diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 878ffed..8bf9b13 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
         <junit.version>5.2.0</junit.version>
         <assertj.version>3.9.1</assertj.version>
         <jgit.version>4.11.0.201803080745-r</jgit.version>
+        <java.version>8</java.version>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
@@ -65,6 +66,14 @@
                 <artifactId>scala-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                 <version>${scala-maven-plugin.version}</version>
             </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <source>${java.version}</source>
+                    <target>${java.version}</target>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/scala/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDB.scala b/src/main/scala/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDB.scala
index 3e5466e..c6a51f2 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDB.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDB.scala
@@ -1,5 +1,27 @@
 package net.kemitix.gitdb
 
-class GitDB {
+import java.nio.file.Path
+
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository
+import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.FileRepositoryBuilder
+
+import scala.beans.BeanProperty
+
+class GitDB (val dir: Path) {
+
+  @BeanProperty
+  val repository: Repository = {
+    val fileRepositoryBuilder = new FileRepositoryBuilder
+    fileRepositoryBuilder.setGitDir(dir.toFile)
+    fileRepositoryBuilder.build()
+  }
+
+  def close: Unit = repository.close()
 
 }
+
+object GitDB {
+  def init(dir: Path): GitDB = {
+    new GitDB(dir)
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDBTest.java b/src/test/java/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDBTest.java
index cb1f635..5eab848 100644
--- a/src/test/java/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDBTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/net/kemitix/gitdb/GitDBTest.java
@@ -1,13 +1,41 @@
 package net.kemitix.gitdb;
 
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 
 class GitDBTest {
 
+    private final Path dbDir = Files.createTempDirectory("gitdb");
+    private final GitDB gitDB = GitDB.init(dbDir);
+
+    GitDBTest() throws IOException {
+    }
+
     @Test
-    void dummy() {
-        assertThat(true).isTrue();
+    void shouldInitialiseGitDB() {
+        //then
+        assertThat(gitDB).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(gitDB.dir()).isDirectory()
+                .isEqualTo(dbDir);
+        final Repository repository = gitDB.getRepository();
+        assertThat(repository.isBare()).isTrue();
+    }
+
+    @AfterEach
+    void tearDown() throws IOException {
+        gitDB.close();
+        Files.walk(dbDir)
+                .sorted(Comparator.reverseOrder())
+                .map(Path::toFile)
+                .forEach(File::delete);
     }
 }