diff --git a/hdat/hdat_cli.py b/hdat/hdat_cli.py
index a995af4..6ac5ca7 100644
--- a/hdat/hdat_cli.py
+++ b/hdat/hdat_cli.py
@@ -11,10 +11,13 @@ def parse_arguments(arguments):
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='hdat')
     subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest='command', metavar='<command>')
 
+    list_help = 'list available cases, collected in the current working dir'
+    list_parser = subparsers.add_parser('list', help=list_help)
+    list_parser.add_argument('casespecs', nargs='*', default=[''], metavar='<case>')
+
     run_help = 'run cases, store results in archive, compare against goldens'
     run_parser = subparsers.add_parser('run', help=run_help)
     run_parser.add_argument('casespecs', nargs='*', default=[''], metavar='<case>')
-    run_parser.add_argument('--collect-only', default=False, action='store_true')
 
     show_help = 'visualize a single result'
     show_parser = subparsers.add_parser('show', help=show_help)
@@ -53,7 +56,7 @@ def hdat_cli(arguments, suites, golden_store, archive, git_info):
     if args.command is None:
         parse_arguments(['-h'])
 
-    if args.command == 'run' and args.collect_only:
+    if args.command == 'list':
         cases = resolve_casespecs(suites, args.casespecs)
         print("\n".join(['{}/{}'.format(suite_id, case_id) for suite_id, case_id in cases]))
     elif args.command == 'run':
diff --git a/hdat/main.py b/hdat/main.py
index b35ba0b..23f4828 100755
--- a/hdat/main.py
+++ b/hdat/main.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ from hdat.store import Archive, GoldenStore
 
 def main():
     cwd = os.getcwd()
+    sys.path.append(cwd)
 
     try:
         git_info = git_info_from_directory(cwd)
diff --git a/hdat/suite.py b/hdat/suite.py
index a45c80c..f67d04d 100644
--- a/hdat/suite.py
+++ b/hdat/suite.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
-import pydoc
+import importlib
+import sys
+import inspect
+import os
 
-from .util import print_error, find_here_or_in_parents, AbortError
+from .util import print_error, AbortError
 
 
 class Suite:
@@ -10,7 +13,7 @@ class Suite:
     Is responsible for collecting, running, checking, and visualizing the
     results of running the algorithm against its test cases.
     '''
-    def cases(self):
+    def collect(self):
         '''
         Collect all of the cases for this suite, and return them as a dict-like
         mapping where the keys are the "case ids" and the values are the "case
@@ -71,24 +74,26 @@ def collect_suites(directory):
 
 
 def _collect_suite_classes(directory):
-    suites_filename = find_here_or_in_parents(directory, '.hdattsuites')
-    if suites_filename is None:
-        raise AbortError('Unable to locate a ".hdattsuites" file')
+    hdat_module_suffix = '_hdat.py'
+    hdat_suite_class = Suite
 
     suite_classes = []
-    with open(suites_filename, 'r') as suites_file:
-        for line in suites_file:
-            class_location = line.strip()
-            try:
-                test_suite_class = pydoc.locate(class_location)
-            except pydoc.ErrorDuringImport as e:
-                print_error(e)
-                test_suite_class = None
-
-            if test_suite_class is None:
-                msg = 'Unable to import test suite "{}"'
-                raise AbortError(msg.format(class_location))
-            else:
-                suite_classes.append(test_suite_class)
-
+    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(directory, topdown=True):
+        # prevent os.walk from going into hidden dirs
+        dirs[:] = [subdir for subdir in dirs if not subdir.startswith('.')]
+        for filename in files:
+            if filename.endswith(hdat_module_suffix):
+                module_name = filename.strip(".py")
+
+                module_path = (os.path.relpath(root, start=directory))
+                if module_path == '.':
+                    module_spec = module_name
+                else:
+                    module_spec = os.path.join(module_path, '').replace(os.path.sep, '.') + module_name
+
+                importlib.import_module(module_spec)
+                classes = inspect.getmembers(sys.modules[module_spec], predicate=inspect.isclass)
+                for name, value in classes:
+                    if hdat_suite_class in inspect.getmro(value) and hdat_suite_class != value:
+                        suite_classes.append(value)
     return suite_classes

diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 8374aa9..a6fe0b2 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 import tempfile
-from collections import OrderedDict
 
 import pytest
 
 from hdat.store import GoldenStore, Archive
-from hdat.suite import Suite
-from hdat.resultspec import print_resultspec
+from test_suite_hdat import BasicSuiteA, BasicSuiteB
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -22,44 +20,6 @@ def tmp_archive():
     tmp_directory.cleanup()
 
 
-class BaseSuite(Suite):
-    def check(self, old, new):
-        return old == new, 'Looks good!'
-
-    def run(self, case_input):
-        return case_input, {}
-
-    def show(self, result):
-        raise NotImplementedError('showing "{}"'.format(
-            print_resultspec(result)
-        ))
-
-    def diff(self, golden_result, result):
-        raise NotImplementedError('diffing "{}" and "{}"'.format(
-            print_resultspec(golden_result),
-            print_resultspec(result)
-        ))
-
-
-class BasicSuiteA(BaseSuite):
-    id = 'a'
-
-    def collect(self):
-        return OrderedDict([
-            ('1', 10),
-            ('2', 20),
-        ])
-
-
-class BasicSuiteB(BaseSuite):
-    id = 'b'
-
-    def collect(self):
-        return {
-            '3': 30,
-        }
-
-
 @pytest.fixture
 def basic_suite_a():
     return BasicSuiteA
diff --git a/tests/main_test.py b/tests/main_test.py
index 399dd97..16e9363 100644
--- a/tests/main_test.py
+++ b/tests/main_test.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import pytest
+import os
 
 from hdat.hdat_cli import hdat_cli
 from hdat.util import AbortError
+from hdat.suite import collect_suites
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -41,3 +43,8 @@ class TestMainRun:
             hdat_cli_with_mocks(['diff', 'a/1/r1', 'a/1/101_r2'])
 
         assert 'diffing "a/1/r1" and "a/1/101_r2"' in str(e)
+
+    def test_collect_suites(self):
+        test_path = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+        suites = collect_suites(test_path)
+        assert suites.keys() == set(['BaseSuite', 'a', 'b'])
diff --git a/tests/test_suite_hdat.py b/tests/test_suite_hdat.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..582eb7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_suite_hdat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+from hdat.suite import Suite
+from collections import OrderedDict
+from hdat.resultspec import print_resultspec
+
+
+class BaseSuite(Suite):
+    def check(self, old, new):
+        return old == new, 'Looks good!'
+
+    def run(self, case_input):
+        return case_input, {}
+
+    def collect(self):
+        return OrderedDict()
+
+    def show(self, result):
+        raise NotImplementedError('showing "{}"'.format(
+            print_resultspec(result)
+        ))
+
+    def diff(self, golden_result, result):
+        raise NotImplementedError('diffing "{}" and "{}"'.format(
+            print_resultspec(golden_result),
+            print_resultspec(result)
+        ))
+
+
+class BasicSuiteA(BaseSuite):
+    id = 'a'
+
+    def collect(self):
+        return OrderedDict([
+            ('1', 10),
+            ('2', 20),
+        ])
+
+
+class BasicSuiteB(BaseSuite):
+    id = 'b'
+
+    def collect(self):
+        return {
+            '3': 30,
+        }

Find a way to avoid needing `.hdatsuites`
As usual, it would be good to write out your design here so we can discuss, before implementing.
tests/main_test.py::TestMainRun::test_collect_suites
tests/main_test.py::TestMainRun::test_run_all_verify_all_rerun tests/main_test.py::TestMainRun::test_show_most_recent tests/main_test.py::TestMainRun::test_diff