diff --git a/src/clh b/src/clh
index 3e3aeb2..c67bd7d 100644
--- a/src/clh
+++ b/src/clh
@@ -2,11 +2,9 @@
 
 LIB_SRC=${LIB_SRC:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)}
 
-# shellcheck source=./src/config.bash
-source "${LIB_SRC}/config.bash"
 # shellcheck source=./src/utils.bash
 source "${LIB_SRC}/utils.bash"
 # shellcheck source=./src/procmon.bash
 source "${LIB_SRC}/procmon.bash"
 # shellcheck source=./src/codex.bash
-source "${LIB_SRC}/codex.bash"
\ No newline at end of file
+source "${LIB_SRC}/codex.bash"
diff --git a/src/codex.bash b/src/codex.bash
index 3647d57..2ae1a7d 100644
--- a/src/codex.bash
+++ b/src/codex.bash
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 LIB_SRC=${LIB_SRC:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)}
 
-# shellcheck source=./src/config.bash
-source "${LIB_SRC}/config.bash"
 # shellcheck source=./src/utils.bash
 source "${LIB_SRC}/utils.bash"
 # shellcheck source=./src/procmon.bash
diff --git a/src/config.bash b/src/config.bash
deleted file mode 100644
index f7ae262..0000000
--- a/src/config.bash
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-LIB_SRC=${LIB_SRC:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)}
-OUTPUTS=${OUTPUTS:-${LIB_SRC}/../outputs}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/experiment.bash b/src/experiment.bash
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..888281a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/experiment.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+LIB_SRC=${LIB_SRC:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)}
+
+# shellcheck source=./src/utils.bash
+source "${LIB_SRC}/utils.bash"
+
+exp_start() {
+  _experiment_type="$1"
+  # FIXME: this is pretty clumsy/confusing. We're "initing" the
+  #   harness just so it sets the base output folder, and then
+  #   "initing" it again.
+  if [ -z "${_clh_output}" ]; then
+    clh_init
+  fi
+
+  clh_init "${_clh_output}/${_experiment_type}-$(date +%s)-${RANDOM}" || return 1
+}
diff --git a/src/procmon.bash b/src/procmon.bash
index a896790..c0a1963 100644
--- a/src/procmon.bash
+++ b/src/procmon.bash
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 LIB_SRC=${LIB_SRC:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)}
 
-# shellcheck source=./src/config.bash
-source "${LIB_SRC}/config.bash"
 # shellcheck source=./src/utils.bash
 source "${LIB_SRC}/utils.bash"
 
@@ -223,6 +221,26 @@ pm_async() {
   result=("$!")
 }
 
+await() {
+  local pid=$1 timeout=${2:-30} start="${SECONDS}"
+  while kill -0 "$pid" 2> /dev/null; do
+    if ((SECONDS - start > timeout)); then
+      echoerr "Error: timeout waiting for process $pid to exit"
+      return 1
+    fi
+    sleep 0.1
+  done
+  echoerr "Process $pid exited"
+  return 0
+}
+
+await_all() {
+  local pids=("$@") timeout=${2:-30}
+  for pid in "${pids[@]}"; do
+    await "$pid" "$timeout" || return 1
+  done
+}
+
 _pm_job_started() {
   local pid=$1 proc_type=$2
   echoerr "[procmon] job started: $pid ($proc_type)"
diff --git a/src/prometheus.bash b/src/prometheus.bash
index 3e91aa7..4a10307 100644
--- a/src/prometheus.bash
+++ b/src/prometheus.bash
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 LIB_SRC=${LIB_SRC:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)}
 
-# shellcheck source=./src/config.bash
-source "${LIB_SRC}/config.bash"
 # shellcheck source=./src/utils.bash
 source "${LIB_SRC}/utils.bash"
 
diff --git a/src/utils.bash b/src/utils.bash
index 49779ba..7ca14d2 100644
--- a/src/utils.bash
+++ b/src/utils.bash
@@ -1,51 +1,30 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -o pipefail
 
-LIB_SRC=${LIB_SRC:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)}
-
-# shellcheck source=./src/config.bash
-source "${LIB_SRC}/config.bash"
-
 if ! command -v sha1sum > /dev/null; then
   echoerr "Error: sha1sum is required for computing file hashes"
   exit 1
 fi
 
