diff --git a/settings.gradle b/settings.gradle
index 4e56fd0..8eff1bf 100644
--- a/settings.gradle
+++ b/settings.gradle
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 
 gradle.ext.scala = [
     version: '2.12.7',
+    depVersion  : '2.12',
     compileFlags: ['-feature', '-unchecked', '-deprecation', '-Xfatal-warnings', '-Ywarn-unused-import']
 ]
 
@@ -38,3 +39,6 @@
     version: '1.5.0',
     config: new File(rootProject.projectDir, '.scalafmt.conf')
 ]
+
+gradle.ext.akka = [version : '2.6.12']
+gradle.ext.akka_http = [version : '10.2.4']
diff --git a/tests/build.gradle b/tests/build.gradle
index 8596df2..e1cde3e 100644
--- a/tests/build.gradle
+++ b/tests/build.gradle
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@
     compile "org.scala-lang:scala-library:${gradle.scala.version}"
     compile "org.apache.openwhisk:openwhisk-tests:${gradle.openwhisk.version}:tests"
     compile "org.apache.openwhisk:openwhisk-tests:${gradle.openwhisk.version}:test-sources"
+    implementation group: 'com.typesafe.akka', name: "akka-http2-support_${gradle.scala.depVersion}", version: "${gradle.akka_http.version}"
+    implementation group: 'com.typesafe.akka', name: "akka-http-xml_${gradle.scala.depVersion}", version: "${gradle.akka_http.version}"
+    implementation group: 'com.typesafe.akka', name: "akka-discovery_${gradle.scala.depVersion}", version: "${gradle.akka.version}"
+    implementation group: 'com.typesafe.akka', name: "akka-protobuf_${gradle.scala.depVersion}", version: "${gradle.akka.version}"
+    implementation group: 'com.typesafe.akka', name: "akka-remote_${gradle.scala.depVersion}", version: "${gradle.akka.version}"
+    implementation group: 'com.typesafe.akka', name: "akka-cluster_${gradle.scala.depVersion}", version: "${gradle.akka.version}"
 }
 
 tasks.withType(ScalaCompile) {