diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0a3bd679..ba19336a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,13 +1,8 @@
 SHELL := /bin/bash
 
-user=postgres
-password=1234
-host=localhost
-port=5432
-database=postgres
-verbose=false
+connectionString=pg://postgres:5432@localhost/postgres
 
-params := -u $(user) --password $(password) -p $(port) -d $(database) -h $(host) --verbose $(verbose)
+params := $(connectionString)
 
 node-command := xargs -n 1 -I file node file $(params)
 
@@ -29,12 +24,12 @@ test-connection:
 	@node script/test-connection.js $(params)
 
 test-connection-binary:
-	@node script/test-connection.js $(params) --binary true
+	@node script/test-connection.js $(params) binary
 
 test-native: build/default/binding.node
 	@echo "***Testing native bindings***"
 	@find test/native -name "*-tests.js" | $(node-command)
-	@find test/integration -name "*-tests.js" | $(node-command) --native true
+	@find test/integration -name "*-tests.js" | $(node-command) native
 
 test-integration: test-connection
 	@echo "***Testing Pure Javascript***"
@@ -42,4 +37,4 @@ test-integration: test-connection
 
 test-binary: test-connection-binary
 	@echo "***Testing Pure Javascript (binary)***"
-	@find test/integration -name "*-tests.js" | $(node-command) --binary true
+	@find test/integration -name "*-tests.js" | $(node-command) binary
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index e52df7b2..0b98e996 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -96,5 +96,6 @@ module.exports = {
   //only exported here to make testing of this method possible
   //since it contains quite a bit of logic and testing for
   //each connection scenario in an integration test is impractical
-  buildLibpqConnectionString: getLibpgConString
+  buildLibpqConnectionString: getLibpgConString,
+  parseConnectionString: parseConnectionString
 }
diff --git a/test/cli.js b/test/cli.js
index 04f58321..c35df8ef 100644
--- a/test/cli.js
+++ b/test/cli.js
@@ -1,56 +1,16 @@
-var config = {
-  port: 5432,
-  host: 'localhost',
-  user: 'postgres',
-  database: 'postgres',
-  password: '',
-  test: 'unit'
-};
+var config = require(__dirname + '/../lib/utils').parseConnectionString(process.argv[2])
 
-var args = process.argv;
-for(var i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
-  switch(args[i].toLowerCase()) {
-  case '-u':
-  case '--user':
-    config.user = args[++i];
+for(var i = 0; i < process.argv.length; i++) {
+  switch(process.argv[i].toLowerCase()) {
+  case 'native':
+    config.native = true;
     break;
-  case '--password':
-    config.password = args[++i];
+  case 'binary':
+    config.binary = true;
     break;
-  case '--verbose':
-    config.verbose = (args[++i] == "true");
-    break;
-  case '-d':
-  case '--database':
-    config.database = args[++i];
-    break;
-  case '-p':
-  case '--port':
-    config.port = args[++i];
-    break;
-  case '-h':
-  case '--host':
-    config.host = args[++i];
-    break;
-  case '--down':
-    config.down = true;
-    break;
-  case '-t':
-  case '--test':
-    config.test = args[++i];
-  case '--native':
-    config.native = (args[++i] == "true");
-  case '--binary':
-    config.binary = (args[++i] == "true");
   default:
     break;
   }
 }
 
-var log = function(keys) {
-  keys.forEach(function(key) {
-    console.log(key + ": '" + config[key] + "'");
-  });
-}
-
 module.exports = config;
diff --git a/test/test-helper.js b/test/test-helper.js
index 55a0a5c5..6917ea8c 100644
--- a/test/test-helper.js
+++ b/test/test-helper.js
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ var sys = require('util');
 var BufferList = require(__dirname+'/buffer-list')
 
 var Connection = require(__dirname + '/../lib/connection');
-var args = require(__dirname + '/cli');
 
 Client = require(__dirname + '/../lib').Client;
 
@@ -143,47 +142,21 @@ assert.isNull = function(item, message) {
 
 test = function(name, action) {
   test.testCount ++;
-  if(args.verbose) {
-    console.log(name);
-  }
   var result = action();
   if(result === false) {
-    test.ignored.push(name);
-    if(!args.verbose) {
-      process.stdout.write('?');
-    }
+    process.stdout.write('?');
   }else{
-    if(!args.verbose) {
-      process.stdout.write('.');
-    }
+    process.stdout.write('.');
   }
 };
 
 //print out the filename
 process.stdout.write(require('path').basename(process.argv[1]));
-//print a new line since we'll be printing test names
-if(args.verbose) {
-  console.log();
-}
-test.testCount = test.testCount || 0;
-test.ignored = test.ignored || [];
-test.errors = test.errors || [];
+var args = require(__dirname + '/cli');
+if(args.binary) process.stdout.write(' (binary)');
+if(args.native) process.stdout.write(' (native)');
 
-process.on('exit', function() {
-  console.log('');
-  if(test.ignored.length || test.errors.length) {
-    test.ignored.forEach(function(name) {
-      console.log("Ignored: " + name);
-    });
-    test.errors.forEach(function(error) {
-      console.log("Error: " + error.name);
-    });
-    console.log('');
-  }
-  test.errors.forEach(function(error) {
-    throw error.e;
-  });
-});
+process.on('exit', console.log)
 
 process.on('uncaughtException', function(err) {
   console.error("\n %s", err.stack || err.toString())
@@ -221,10 +194,11 @@ var Sink = function(expected, timeout, callback) {
   }
 }
 
+
 module.exports = {
-  args: args,
   Sink: Sink,
   pg: require(__dirname + '/../lib/'),
+  args: args,
   config: args,
   sys: sys,
   Client: Client