diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0e704be..9f5d786 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -177,6 +177,11 @@ see the messages when committing
 
 This should provide plenty of information to debug the hooks
 
+## Local development
+
+To execute commit message validation, run `npm run demo-commit-message` and vary the
+test message to see how the hook validates it.
+
 ### Small print
 
 Author: Gleb Bahmutov © 2014
diff --git a/bin/commit-msg.js b/bin/commit-msg.js
index 2f2d5ee..6984d42 100755
--- a/bin/commit-msg.js
+++ b/bin/commit-msg.js
@@ -22,13 +22,19 @@ la(check.fn(preGit.printError),
   'missing preGit.printError,', Object.keys(preGit));
 
 function checkMessage(msg) {
+  log('checking commit message:', msg);
   const isValid = wizard.validate(msg);
   if (!isValid) {
+    log('invalid commit message', msg);
     process.exit(-1);
   }
+  log('valid git commit message');
 }
 
 ggit.commitMessage()
+  .then((msg) => {
+    return process.env.TEST_GIT_MESSAGE || msg;
+  })
   .then(checkMessage)
   .catch((err) => {
     // assuming each validator printed the errors?
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d2e46e4..a979da1 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
   },
   "config": {
     "pre-git": {
+      "commit-msg": "simple",
       "demo": [
         "echo this is command 1",
         "echo this is command 2",
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@
     "lazy-ass": "1.3.0",
     "require-relative": "0.8.7",
     "shelljs": "0.5.3",
-    "simple-commit-message": "1.1.0",
+    "simple-commit-message": "2.1.0",
     "validate-commit-msg": "1.0.0",
     "word-wrap": "1.1.0"
   },
@@ -98,6 +99,8 @@
     "issues": "git-issues",
     "size": "t=\"$(npm pack .)\"; wc -c \"${t}\"; tar tvf \"${t}\"; rm \"${t}\";",
     "semantic-release": "semantic-release pre && npm publish && semantic-release post",
-    "demo": "DEBUG=pre-git node --harmony src/pre-git.js"
+    "demo": "DEBUG=pre-git node --harmony src/pre-git.js",
+    "demo-commit-message": "TEST_GIT_MESSAGE='chore(test): test message' DEBUG=pre-git NODE_PATH=.. node bin/commit-msg.js",
+    "demo-commit-wizard": "DEBUG=pre-git NODE_PATH=.. node bin/commit-wizard.js"
   }
 }