-OUTPUTS=${OUTPUTS:-$(mktemp -d)} || exit 1
-OUTPUTS=$(realpath "$OUTPUTS") || exit 1
-
-clh_output_folder() {
-  echo "${OUTPUTS}/$1"
+clh_init() {
+  _clh_output=${1:-$(mktemp -d)} || exit 1
+  _clh_output=$(realpath "$_clh_output") || exit 1
+  mkdir -p "${_clh_output}" || exit 1
+  export _clh_output
 }
 
-clh_clear_outputs() {
-  rm -rf "${OUTPUTS}" || true
+clh_output_folder() {
+  echo "${_clh_output}/$1"
+}
+
+clh_destroy() {
+  rm -rf "${_clh_output}" || true
 }
 
 echoerr() {
   echo "$@" >&2
 }
 
-await() {
-  local pid=$1 timeout=${2:-30} start="${SECONDS}"
-  while kill -0 "$pid" 2> /dev/null; do
-    if ((SECONDS - start > timeout)); then
-      echoerr "Error: timeout waiting for process $pid to exit"
-      return 1
-    fi
-    sleep 0.1
-  done
-  echoerr "Process $pid exited"
-  return 0
-}
-
-await_all() {
-  local pids=("$@") timeout=${2:-30}
-  for pid in "${pids[@]}"; do
-    await "$pid" "$timeout" || return 1
-  done
-}
-
 sha1() {
   sha1sum "$1" | cut -d ' ' -f 1 || return 1
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/test_codex.bats b/test/test_codex.bats
index 3924c72..8042248 100755
--- a/test/test_codex.bats
+++ b/test/test_codex.bats
@@ -196,21 +196,6 @@ setup() {
   done < "${_cdx_output}/experiment-0.csv"
 }
 
-# @test "should add a prometheus target for each Codex node when requested" {
-#   pm_start
-
-#   cdx_enable_prometheus "anexperiment" "84858"
-
-#   cdx_launch_node 0
-#   config_file="${_prom_output}/8290-anexperiment-84858-node-1-codex.json"
-#   assert [ -f "$config_file" ]
-
-#   cdx_destroy_node 0
-#   assert [ ! -f "$config_file" ]
-
-#   pm_stop
-# }
-
 teardown() {
-  clh_clear_outputs
+  clh_destroy
 }
diff --git a/test/test_experiment.bats b/test/test_experiment.bats
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51aeb91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_experiment.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+# shellcheck disable=SC2128
+setup() {
+  load test_helper/common_setup
+  common_setup
+
+  # shellcheck source=./src/experiment.bash
+  source "${LIB_SRC}/experiment.bash"
+}
+
+@test "should create experiment folder and set it as the global harness output" {
+  output_base="${_clh_output}"
+
+  exp_start "experiment-type"
+  experiment_output="${output_base}/experiment-type-[0-9]+-[0-9]+"
+
+  [[ "${_clh_output}" =~ ${experiment_output} ]]
+
+  assert [ -d "${_clh_output}" ]
+}
+
+# @test "should add a prometheus target for each Codex node when requested" {
+#   pm_start
+
+#   cdx_enable_prometheus "anexperiment" "84858"
+
+#   cdx_launch_node 0
+#   config_file="${_prom_output}/8290-anexperiment-84858-node-1-codex.json"
+#   assert [ -f "$config_file" ]
+
+#   cdx_destroy_node 0
+#   assert [ ! -f "$config_file" ]
+
+#   pm_stop
+# }
+
diff --git a/test/test_helper/common_setup.bash b/test/test_helper/common_setup.bash
index 5410157..07826b0 100644
--- a/test/test_helper/common_setup.bash
+++ b/test/test_helper/common_setup.bash
@@ -4,4 +4,8 @@ common_setup() {
   load test_helper/bats-assert/load
 
   export LIB_SRC="${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../src"
+
+  # shellcheck source=./src/clh
+  source "${LIB_SRC}/clh"
+  clh_init "${LIB_SRC}/../test_outputs"
 }