diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1559958c2..59a1b56a7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ nimcache
 
 /all_test.md
 
+# local testnet files
+/local_testnet_data
+
 # Nimble user files
 nimble.develop
 nimble.paths
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 023c08c3b..f3159cb61 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ test-reproducibility:
 # builds the fluffy client
 fluffy: | build deps
 	echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
-		$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim fluffy $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
+		$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c $(NIM_PARAMS) -d:chronicles_log_level=TRACE -o:build/$@ "fluffy/$@.nim"
 
 # primitive reproducibility test
 fluffy-test-reproducibility:
@@ -233,9 +233,18 @@ fluffy-test-reproducibility:
 		[ "$$MD5SUM1" = "$$MD5SUM2" ] && echo -e "\e[92mSuccess: identical binaries.\e[39m" || \
 			{ echo -e "\e[91mFailure: the binary changed between builds.\e[39m"; exit 1; }
 
+# fluffy tests
+all_fluffy_portal_spec_tests: | build deps
+	echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
+	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c -r $(NIM_PARAMS) -d:chronicles_log_level=ERROR -d:nimbus_db_backend=sqlite -o:build/$@ "fluffy/tests/portal_spec_tests/mainnet/$@.nim"
+
+
+all_fluffy_tests: | build deps
+	echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
+	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c -r $(NIM_PARAMS) -d:chronicles_log_level=ERROR -d:nimbus_db_backend=sqlite -d:mergeBlockNumber:38130 -o:build/$@ "fluffy/tests/$@.nim"
+
 # builds and runs the fluffy test suite
-fluffy-test: | build deps
-	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim fluffy_test $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
+fluffy-test: | all_fluffy_portal_spec_tests all_fluffy_tests
 
 # builds the fluffy tools, wherever they are
 $(FLUFFY_TOOLS): | build deps
@@ -246,6 +255,11 @@ $(FLUFFY_TOOLS): | build deps
 # builds all the fluffy tools
 fluffy-tools: | $(FLUFFY_TOOLS)
 
+# Build fluffy test_portal_testnet
+test_portal_testnet: | build deps
+	echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
+		$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c $(NIM_PARAMS) -o:build/$@ "fluffy/scripts/$@.nim"
+
 # builds the uTP test app
 utp-test-app: | build deps
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim utp_test_app $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
@@ -254,10 +268,6 @@ utp-test-app: | build deps
 utp-test: | build deps
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim utp_test $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
 
-# Build fluffy test_portal_testnet
-fluffy-test-portal-testnet: | build deps
-	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim fluffy_test_portal_testnet $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
-
 # Nimbus Verified Proxy related targets
 
 # Builds the nimbus_verified_proxy
diff --git a/fluffy/scripts/launch_local_testnet.sh b/fluffy/scripts/launch_local_testnet.sh
index d73a6ea6a..582699c6f 100755
--- a/fluffy/scripts/launch_local_testnet.sh
+++ b/fluffy/scripts/launch_local_testnet.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"/../..
 GETOPT_BINARY="getopt"
 if uname | grep -qi darwin; then
   # macOS
-  GETOPT_BINARY="/usr/local/opt/gnu-getopt/bin/getopt"
+  GETOPT_BINARY=$(find /opt/homebrew/opt/gnu-getopt/bin/getopt /usr/local/opt/gnu-getopt/bin/getopt 2> /dev/null | head -n1 || true)
   [[ -f "$GETOPT_BINARY" ]] || { echo "GNU getopt not installed. Please run 'brew install gnu-getopt'. Aborting."; exit 1; }
 fi
 
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ LONGOPTS="help,nodes:,data-dir:,enable-htop,log-level:,base-port:,base-rpc-port:
 NUM_NODES="64"
 DATA_DIR="local_testnet_data"
 USE_HTOP="0"
-LOG_LEVEL="TRACE"
+LOG_LEVEL="INFO"
 BASE_PORT="9000"
 BASE_METRICS_PORT="8008"
-BASE_RPC_PORT="7000"
+BASE_RPC_PORT="10000"
 REUSE_EXISTING_DATA_DIR="0"
 TIMEOUT_DURATION="0"
 KILL_OLD_PROCESSES="0"
@@ -183,9 +183,9 @@ fi
 
 # Build the binaries
 BINARIES="fluffy"
-TEST_BINARIES="fluffy-test-portal-testnet"
-$MAKE -j ${NPROC} LOG_LEVEL=TRACE ${BINARIES} NIMFLAGS="-d:chronicles_colors=off -d:chronicles_sinks=textlines"
-$MAKE -j ${NPROC} LOG_LEVEL=INFO ${TEST_BINARIES} NIMFLAGS="-d:chronicles_sinks=textlines"
+TEST_BINARIES="test_portal_testnet"
+$MAKE -j ${NPROC} LOG_LEVEL=TRACE ${BINARIES}
+$MAKE -j ${NPROC} LOG_LEVEL=INFO ${TEST_BINARIES}
 
 # Kill child processes on Ctrl-C/SIGTERM/exit, passing the PID of this shell
 # instance as the parent and the target process name as a pattern to the
diff --git a/fluffy/scripts/nim.cfg b/fluffy/scripts/nim.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8dd0048af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fluffy/scripts/nim.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+-d:unittest2DisableParamFiltering
diff --git a/fluffy/scripts/test_portal_testnet.nim b/fluffy/scripts/test_portal_testnet.nim
index 07dc56556..04db3dfcc 100644
--- a/fluffy/scripts/test_portal_testnet.nim
+++ b/fluffy/scripts/test_portal_testnet.nim
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ type
       name: "rpc-address" }: string
 
     baseRpcPort* {.
-      defaultValue: 7000
+      defaultValue: 10000
       desc: "Port of the JSON-RPC service of the bootstrap (first) node"
       name: "base-rpc-port" .}: uint16
 
diff --git a/nimbus.nimble b/nimbus.nimble
index 356ee3556..cad9b9838 100644
--- a/nimbus.nimble
+++ b/nimbus.nimble
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ task utp_test_app, "Build uTP test app":
 task utp_test, "Run uTP integration tests":
   test "fluffy/tools/utp_testing", "utp_test", "-d:chronicles_log_level=ERROR -d:chronosStrictException"
 
-task fluffy_test_portal_testnet, "Build test_portal_testnet":
+task test_portal_testnet, "Build test_portal_testnet":
   buildBinary "test_portal_testnet", "fluffy/scripts/", "-d:chronicles_log_level=DEBUG -d:unittest2DisableParamFiltering"
 
 ## Nimbus Verified Proxy tasks