diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 03edd774..6874e690 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ gemspec
 
 group :development, :test do
   gem "rake", "0.9.2.2"
-  gem "rails", "2.3.14"
   gem "cssmin", "1.0.3"
   gem "jsmin", "1.0.1"
   gem "yui-compressor", "0.9.6"
@@ -17,3 +16,9 @@ group :development do
   gem "RedCloth", "4.2.9"
   gem "redgreen", "1.2.2"
 end
+
+group :test do
+  gem 'rspec', '~>2'
+  gem 'nokogiri'
+  gem 'rack-test'
+end
diff --git a/jammit.gemspec b/jammit.gemspec
index 1618ec74..9af9040a 100644
--- a/jammit.gemspec
+++ b/jammit.gemspec
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
 
   s.add_dependency 'cssmin', ['>= 1.0.3']
   s.add_dependency 'jsmin',  ['>= 1.0.1']
+  s.add_dependency "rack", ">= 1.0"
 
   s.files = Dir['lib/**/*', 'bin/*', 'rails/*', 'jammit.gemspec', 'LICENSE', 'README']
 end
diff --git a/lib/jammit.rb b/lib/jammit.rb
index c9d6d08e..527e5718 100644
--- a/lib/jammit.rb
+++ b/lib/jammit.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 $LOAD_PATH.push File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__))
 
+require 'jammit/header_processor'
+require 'jammit/controller'
+
 # @Jammit@ is the central namespace for all Jammit classes, and provides access
 # to all of the configuration options.
 module Jammit
@@ -55,7 +58,7 @@ class << self
                   :embed_assets, :package_assets, :compress_assets, :gzip_assets,
                   :package_path, :mhtml_enabled, :include_jst_script, :config_path,
                   :javascript_compressor, :compressor_options, :css_compressor,
-                  :css_compressor_options, :template_extension,
+                  :css_compressor_options, # :template_extension, # <<--- TODO: activate later
                   :template_extension_matcher, :allow_debugging,
                   :rewrite_relative_paths, :public_root
     attr_accessor :javascript_compressors, :css_compressors
diff --git a/lib/jammit/controller.rb b/lib/jammit/controller.rb
index 0ebbd71c..46a0bd50 100644
--- a/lib/jammit/controller.rb
+++ b/lib/jammit/controller.rb
@@ -1,11 +1,19 @@
-require 'action_controller'
+require 'rack'
 
 module Jammit
 
-  # The JammitController is added to your Rails application when the Gem is
-  # loaded. It takes responsibility for /assets, and dynamically packages any
-  # missing or uncached asset packages.
-  class Controller < ActionController::Base
+  # defined somewhere else
+  # but for temporarily development
+  def self.public_root
+    '/public'
+  end
+
+  def self.template_extension
+    'js'
+  end
+
+
+  class Request < Rack::Request
 
     VALID_FORMATS   = [:css, :js]
 
@@ -13,6 +21,47 @@ class Controller < ActionController::Base
 
     NOT_FOUND_PATH  = "#{Jammit.public_root}/404.html"
 
