diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 27a8e343..260b1e5f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ install_requires = [
 tests_require = [
     'requests>=1.0.0, <3.0.0',
     'nose',
+    'coverage',
     'mock',
     'pyaml',
+    'nosexcover'
 ]
 
 # use external unittest for 2.6
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/run_tests.py b/test_elasticsearch/run_tests.py
index 9e4e4fb7..bb86b18d 100755
--- a/test_elasticsearch/run_tests.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/run_tests.py
@@ -55,9 +55,11 @@ def run_all(argv=None):
     # fetch yaml tests
     fetch_es_repo()
 
+    # always insert coverage when running tests
     if argv is None:
         argv = [
             'nosetests', '--with-xunit',
+            '--with-xcoverage', '--cover-package=elasticsearch', '--cover-erase',
             '--logging-filter=elasticsearch', '--logging-level=DEBUG',
             '--verbose',
         ]