+          external_config:
+            kubernetes:
+              secretName: nodepool-kube-config
+              key: kube.config
+
 
     - name: Wait maximum 4 minutes for the scheduler pod
       shell: |
diff --git a/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/tasks/apply_cr.yaml b/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/tasks/apply_cr.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f404fa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/tasks/apply_cr.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+---
+- name: Apply Zuul CR
+  when: use_local_role is not defined
+  k8s:
+    namespace: "{{ namespace }}"
+    definition:
+      apiVersion: operator.zuul-ci.org/v1alpha1
+      kind: Zuul
+      metadata:
+        name: zuul
+      spec: "{{ spec }}"
+
+- name: Run Zuul CR directly
+  when: use_local_role is defined
+  include_role:
+    name: zuul
diff --git a/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/test.yaml b/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/test.yaml
index 7e79b14..d124f14 100644
--- a/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/test.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/zuul-operator-functional/test.yaml
@@ -62,32 +62,28 @@
                 name: "zuul-yaml-conf"
               stringData:
                 main.yaml: "{{ tenants | to_yaml }}"
-        - k8s:
-            namespace: default
-            definition:
-              apiVersion: operator.zuul-ci.org/v1alpha1
-              kind: Zuul
-              metadata:
-                name: zuul
-              spec:
-                executor:
-                  count: 1
-                  ssh_key:
-                    secretName: executor-ssh-key
-                merger:
-                  count: 1
-                scheduler:
-                  config:
-                    secretName: zuul-yaml-conf
-                launcher:
-                  config:
-                    secretName: nodepool-yaml-conf
-                connections:
-                  gits:
-                    - baseurl: https://opendev.org
-                      name: opendev.org
-                    - baseurl: "git://{{ ansible_all_ipv4_addresses[0] }}/"
-                      name: local-git
+
+        - include_tasks: tasks/apply_cr.yaml
+          vars:
+            spec:
+              executor:
+                count: 1
+                ssh_key:
+                  secretName: executor-ssh-key
+              merger:
+                count: 1
+              scheduler:
+                config:
+                  secretName: zuul-yaml-conf
+              launcher:
+                config:
+                  secretName: nodepool-yaml-conf
+              connections:
+                gits:
+                  - baseurl: https://opendev.org
+                    name: opendev.org
+                  - baseurl: "git://{{ ansible_all_ipv4_addresses[0] }}/"
+                    name: local-git
 
     - name: ensure a job is running
       when: skip_check is not defined