diff --git a/pkg/atmos/aws-component-helper/atmos.go b/pkg/atmos/aws-component-helper/atmos.go
index 6716eb0..2a89603 100644
--- a/pkg/atmos/aws-component-helper/atmos.go
+++ b/pkg/atmos/aws-component-helper/atmos.go
@@ -10,6 +10,16 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
+func GetAtmosTestOptions(t *testing.T, componentName string, stackName string, vars map[string]interface{}) *atmos.Options {
+	atmosOptions := atmos.WithDefaultRetryableErrors(t, &atmos.Options{
+		Component: componentName,
+		Stack:     stackName,
+		NoColor:   false,
+		Vars:      vars,
+	})
+	return atmosOptions
+}
+
 func GetAtmosOptions(t *testing.T, suite *TestSuite, componentName string, stackName string, vars map[string]interface{}) *atmos.Options {
 	mergedVars := map[string]interface{}{
 		"attributes": []string{suite.RandomIdentifier},
diff --git a/pkg/atmos/aws-component-helper/setup_subject.go b/pkg/atmos/aws-component-helper/setup_subject.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..237d2fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/atmos/aws-component-helper/setup_subject.go
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+package aws_component_helper
+
+import (
+	"github.com/gruntwork-io/terratest/modules/logger"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/cloudposse/test-helpers/pkg/atmos"
+	"github.com/gruntwork-io/terratest/modules/files"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func awsComponentTestCleanup(t *testing.T, opts *atmos.Options, destroy bool, tmpDir string, protectDir string) {
+	if destroy {
+		out, err := atmos.DestroyE(t, opts)
+		if err == nil {
+			// if the destroy was successful, remove the temp directory
+			if tmpDir == protectDir {
+				t.Logf("Not removing protected directory %s", protectDir)
+			} else {
+				t.Log("Cleaning out temp folder...")
+				err = os.RemoveAll(tmpDir)
+				if err == nil {
+					t.Logf("Removed temp directory %s", tmpDir)
+				} else {
+					assert.NoError(t, err, "Failed to remove temp directory %s", tmpDir)
+				}
+			}
+		} else {
+			// if the destroy failed, leave the temp directory in place
+			assert.NoError(t, err, "Failed to destroy subject. Leaving source and state in %v\n\nDestroy output:\n%v\n\n", tmpDir, out)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+type ComponentTestResults struct {
+	Output string
+	TestID string
+}
+
+func IsLocalAwsComponentTest(t *testing.T) bool {
+	atmosPlainOpts := &atmos.Options{}
+	existingTestID, err := atmos.RunAtmosCommandE(t, atmosPlainOpts, "test", "get-test-id")
+
+	return err == nil && len(existingTestID) > 0
+}
+
+func AwsComponentTestHelper(t *testing.T, opts *atmos.Options, callback func(t *testing.T, opts *atmos.Options, results ComponentTestResults)) {
+	testSrcRoot := os.Getenv("ATMOS_BASE_PATH")
+	testRoot := testSrcRoot
+	if testSrcRoot == "" {
+		assert.FailNow(t, "ATMOS_BASE_PATH must be set, but is empty")
+	}
+
+	atmosPlainOpts := &atmos.Options{}
+	doApply := false
+
+	var testID string
+
+	existingTestID, err := atmos.RunAtmosCommandE(t, atmosPlainOpts, "test", "get-test-id")
+	if err != nil || len(existingTestID) == 0 {
+		doApply = true
+		// Copy test source to a temp directory and create a new test ID
+		t.Log("Copying files to temp folder...")
+		testRoot, err = files.CopyTerraformFolderToTemp(testSrcRoot, t.Name())
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		err = copyDirectoryRecursively(filepath.Join(testSrcRoot, "state"), filepath.Join(testRoot, "state"))
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		atmosPlainOpts.AtmosBasePath = testRoot
+		testID, err = atmos.RunAtmosCommandE(t, atmosPlainOpts, "test", "make-test-id")
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		testID = strings.TrimSpace(testID)
+	} else {
+		testID = strings.TrimSpace(existingTestID)
+	}
+
+	t.Logf("Running test \"%s\" with test ID \"%s\" in directory %s", t.Name(), testID, testRoot)
+
+	options := atmos.WithDefaultRetryableErrors(t, opts)
+	options.AtmosBasePath = testRoot
+	// Keep the output quiet
+	if !testing.Verbose() {
+		options.Logger = logger.Discard
+	}
+
+	defer awsComponentTestCleanup(t, options, doApply, testRoot, testSrcRoot)
+
+	// Apply the deployment
+	out := ""
+	if doApply {
+		out, err = atmos.ApplyE(t, options)
+		require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to deploy component, skipping other tests.")
+	}
+	// Call the callback function for assertions
+	callback(t, options, ComponentTestResults{
+		Output: out,
+		TestID: testID,
+	})
+
+	if !doApply {
+		t.Logf("\n\n\nTests complete in %s\n\n", testRoot)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/atmos/cmd.go b/pkg/atmos/cmd.go
index 7963290..2a97f66 100644
--- a/pkg/atmos/cmd.go
+++ b/pkg/atmos/cmd.go
@@ -14,6 +14,16 @@ import (
 )
 
 func generateCommand(options *Options, args ...string) shell.Command {
+	// TODO: replace with command line argument
+	if options.AtmosBasePath != "" {
+		var err error
+		options, err = options.Clone()
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("Error cloning options: %v", err)
+			return shell.Command{}
+		}
+		options.EnvVars["ATMOS_BASE_PATH"] = options.AtmosBasePath
+	}
 	cmd := shell.Command{
 		Command:    options.AtmosBinary,
 		Args:       args,
@@ -43,6 +53,13 @@ func GetCommonOptions(options *Options, args ...string) (*Options, []string) {
 		options.AtmosBinary = DefaultExecutable
 	}
 
+	// TODO:
+	// if options.AtmosBasePath != "", then add args "--base-path", options.AtmosBasePath to the args
+	// Unfortunately, as of Atmos 1.109.0, the flag "--base-path" does not work
+	// if options.AtmosBasePath != "" {
+	// 	args = append([]string{"--base-path", options.AtmosBasePath}, args...)
+	// }
+
 	if options.Parallelism > 0 && len(args) > 0 && args[0] == "terraform" && collections.ListContains(commandsWithParallelism, args[1]) {
 		args = append(args, fmt.Sprintf("--parallelism=%d", options.Parallelism))
 	}