diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 370eaae..c8c2f4f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
         rails: [6.1, "7.0", 7.1, 7.2]
 
     env:
-      RAILS_VERSION: "~> ${{ matrix.rails }}.0"
+      RAILS_VERSION: ${{ matrix.rails }}
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
diff --git a/example/.gitignore b/example/.gitignore
index ba66214..09edb9c 100644
--- a/example/.gitignore
+++ b/example/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,6 @@ tmp/**/*
 
 # Not committing the schema as we shouldn't need it
 /db/schema.rb
+
+# allow using bundler binstubs but we don't want to version them
+bin
diff --git a/example/Gemfile b/example/Gemfile
index 9ecb492..a88e712 100644
--- a/example/Gemfile
+++ b/example/Gemfile
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 source "https://rubygems.org"
 
-gem "rails", ENV.fetch("RAILS_VERSION", "~> 7.2")
+rails_version = Gem::Version.new ENV.fetch("RAILS_VERSION", "7.2")
+
+gem "rails", rails_version.approximate_recommendation # ~> major.minor
 
 gem "good_migrations", path: ".."
 
@@ -10,7 +12,9 @@ gem "zeitwerk", "~> 2.6"
 
 gem "bootsnap", require: false
 
-# activesupport needs these but older rails got it from stdlib
-gem "bigdecimal" # since ruby 3.4
-gem "mutex_m" # since ruby 3.4
-gem "benchmark" # since ruby 4.0
+# activesupport 6.1 needs these but older rails got it from stdlib
+if Gem::Requirement.new("~> 6.1") === rails_version
+  gem "bigdecimal" # since ruby 3.4
+  gem "mutex_m" # since ruby 3.4
+  gem "benchmark" # since ruby 4.0
+end
diff --git a/example/Rakefile b/example/Rakefile
index 725024f..5b35858 100644
--- a/example/Rakefile
+++ b/example/Rakefile
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 # for example lib/tasks/capistrano.rake, and they will automatically be available to Rake.
 
 require File.expand_path("../config/application", __FILE__)
-require "rake"
-
 Example::Application.load_tasks
+
+require "rake/clean"
+CLEAN.include("db/*.sqlite3") # clear dbs between unit tests
+CLOBBER.include(Bundler.default_lockfile) # clear lockfile before script/setup
+
+Rake::Task["clean"].enhance %w[log:clear tmp:clear]
diff --git a/example/bin/setup b/example/bin/setup
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ab85f58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/bin/setup
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+require "fileutils"
+require "bundler"
+
+APP_ROOT = File.expand_path("..", __dir__)
+
+def system!(*args)
+  system(*args) || abort("\n== Command #{args} failed ==")
+end
+
+FileUtils.chdir APP_ROOT do
+  # Rails scaffolded, but modified for abnormal example-app purposes.
+
+  puts "\n== Removing bundler lockfile ==\n#{Bundler.default_lockfile}"
+  system! "rm -f #{Bundler.default_lockfile}"
+
+  puts "== Installing dependencies =="
+  system! "gem install bundler --conservative"
+  system("bundle check") || system!("bundle install")
+  system! "bundle binstubs --all"
+
+  puts "\n== Removing old logs and tempfiles =="
+  system! "bin/rake clean"
+end
diff --git a/example/config/application.rb b/example/config/application.rb
index 60ee48e..6f566db 100644
--- a/example/config/application.rb
+++ b/example/config/application.rb
@@ -42,6 +42,6 @@ class Application < Rails::Application
     # Configure sensitive parameters which will be filtered from the log file.
     config.filter_parameters += [:password]
 
-    config.autoloader = ENV["AUTOLOADER"] == "zeitwerk" ? :zeitwerk : :classic
+    config.autoloader = (ENV["AUTOLOADER"] == "zeitwerk") ? :zeitwerk : :classic
   end
 end
diff --git a/example/script/rails b/example/script/rails
deleted file mode 100755
index 9a5a81d..0000000
--- a/example/script/rails
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env ruby
-# This command will automatically be run when you run "rails" with Rails 3 gems installed from the root of your application.
-
-APP_PATH = File.expand_path("../../config/application", __FILE__)
-require File.expand_path("../../config/boot", __FILE__)
-require "rails/commands"
diff --git a/example/script/setup b/example/script/setup
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d4f0333
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/script/setup
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+exec "$(dirname "$0")/../bin/setup"
diff --git a/script/test b/script/test
index fd801fc..9c9d683 100755
--- a/script/test
+++ b/script/test
@@ -1,13 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-
 set -euo pipefail
 
-echo "---> Installing dependencies in example app"
-cd example
-bundle
-cd ..
-
 echo "---> Running tests"
-bundle exec rake
-
-echo "---> Job's done!"
+exec "$(dirname "$0")/../bin/rake"
diff --git a/test/good_migrations_test.rb b/test/good_migrations_test.rb
index 99d80b4..07bbcfd 100644
--- a/test/good_migrations_test.rb
+++ b/test/good_migrations_test.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 require "test_helper"
 
 class GoodMigrationsTest < Minitest::Test
+  def setup
+    shell("bin/rake clean")
+  end
+
   def test_that_it_has_a_version_number
     refute_nil ::GoodMigrations::VERSION
   end
@@ -47,14 +51,8 @@ def test_that_it_has_a_version_number
   private
 
   def shell(command)
-    script = <<-SCRIPT
-      export BUNDLE_GEMFILE="Gemfile"
-      export RAILS_ENV="development"
-      rm -f db/*.sqlite3
-      #{command}
-    SCRIPT
     Bundler.with_unbundled_env do
-      Open3.capture3(script, chdir: "example")
+      Open3.capture3(command, chdir: "example")
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index b672139..e2ed97d 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -8,12 +8,6 @@
 require "open3"
 require "pry"
 
-pre_test_setup_script = <<-SCRIPT
-  export BUNDLE_GEMFILE="Gemfile"
-  export RAILS_ENV="development"
-  rm -f Gemfile.lock
-  bundle install
-SCRIPT
 Bundler.with_unbundled_env do
-  Open3.capture3(pre_test_setup_script, chdir: "example")
+  Open3.capture3("bin/setup", chdir: "example")
 end