diff --git a/bin/renderlocal b/bin/renderlocal
index d1b039f..9904233 100755
--- a/bin/renderlocal
+++ b/bin/renderlocal
@@ -3,9 +3,8 @@
 const nopt = require('nopt');
 const path = require('path');
 
-const { FetchEnvs, MockController } = require('@razee/razeedeploy-core');
-const IOUtils = require('../src/IOUtils');
-const LocalMustacheTemplateController = require('../src/LocalMustacheTemplateController');
+const IOUtils = require('../test/lib/IOUtils');
+const LocalRenderer = require('../test/lib/LocalRenderer');
 
 const args = nopt(
   {
@@ -27,29 +26,12 @@ if (args.env === undefined || args.env.length < 1) {
 }
 
 async function renderLocal() {
-  const mtp = await IOUtils.readYamlFile(args.mtp);
-  const kubeData = await IOUtils.kubeDataFromYamlFiles(...args.env);
-
-  const eventData = {
-    type: 'ADDED',
-    object: mtp[0]
-  }
-
-  const fetchEnvs = new FetchEnvs(new MockController(eventData, kubeData));
-  const view = await fetchEnvs.get('spec');
-
-  const mtpController = new LocalMustacheTemplateController({eventData: eventData, kubeData: kubeData});
-  let templates = mtpController.concatTemplates();
-  await mtpController.processTemplate(templates, view);
-
-  if (templates.length > 1) {
-    throw Error("can only handle one template!");
-  }
+  const data = await new LocalRenderer(args.mtp, ...args.env).render();
 
   if (args.out === undefined) {
-    await IOUtils.printYaml(templates[0]);
+    await IOUtils.printYaml(data);
   } else {
-    await IOUtils.writeYamlFile(templates[0], args.out)
+    await IOUtils.writeYamlFile(data, args.out)
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 82f4777..4335e29 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const { EventHandler, KubeClass } = require('@razee/kubernetes-util');
 
 const ControllerString = 'MustacheTemplate';
 const Controller = require(`./${ControllerString}Controller`);
+const LocalRenderer = require('../test/lib/LocalRenderer');
 const log = require('./logger').createLogger(ControllerString);
 
 async function createNewEventHandler(kc) {
@@ -71,5 +72,6 @@ async function run() {
 
 module.exports = {
   run,
+  LocalRenderer,
   MustacheTemplateController: Controller
 };
diff --git a/src/IOUtils.js b/test/lib/IOUtils.js
similarity index 72%
rename from src/IOUtils.js
rename to test/lib/IOUtils.js
index 87736da..9b0de6a 100644
--- a/src/IOUtils.js
+++ b/test/lib/IOUtils.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const fs = require('fs');
+const {promises: fs} = require('fs');
 const yaml = require('js-yaml');
 
 async function kubeDataFromYamlFiles(...filePaths) {
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ async function kubeDataFromYamlFiles(...filePaths) {
         kubeData[kind] = [];
       }
       kubeData[kind].push(element);
+      if (element.metadata.namespace === undefined) {
+        const msg = `assuming "default" namespace missing from ${element.kind}/${element.metadata.name} in ${filePath}`;
+        console.warn(msg);
+        element.metadata.namespace = 'default';
+      }
     }
   }
   return kubeData;
@@ -25,7 +30,7 @@ async function printYaml(asObj) {
 }
 
 async function readFile(filePath) {
-  return await fs.promises.readFile(filePath);
+  return await fs.readFile(filePath);
 }
 
 async function readYamlFile(filePath) {
@@ -33,7 +38,7 @@ async function readYamlFile(filePath) {
 }
 
 async function writeFile(contents, filePath) {
-  fs.writeFile(filePath, contents, (err) => { console.error(err); });
+  await fs.writeFile(filePath, contents);
 }
 
 async function writeYamlFile(asObj, filePath) {
diff --git a/src/LocalMustacheTemplateController.js b/test/lib/LocalMustacheTemplateController.js
similarity index 86%
rename from src/LocalMustacheTemplateController.js
rename to test/lib/LocalMustacheTemplateController.js
index 6755df4..119086a 100644
--- a/src/LocalMustacheTemplateController.js
+++ b/test/lib/LocalMustacheTemplateController.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const { MockKubeResourceMeta } = require('@razee/razeedeploy-core');
-const MustacheTemplateController = require('../src/MustacheTemplateController');
+const MustacheTemplateController = require('../../src/MustacheTemplateController');
 
 module.exports = class LocalMustacheTemplateController extends MustacheTemplateController {
   constructor(params) {
diff --git a/test/lib/LocalRenderer.js b/test/lib/LocalRenderer.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed5f5a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lib/LocalRenderer.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+const IOUtils = require('./IOUtils');
+const LocalMustacheTemplateController = require('./LocalMustacheTemplateController');
+
+const { FetchEnvs, MockController } = require('@razee/razeedeploy-core');
+
+module.exports = class LocalRenderer {
+  constructor(mtpPath, ...envPaths) {
+    this.mtpPath = mtpPath;
+    this.envPaths = envPaths;
+  }
+
+  async render() {
+    const mtp = await IOUtils.readYamlFile(this.mtpPath);
+    const kubeData = await IOUtils.kubeDataFromYamlFiles(...this.envPaths);
+
+    const eventData = {
+      type: 'ADDED',
+      object: mtp[0]
+    }
+
+    const fetchEnvs = new FetchEnvs(new MockController(eventData, kubeData));
+    const view = await fetchEnvs.get('spec');
+
+    const mtpController = new LocalMustacheTemplateController({eventData: eventData, kubeData: kubeData});
+    let templates = mtpController.concatTemplates();
+    templates = await mtpController.processTemplate(templates, view);
+
+    if (templates.length > 1) {
+      throw Error("can only handle one template!");
+    }
+
+    return templates[0];
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/mustache-template-tests.js b/test/mustache-template-tests.js
index 108da50..9f96405 100644
--- a/test/mustache-template-tests.js
+++ b/test/mustache-template-tests.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 var assert = require('chai').assert;
-var Controller = require('../src/LocalMustacheTemplateController');
+var Controller = require('../test/lib/LocalMustacheTemplateController');
 
 describe('#processTemplates', async function () {
   const eventData = {