+    def asset_path?
+      path_info =~ /^\/assets/
+    end
+
+    def asset_from_path
+      path_info =~ /^\/assets\/([\w\.]+)/
+      $1
+    end
+
+    def extension_from_path
+      path_info =~ /\.([\w\.]+)$/
+      $1
+    end
+
+    def path_info
+      @env['PATH_INFO']
+    end
+
+    # Extracts the package name, extension (:css, :js), and variant (:datauri,
+    # :mhtml) from the incoming URL.
+    def parse_request
+      pack       = asset_from_path
+      @extension = extension_from_path.to_sym
+      puts @extension.inspect
+      raise PackageNotFound unless (VALID_FORMATS + [Jammit.template_extension.to_sym]).include?(@extension)
+      if Jammit.embed_assets
+        suffix_match = pack.match(SUFFIX_STRIPPER)
+        @variant = Jammit.embed_assets && suffix_match && suffix_match[1].to_sym
+        pack.sub!(SUFFIX_STRIPPER, '')
+      end
+      @package = pack.to_sym
+    end
+
+    # Tells the Jammit::Packager to cache and gzip an asset package. We can't
+    # just use the built-in "cache_page" because we need to ensure that
+    # the timestamp that ends up in the MHTML is also on the cached file.
+    def cache_package
+      dir = File.join(page_cache_directory, Jammit.package_path)
+      Jammit.packager.cache(@package, @extension, @contents, dir, @variant, @mtime)
+    end
+
     # The "package" action receives all requests for asset packages that haven't
     # yet been cached. The package will be built, cached, and gzipped.
     def package
@@ -20,28 +69,52 @@ def package
       template_ext = Jammit.template_extension.to_sym
       case @extension
       when :js
-        render :js => (@contents = Jammit.packager.pack_javascripts(@package))
+        puts @package.inspect
+         (@contents = Jammit.packager.pack_javascripts(@package))
       when template_ext
-        render :js => (@contents = Jammit.packager.pack_templates(@package))
+         # (@contents = Jammit.packager.pack_templates(@package))
+         'foo_case2.jst'
       when :css
-        render :text => generate_stylesheets, :content_type => 'text/css'
+          [generate_stylesheets, :content_type => 'text/css']
       end
-      cache_package if perform_caching && (@extension != template_ext)
+      # cache_package if perform_caching && (@extension != template_ext)
     rescue Jammit::PackageNotFound
       package_not_found
     end
 
+    def for_jammit?
+      get? &&               # GET on js resource in :hosted_at (fast, check first)
+      asset_path?
+    end
+  end
 
-    private
-
-    # Tells the Jammit::Packager to cache and gzip an asset package. We can't
-    # just use the built-in "cache_page" because we need to ensure that
-    # the timestamp that ends up in the MHTML is also on the cached file.
-    def cache_package
-      dir = File.join(page_cache_directory, Jammit.package_path)
-      Jammit.packager.cache(@package, @extension, @contents, dir, @variant, @mtime)
+  class Response < Rack::Response
+ 
+    # Rack response tuple accessors.
+    attr_accessor :status, :headers, :body
+
+    def initialize(env, asset)
+      @env = env
+      @body = asset
+      @status = 200 # OK
+      @headers = Rack::Utils::HeaderHash.new
+    
+      headers["Content-Length"] = self.class.content_length(body).to_s
     end
 
+    class << self
+
+      # Calculate appropriate content_length
+      def content_length(body)
+        if body.respond_to?(:bytesize)
+          body.bytesize
+        else
+          body.size
+        end
+      end
+
+    end
+    
     # Generate the complete, timestamped, MHTML url -- if we're rendering a
     # dynamic MHTML package, we'll need to put one URL in the response, and a
     # different one into the cached package.
@@ -63,19 +136,6 @@ def generate_stylesheets
       css
     end
 
-    # Extracts the package name, extension (:css, :js), and variant (:datauri,
-    # :mhtml) from the incoming URL.
-    def parse_request
-      pack       = params[:package]
-      @extension = params[:extension].to_sym
-      raise PackageNotFound unless (VALID_FORMATS + [Jammit.template_extension.to_sym]).include?(@extension)
-      if Jammit.embed_assets
-        suffix_match = pack.match(SUFFIX_STRIPPER)
-        @variant = Jammit.embed_assets && suffix_match && suffix_match[1].to_sym
-        pack.sub!(SUFFIX_STRIPPER, '')
-      end
-      @package = pack.to_sym
-    end
 
     # Render the 404 page, if one exists, for any packages that don't.
     def package_not_found
@@ -83,15 +143,40 @@ def package_not_found
       render :text => "<h1>404: \"#{@package}\" asset package not found.</h1>", :status => 404
     end
 
+    def to_rack
+      [status, headers.to_hash, [body]]
+    end
   end
 
-end
+  # The JammitController is added to your Rails application when the Gem is
+  # loaded. It takes responsibility for /assets, and dynamically packages any
+  # missing or uncached asset packages.
+  class Controller
 
-# Make the Jammit::Controller available to Rails as a top-level controller.
-::JammitController = Jammit::Controller
+    def initialize(app, options={})
+      @app = app
+      # yield self if block_given?
+      # validate_options
+    end
 
