diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0400471..b9f59e1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -204,8 +204,12 @@ module.exports = {
     simple: 'echo "this is easy"', // npm start simple
     test: {
       default: {
-        script: 'echo "test things!"', // npm start test
-        description: 'just pass it on to npm... Do not take this config very seriously :-)',
+        script: 'ava', // npm start test
+        description: 'Run tests with ava',
+        // your scripts will be run with node_modules/.bin in the PATH, so you can use locally installed packages.
+        // this is done in a cross-platform way, so your scripts will work on Mac and Windows :)
+        // NOTE: if you need to set environment variables, I recommend you check out the cross-env package, which works
+        // gret with p-s
       },
       otherStuff: {
         // this one can be executed two different ways:
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c5f370d..45a5e89 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
     "commander": "2.9.0",
     "find-up": "1.1.2",
     "lodash": "4.14.0",
+    "manage-path": "2.0.0",
     "prefix-matches": "0.0.9",
     "shell-escape": "0.2.0",
     "spawn-command": "0.0.2"
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 0e97339..49c7627 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import spawn from 'spawn-command'
 import async from 'async'
 import colors from 'colors/safe'
-import {isString, find} from 'lodash'
+import {isString, find, clone} from 'lodash'
+import {sync as findUpSync} from 'find-up'
+import managePath from 'manage-path'
 import arrify from 'arrify'
 import getScriptToRun from './get-script-to-run'
 import getScriptsFromConfig from './get-scripts-from-config'
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ function runPackageScript({scriptConfig, options = {}, scriptName, args}) {
   const command = [script, args].join(' ').trim()
   const log = getLogger(getLogLevel(options))
   log.info(colors.gray('p-s executing: ') + colors.green(command))
-  return spawn(command, {stdio: 'inherit', env: process.env})
+  return spawn(command, {stdio: 'inherit', env: getEnv()})
 }
 
 function getLogLevel({silent, logLevel}) {
@@ -57,3 +59,13 @@ function getLogLevel({silent, logLevel}) {
     return undefined
   }
 }
+
+function getEnv() {
+  const env = clone(process.env)
+  const alterPath = managePath(env)
+  const npmBin = findUpSync('node_modules/.bin')
+  if (npmBin) {
+    alterPath.unshift(npmBin)
+  }
+  return env
+}
diff --git a/src/index.test.js b/src/index.test.js
index 17846c1..bf69117 100644
--- a/src/index.test.js
+++ b/src/index.test.js
@@ -1,13 +1,25 @@
+import {resolve} from 'path'
 import test from 'ava'
 import {spy} from 'sinon'
 import color from 'colors/safe'
+import {clone} from 'lodash'
+import managePath from 'manage-path'
 import proxyquire from 'proxyquire'
 
 proxyquire.noCallThru()
 
-test('spawn called with the parent process.env', t => {
+test('spawn called with the parent process.env + npm path', t => {
   const {options: {env}} = testSpawnCallWithDefaults(t)
-  t.is(env, process.env)
+  const copy = clone(process.env)
+  managePath(copy).unshift(resolve('../node_modules/.bin'))
+  t.deepEqual(env, copy)
+})
+
+test('does not blow up if there is no node_modules/.bin', t => {
+  const {options: {env}} = testSpawnCallWithDefaults(t, undefined, {
+    'find-up': {sync: () => null},
+  })
+  t.deepEqual(env, process.env)
 })
 
 test('spawn called with the expected command', t => {
@@ -73,18 +85,19 @@ test.cb('runs scripts in parallel if given an array of input', t => {
 
 // util functions
 
-function testSpawnCallWithDefaults(t, options) {
-  return testSpawnCall(t, undefined, undefined, options)
+function testSpawnCallWithDefaults(t, options, stubOverrides) {
+  return testSpawnCall(t, undefined, undefined, options, undefined, stubOverrides)
 }
-function testSpawnCall(t, scriptConfig = {build: 'webpack'}, scripts = 'build', psOptions, args) {
-  const {runPackageScript, spawnStubSpy, ...otherRet} = setup()
+function testSpawnCall(t, scriptConfig = {build: 'webpack'}, scripts = 'build', psOptions, args, stubOverrides) {
+  /* eslint max-params:[2, 6] */ // TODO: refactor
+  const {runPackageScript, spawnStubSpy, ...otherRet} = setup(stubOverrides)
   runPackageScript({scriptConfig, options: psOptions, scripts, args})
   t.true(spawnStubSpy.calledOnce)
   const [command, options] = spawnStubSpy.firstCall.args
   return {command, options, spawnStubSpy, ...otherRet}
 }
 
-function setup() {
+function setup(stubOverrides = {}) {
   const onSpy = spy((event, cb) => cb())
   const spawnStub = () => ({on: onSpy}) // eslint-disable-line func-style
   const infoSpy = spy()
@@ -93,6 +106,7 @@ function setup() {
   const runPackageScript = proxyquire('./index', {
     'spawn-command': spawnStubSpy,
     './get-logger': getLoggerSpy,
+    ...stubOverrides,
   }).default
   return {spawnStubSpy, infoSpy, getLoggerSpy, onSpy, runPackageScript}
 }