diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index 45f6e2ef97b5e904c30b8541012f5ee28c817b84..03a37fc4dcb8fbcdf6ebed9a21414e0d983d1cfa 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@
              :expectations {:global-vars {*warn-on-reflection* false}
                             :injections [(require 'metabase.test-setup)]
                             :resource-paths ["test_resources"]
-                            :env {:mb-test-setting-1 "ABCDEFG"}
+                            :env {:mb-test-setting-1 "ABCDEFG"
+                                  :mb-run-mode "test"}
                             :jvm-opts ["-Dmb.db.in.memory=true"
                                        "-Dmb.jetty.join=false"
                                        "-Dmb.jetty.port=3010"
diff --git a/src/metabase/config.clj b/src/metabase/config.clj
index 171dc4fb3060eaee305af578124447ed4c38937d..99d3b40a238ed6aa36f441d41aa7b7cb3feebf15 100644
--- a/src/metabase/config.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/config.clj
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 (def ^:const app-defaults
   "Global application defaults"
   {;; Database Configuration  (general options?  dburl?)
+   :mb-run-mode "prod"
    :mb-db-type "h2"
    ;:mb-db-dbname "postgres"
    ;:mb-db-host "localhost"
@@ -62,3 +63,6 @@
           (m/filter-keys (fn [k] (re-matches prefix-regex (str k))) app-defaults)
           (m/filter-keys (fn [k] (re-matches prefix-regex (str k))) environ/env))
       (m/map-keys (fn [k] (let [kstr (str k)] (keyword (subs kstr (+ 1 (count prefix))))))))))
+
+(defn ^Boolean is-prod? [] (= :prod (config-kw :mb-run-mode)))
+(defn ^Boolean is-test? [] (= :test (config-kw :mb-run-mode)))
diff --git a/src/metabase/events/activity_feed.clj b/src/metabase/events/activity_feed.clj
index 682a892fd3153dc543d193981253b60eb0edf0b4..baa1c41b230efa49b84eab53945bc0802f92b6dd 100644
--- a/src/metabase/events/activity_feed.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/events/activity_feed.clj
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   (:require [clojure.core.async :as async]
             [clojure.tools.logging :as log]
             [metabase.db :as db]
+            [metabase.config :as config]
             [metabase.events :as events]
             (metabase.models [activity :refer [Activity]]
                              [dashboard :refer [Dashboard]]
@@ -122,4 +123,6 @@
 
 
 ;; this is what actually kicks off our listener for events
-(events/start-event-listener activity-feed-topics activity-feed-channel process-activity-event)
+(when (config/is-prod?)
+  (log/info "Starting activity-feed events listener")
+  (events/start-event-listener activity-feed-topics activity-feed-channel process-activity-event))
diff --git a/src/metabase/events/revision.clj b/src/metabase/events/revision.clj
index 5b300057cb3841238128b6c669811513cc9c59bf..3986d071aa1154fa660768ae0c68b4934a546aa5 100644
--- a/src/metabase/events/revision.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/events/revision.clj
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 (ns metabase.events.revision
   (:require [clojure.core.async :as async]
             [clojure.tools.logging :as log]
+            [metabase.config :as config]
             [metabase.events :as events]
             (metabase.models [card :refer [Card]]
                              [dashboard :refer [Dashboard]]
@@ -54,4 +55,6 @@
 
 
 ;; this is what actually kicks off our listener for events
-(events/start-event-listener revisions-topics revisions-channel process-revision-event)
+(when (config/is-prod?)
+  (log/info "Starting revision events listener")
+  (events/start-event-listener revisions-topics revisions-channel process-revision-event))
diff --git a/src/metabase/events/view_log.clj b/src/metabase/events/view_log.clj
index 49cb71c3ee2984761b5f7d3fbe419f160bcd9403..a0c3673091ecc2c77173e8ffe98d688241fbf993 100644
--- a/src/metabase/events/view_log.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/events/view_log.clj
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 (ns metabase.events.view-log
   (:require [clojure.core.async :as async]
             [clojure.tools.logging :as log]
+            [metabase.config :as config]
             [metabase.db :as db]
             [metabase.events :as events]
             [metabase.models.view-log :refer [ViewLog]]))
@@ -47,4 +48,6 @@
 
 
 ;; this is what actually kicks off our listener for events
-(events/start-event-listener view-counts-topics view-counts-channel process-view-count-event)
+(when (config/is-prod?)
+  (log/info "Starting view-log events listener")
+  (events/start-event-listener view-counts-topics view-counts-channel process-view-count-event))