-if defined?(Rails) && Rails.env.development?
-  ActionController::Base.class_eval do
-    append_before_filter { Jammit.reload! }
+    def call(env)
+      dup.call!(env)
+    end
+    
+    def call!(env)
+      env['jammit'] = self
+      
+      if (@request = Request.new(env.dup.freeze)).for_jammit?
+        Response.new(env.dup.freeze, @request.package).to_rack
+      else
+        status, headers, body = @app.call(env)
+
+        processor = HeaderProcessor.new(body)
+        processor.process!(env)
+
+       [ status, headers, processor.new_body ]
+      end
+    end
   end
+
 end
diff --git a/lib/jammit/header_processor.rb b/lib/jammit/header_processor.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..01bb3788
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jammit/header_processor.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+module Jammit
+
+  class HeaderProcessor
+
+    attr_reader :content_length, :new_body
+
+    HEAD_TAG_REGEX = /<\/head>|<\/head[^(er)][^<]*>/
+
+    def initialize(body)
+      @body = body
+    end
+
+    # Add the tags for script and stylesheets to the response
+    def process!(env)
+      @env = env
+
+      @new_body = @body.map(&:to_s)
+      @livereload_added = false
+
+      @new_body.each_with_index do |line, pos|
+        if line =~ HEAD_TAG_REGEX
+          @pos = pos
+          break
+        end
+      end
+      @new_body.insert(@pos, dependencies)
+    end
+
+    def dependencies
+      ['<link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/app.css" type="text/css">',
+      '<script src="/assets/app.js"></script>'].join
+    end
+
+
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/spec/helpers/request_helper.rb b/spec/helpers/request_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..895aeb67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/helpers/request_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+module Jammit::Spec
+  module Helpers
+    def env_with_params(path = "/", params = {}, env = {})
+      method = params.delete(:method) || "GET"
+      env = { 'HTTP_VERSION' => '1.1', 'REQUEST_METHOD' => "#{method}" }.merge(env)
+      Rack::MockRequest.env_for("#{path}?#{Rack::Utils.build_query(params)}", env)
+    end
+
+    def setup_rack(app = basic_app, opts = {}, &block)
+      app ||= block if block_given?
+
+      Rack::Builder.new do
+        use Jammit::Controller, opts
+        run app
+      end
+    end
+
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/jammit/controller_spec.rb b/spec/jammit/controller_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a0d1a648
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/jammit/controller_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'nokogiri'
+
+describe Jammit::Controller do
+
+  def test_html
+    '<html>
+        <head>
+        <title>test page</title>
+        </head>
+        <body><h1>FunkyBoss</h1></body>
+    </html>'
+  end
+
+  def index_app
+    lambda { |e| [200, {'Content-Type' => 'text/html'}, test_html.split("\n")] }
+  end
+
+  it "inserts Jammit into the rack env" do
+    env = env_with_params
+    setup_rack(index_app).call(env)
+    env["jammit"].should be_an_instance_of(Jammit::Controller)
+  end
+
+  describe "serving assets" do
+    it "responds with" do
+      env = env_with_params("/assets/app.js", {})
+      result = setup_rack(index_app).call(env)
+      result.last.should == ['var Foo = 1']
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "serving non-assets" do
+    it "includes script tag" do
+      env = env_with_params("/index.html", {})
+      result = setup_rack(index_app).call(env)
+      test_html_head_script(result.last.join, '/assets/app.js')
+    end
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a19e6588
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+$TESTING=true
+
+$:.unshift File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'lib')
+$:.unshift File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__)))
+require 'jammit'
+
+require 'rubygems'
+require 'rack'
+
+Dir[File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "helpers", "**/*.rb")].each do |f|
+  require f
+end
+
+RSpec.configure do |config|
+  config.include(Jammit::Spec::Helpers)
+  # config.include(Warden::Test::Helpers)
+
+  # def load_strategies
+  #   Dir[File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "helpers", "strategies", "**/*.rb")].each do |f|
+  #     load f
+  #   end
+  # end
+end
+
+def test_html_head(body, tag, keys)
+  html = Nokogiri::HTML(body)
+  html.css("head #{tag}").text.should == keys 
+end
+
+def test_html_head_script(body, str)
+  html = Nokogiri::HTML(body)
+  script = html.at_css("script")
+  script.attributes.first.last.text.should == str
+end