diff --git a/Dockerfile.loadtester b/Dockerfile.loadtester
index 238ad5c1..7c6c5e1d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.loadtester
+++ b/Dockerfile.loadtester
@@ -1,20 +1,4 @@
-FROM golang:1.12 AS hey-builder
-
-RUN mkdir -p /go/src/github.com/rakyll/hey/
-
-WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/rakyll/hey
-
-ADD https://github.com/rakyll/hey/archive/v0.1.1.tar.gz .
-
-RUN tar xzf v0.1.1.tar.gz --strip 1
-
-RUN go get ./...
-
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 \
-  go install -ldflags '-w -extldflags "-static"' \
-  /go/src/github.com/rakyll/hey
-
-FROM golang:1.11 AS builder
+FROM golang:1.12 AS builder
 
 RUN mkdir -p /go/src/github.com/weaveworks/flagger/
 
@@ -26,15 +10,17 @@ RUN go test -race ./pkg/loadtester/
 
 RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux go build -a -installsuffix cgo -o loadtester ./cmd/loadtester/*
 
-FROM alpine:3.9
+FROM bats/bats:v1.1.0
 
 RUN addgroup -S app \
     && adduser -S -g app app \
-    && apk --no-cache add ca-certificates curl
+    && apk --no-cache add ca-certificates curl jq
 
 WORKDIR /home/app
 
-COPY --from=hey-builder /go/bin/hey /usr/local/bin/hey
+RUN curl -sSLo hey "https://storage.googleapis.com/jblabs/dist/hey_linux_v0.1.2" && \
+chmod +x hey && mv hey /usr/local/bin/hey
+
 COPY --from=builder /go/src/github.com/weaveworks/flagger/loadtester .
 
 RUN chown -R app:app ./
diff --git a/pkg/loadtester/bats.go b/pkg/loadtester/bats.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d27eb4b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/loadtester/bats.go
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package loadtester
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"os/exec"
+)
+
+const TaskTypeBats = "bats"
+
+type BatsTask struct {
+	TaskBase
+	command      string
+	logCmdOutput bool
+}
+
+func (task *BatsTask) Hash() string {
+	return hash(task.canary + task.command)
+}
+
+func (task *BatsTask) Run(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "bash", "-c", task.command)
+	out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+
+	if err != nil {
+		task.logger.With("canary", task.canary).Errorf("command failed %s %v %s", task.command, err, out)
+		return false, fmt.Errorf(" %v %v", err, out)
+	} else {
+		if task.logCmdOutput {
+			fmt.Printf("%s\n", out)
+		}
+		task.logger.With("canary", task.canary).Infof("command finished %s", task.command)
+	}
+	return true, nil
+}
+
+func (task *BatsTask) String() string {
+	return task.command
+}
diff --git a/pkg/loadtester/server.go b/pkg/loadtester/server.go
index 533c5554..c5a34aae 100644
--- a/pkg/loadtester/server.go
+++ b/pkg/loadtester/server.go
@@ -44,6 +44,27 @@ func ListenAndServe(port string, timeout time.Duration, logger *zap.SugaredLogge
 			if !ok {
 				typ = TaskTypeShell
 			}
+
+			// run bats command (blocking task)
+			if typ == TaskTypeBats {
+				bats := BatsTask{
+					command:      payload.Metadata["cmd"],
+					logCmdOutput: taskRunner.logCmdOutput,
+				}
+
+				ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), taskRunner.timeout)
+				defer cancel()
+
+				ok, err := bats.Run(ctx)
+				if !ok {
+					w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+					w.Write([]byte(err.Error()))
+				}
+
+				w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+				return
+			}
+
 			taskFactory, ok := GetTaskFactory(typ)
 			if !ok {
 				w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
diff --git a/pkg/loadtester/task.go b/pkg/loadtester/task.go
index 2e30228a..395b34a9 100644
--- a/pkg/loadtester/task.go
+++ b/pkg/loadtester/task.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ type TaskBase struct {
 func (task *TaskBase) Canary() string {
 	return task.canary
 }
+
 func hash(str string) string {
 	fnvHash := fnv.New32()
 	fnvBytes := fnvHash.Sum([]byte(str))