diff --git a/spec/controllers/user_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/user_controller_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cfd08f08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/controllers/user_controller_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe UserController, :type => :controller do
+  before do
+    @user = create(:user)
+  end
+
+  it 'responds successfully with a HTTP 200 status code' do
+    get :show, username: @user.screen_name, page: 1
+    expect(response).to be_success
+    expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/factories/users.rb b/spec/factories/users.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f932c4e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/factories/users.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+FactoryGirl.define do
+  factory :user do |u|
+    u.screen_name { Faker::Internet.user_name 0..16, %w(_) }
+    u.email { Faker::Internet.email }
+    u.password { Faker::Internet.password }
+    u.display_name { Faker::Name.name }
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/user_spec.rb b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dcc9df96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe User, :type => :model do
+  # TODO: specs for user model
+end
diff --git a/spec/rails_helper.rb b/spec/rails_helper.rb
index 4d1d4392..ecb15e3d 100644
--- a/spec/rails_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/rails_helper.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Migration.maintain_test_schema!
 
 RSpec.configure do |config|
   # Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
-  config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
+  # config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
 
   # If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
   # examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
diff --git a/spec/requests/user_request_spec.rb b/spec/requests/user_request_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..21152b25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/requests/user_request_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe UserController, :type => :request do
+  before do
+    # we need at least 2 users to test meaningfully
+    @user1 = create(:user)
+    @user2 = create(:user)
+  end
+
+  it 'shows the user page' do
+    get "/@#{@user1.screen_name}"
+    assert_select "h3.text-muted", :text => @user1.screen_name
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/support/factory_girl.rb b/spec/support/factory_girl.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eec437fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/support/factory_girl.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+RSpec.configure do |config|
+  config.include FactoryGirl::Syntax::Methods
+end