diff --git a/lib/sass_spec/cli.rb b/lib/sass_spec/cli.rb
index ce3d998041..4cb81d9bcb 100644
--- a/lib/sass_spec/cli.rb
+++ b/lib/sass_spec/cli.rb
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
+require_relative 'engine_adapter'
 
 module SassSpec::CLI
   require 'optparse'
 
   def self.parse
     options = {
-      sass_executable: "sass",
+      engine_adapter: SassEngineAdapter.new("sass"),
       spec_directory: "spec",
       tap: false,
       skip: false,
@@ -47,8 +48,8 @@ def self.parse
         options[:tap] = true
       end
 
-      opts.on("-c", "--command COMMAND", "Sets a specific binary to run (defaults to '#{options[:sass_executable]}')") do |v|
-        options[:sass_executable] = v
+      opts.on("-c", "--command COMMAND", "Sets a specific binary to run (defaults to '#{options[:engine_adapter]}')") do |v|
+        options[:engine_adapter] = ExecutableEngineAdapater.new(v)
       end
 
       opts.on("--ignore-todo", "Skip any folder named 'todo'") do
diff --git a/lib/sass_spec/engine_adapter.rb b/lib/sass_spec/engine_adapter.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..692c832b63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/sass_spec/engine_adapter.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+require "open3"
+
+class EngineAdapter
+  def describe
+    not_implemented
+  end
+
+  # The version string of the implementation
+  def version
+    not_implemented
+  end
+
+  def to_s
+    describe
+  end
+
+  # Compile a Sass file and return the results
+  # @return [css_output, std_error, status_code]
+  def compile(sass_filename)
+    not_implemented
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def not_implemented
+    raise RuntimeError, "Not yet implemented"
+  end
+end
+
+class ExecutableEngineAdapater < EngineAdapter
+
+  def initialize(command, description = nil)
+    @command = command
+    @description = description || command
+  end
+
+  def describe
+    @description
+  end
+
+  def version
+    stdout, stderr, status = Open3.capture3("#{@command} -v")
+    stdout.to_s
+  end
+
+
+  def compile(sass_filename)
+    Open3.capture3("#{@command} #{sass_filename}")
+  end
+end
+
+class SassEngineAdapter < EngineAdapter
+  def initialize(description)
+    @description = description
+  end
+
+  def describe
+    @description
+  end
+
+  def version
+    require 'sass/version'
+    Sass::VERSION
+  end
+
+  def compile(sass_filename)
+    require 'sass'
+    begin
+      captured_stderr = StringIO.new
+      real_stderr, $stderr = $stderr, captured_stderr
+      begin
+        css_output = Sass.compile_file(sass_filename.to_s)
+        [css_output, captured_stderr.to_s, 0]
+      rescue Sass::SyntaxError => e
+        [Sass::SyntaxError.exception_to_css(e), captured_stderr.string, 1]
+      rescue => e
+        [Sass::SyntaxError.exception_to_css(e), captured_stderr.string, 2]
+      end
+    ensure
+      $stderr = real_stderr
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/sass_spec/runner.rb b/lib/sass_spec/runner.rb
index 79bcaa47d2..6d2389453c 100644
--- a/lib/sass_spec/runner.rb
+++ b/lib/sass_spec/runner.rb
@@ -12,9 +12,8 @@ def initialize(options = {})
 
   def run
     unless @options[:silent] || @options[:tap]
-      puts "Recursively searching under directory '#{@options[:spec_directory]}' for test files to test '#{@options[:sass_executable]}' with."
-      stdout, stderr, status = Open3.capture3("#{@options[:sass_executable]} -v")
-      puts stdout
+      puts "Recursively searching under directory '#{@options[:spec_directory]}' for test files to test '#{@options[:engine_adapter]}' with."
+      puts @options[:engine_adapter].version
     end
 
     test_cases = _get_cases
diff --git a/lib/sass_spec/test.rb b/lib/sass_spec/test.rb
index b203abb813..52a80bc581 100644
--- a/lib/sass_spec/test.rb
+++ b/lib/sass_spec/test.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ def run_spec_test(test_case, options = {})
   output, clean_output, error, status = test_case.output
 
   if status != 0 && !options[:unexpected_pass]
-    msg = "Command `#{options[:sass_executable]}` did not complete:\n\n#{error}"
+    msg = "Command `#{options[:engine_adapter]}` did not complete:\n\n#{error}"
 
     if options[:skip]
       raise msg
diff --git a/lib/sass_spec/test_case.rb b/lib/sass_spec/test_case.rb
index fa10c546b7..8a77a3861c 100644
--- a/lib/sass_spec/test_case.rb
+++ b/lib/sass_spec/test_case.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-require "open3"
 # This represents a specific test case.
 class SassSpec::TestCase
   def initialize(input_scss, expected_css, options = {})
@@ -27,7 +26,7 @@ def output
     if @output
       return @output
     end
-    stdout, stderr, status = Open3.capture3("#{@options[:sass_executable]} #{@input_path}")
+    stdout, stderr, status = engine.compile(@input_path)
     cleaned = _clean_output(stdout)
     @output ||= [stdout, cleaned, stderr, status]
   end
@@ -36,6 +35,10 @@ def expected
     @expected ||= _clean_output File.read(@expected_path)
   end
 
+  def engine
+    @options[:engine_adapter]
+  end
+
   def _clean_output(css)
     css.gsub(/\s+/, " ")
        .gsub(/ *\{/, " {\n")