diff --git a/src/settings.ts b/src/settings.ts
index cf5debb..828aa1e 100644
--- a/src/settings.ts
+++ b/src/settings.ts
@@ -52,16 +52,30 @@ export function getSettings(): MergeNBSettings {
         return { ...DEFAULT_SETTINGS };
     }
 
+    if (process.env.MERGENB_TEST_MODE === 'true') {
+        return { ...DEFAULT_SETTINGS };
+    }
+
+    const defaults: MergeNBSettings = {
+        autoResolveExecutionCount: true,
+        autoResolveKernelVersion: true,
+        stripOutputs: true,
+        autoResolveWhitespace: true,
+        hideNonConflictOutputs: true,
+        enableUndoRedoHotkeys: true,
+        showBaseColumn: false,
+    };
+
     const config = vscode.workspace.getConfiguration('mergeNB');
 
     return {
-        autoResolveExecutionCount: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.executionCount', true),
-        autoResolveKernelVersion: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.kernelVersion', true),
-        stripOutputs: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.stripOutputs', true),
-        autoResolveWhitespace: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.whitespace', true),
-        hideNonConflictOutputs: config.get<boolean>('ui.hideNonConflictOutputs', true),
-        enableUndoRedoHotkeys: config.get<boolean>('ui.enableUndoRedoHotkeys', true),
-        showBaseColumn: config.get<boolean>('ui.showBaseColumn', false),
+        autoResolveExecutionCount: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.executionCount', defaults.autoResolveExecutionCount),
+        autoResolveKernelVersion: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.kernelVersion', defaults.autoResolveKernelVersion),
+        stripOutputs: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.stripOutputs', defaults.stripOutputs),
+        autoResolveWhitespace: config.get<boolean>('autoResolve.whitespace', defaults.autoResolveWhitespace),
+        hideNonConflictOutputs: config.get<boolean>('ui.hideNonConflictOutputs', defaults.hideNonConflictOutputs),
+        enableUndoRedoHotkeys: config.get<boolean>('ui.enableUndoRedoHotkeys', defaults.enableUndoRedoHotkeys),
+        showBaseColumn: config.get<boolean>('ui.showBaseColumn', defaults.showBaseColumn),
     };
 }
 
diff --git a/src/tests/repoSetup.ts b/src/tests/repoSetup.ts
index 53d8136..0c74a5d 100644
--- a/src/tests/repoSetup.ts
+++ b/src/tests/repoSetup.ts
@@ -44,13 +44,6 @@ export function createMergeConflictRepo(
 ): string {
     const tmpDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'mergeNB-integration-'));
 
-    const vscodeDir = path.join(tmpDir, '.vscode');
-    fs.mkdirSync(vscodeDir, { recursive: true });
-    const settingsPath = path.join(vscodeDir, 'settings.json');
-    fs.writeFileSync(settingsPath, JSON.stringify({
-        'mergeNB.ui.showBaseColumn': true
-    }, null, 4));
-
     git(tmpDir, 'init');
     git(tmpDir, 'config', 'user.email', '"test@mergenb.test"');
     git(tmpDir, 'config', 'user.name', '"MergeNB Test"');
diff --git a/src/tests/runIntegrationTest.ts b/src/tests/runIntegrationTest.ts
index 2605c21..56f466c 100644
--- a/src/tests/runIntegrationTest.ts
+++ b/src/tests/runIntegrationTest.ts
@@ -183,6 +183,8 @@ async function runTest(test: TestDef): Promise<RunResult> {
     const extensionDevelopmentPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '../..');
     const testDir = path.resolve(__dirname, '../../test');
     let workspacePath: string | undefined;
+    const testEnv = { ...process.env, MERGENB_TEST_MODE: 'true' };
+    process.env.MERGENB_TEST_MODE = 'true';
 
     try {
         const [baseFile, currentFile, incomingFile] = test.notebooks.map(n =>
@@ -204,6 +206,7 @@ async function runTest(test: TestDef): Promise<RunResult> {
             await runTests({
                 extensionDevelopmentPath,
                 extensionTestsPath,
+                extensionTestsEnv: testEnv,
                 launchArgs: [
                     workspacePath,
                     '--disable-extensions',