diff --git a/.rspec b/.rspec
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c99d2e73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.rspec
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+--require spec_helper
diff --git a/spec/features/binary/binary_file_spec.rb b/spec/features/binary/binary_file_spec.rb
index b7377e58..f38a0d48 100644
--- a/spec/features/binary/binary_file_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/binary/binary_file_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 # this reads a binary database dump file, which is in structure like a CSV file
diff --git a/spec/features/chunked/chunked_reading_spec.rb b/spec/features/chunked/chunked_reading_spec.rb
index 95dd661b..8d450fc3 100644
--- a/spec/features/chunked/chunked_reading_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/chunked/chunked_reading_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'chunked reading' do
diff --git a/spec/features/chunked/chunked_spec.rb b/spec/features/chunked/chunked_spec.rb
index 70eaa62a..c201b32d 100644
--- a/spec/features/chunked/chunked_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/chunked/chunked_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 class Processor
diff --git a/spec/features/converters/convert_values_to_numeric_spec.rb b/spec/features/converters/convert_values_to_numeric_spec.rb
index a34d03b2..f61e95be 100644
--- a/spec/features/converters/convert_values_to_numeric_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/converters/convert_values_to_numeric_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'numeric conversion of values' do
diff --git a/spec/features/converters/value_converters_spec.rb b/spec/features/converters/value_converters_spec.rb
index abcd99fe..04c2e565 100644
--- a/spec/features/converters/value_converters_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/converters/value_converters_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 require 'date'
diff --git a/spec/features/formating/bom_issues_spec.rb b/spec/features/formating/bom_issues_spec.rb
index fd4c6e18..ddf83a05 100644
--- a/spec/features/formating/bom_issues_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/formating/bom_issues_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'BOM Tests' do
diff --git a/spec/features/formating/carriage_return_spec.rb b/spec/features/formating/carriage_return_spec.rb
index 397bf11e..e598bc2a 100644
--- a/spec/features/formating/carriage_return_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/formating/carriage_return_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'process files with line endings explicitly pre-specified' do
diff --git a/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb b/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb
index 6785ff15..c729c7b0 100644
--- a/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'can handle col_sep' do
diff --git a/spec/features/formating/emoji_spec.rb b/spec/features/formating/emoji_spec.rb
index f2ae1be3..6a89a5b3 100644
--- a/spec/features/formating/emoji_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/formating/emoji_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 [true, false].each do |bool|
diff --git a/spec/features/formating/line_ending_spec.rb b/spec/features/formating/line_ending_spec.rb
index d0b13ec1..d937929c 100644
--- a/spec/features/formating/line_ending_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/formating/line_ending_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'process files with line endings explicitly pre-specified' do
diff --git a/spec/features/formating/valid_unicode_spec.rb b/spec/features/formating/valid_unicode_spec.rb
index 00493a29..89d6a40a 100644
--- a/spec/features/formating/valid_unicode_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/formating/valid_unicode_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'valid unicode' do
diff --git a/spec/features/general/additional_separator_spec.rb b/spec/features/general/additional_separator_spec.rb
index 598e3bda..ba508773 100644
--- a/spec/features/general/additional_separator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/general/additional_separator_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'handling of additional trailing column separators' do
diff --git a/spec/features/general/basic_spec.rb b/spec/features/general/basic_spec.rb
index 37b1eb5e..39ef5181 100644
--- a/spec/features/general/basic_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/general/basic_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 [true, false].each do |bool|
diff --git a/spec/features/general/empty_columns_spec.rb b/spec/features/general/empty_columns_spec.rb
index 88a15ba7..c7adc293 100644
--- a/spec/features/general/empty_columns_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/general/empty_columns_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'can handle empty columns' do
diff --git a/spec/features/general/simple_spec.rb b/spec/features/general/simple_spec.rb
index b4ebaf85..95d0a7ab 100644
--- a/spec/features/general/simple_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/general/simple_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'handling files with one column' do
diff --git a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_empty_values_spec.rb b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_empty_values_spec.rb
index 788eb826..01053bff 100644
--- a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_empty_values_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_empty_values_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':remove_empty_values option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_keys_from_hashes_spec.rb b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_keys_from_hashes_spec.rb
index 065920b2..23e63632 100644
--- a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_keys_from_hashes_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_keys_from_hashes_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':remove_zero_values option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_not_mapped_keys_spec.rb b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_not_mapped_keys_spec.rb
index 522f538a..c1f11d93 100644
--- a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_not_mapped_keys_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_not_mapped_keys_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':remove_unmapped_keys option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_values_matching_spec.rb b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_values_matching_spec.rb
index 7484dd3a..bde1645a 100644
--- a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_values_matching_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_values_matching_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':remove_values_matching option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_zero_values_spec.rb b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_zero_values_spec.rb
index 7aa07c0d..2c8c92c3 100644
--- a/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_zero_values_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/hash_transformations/remove_zero_values_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':remove_zero_values option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/duplicate_headers_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/duplicate_headers_spec.rb
index f11c7dde..6288e977 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/duplicate_headers_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/duplicate_headers_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'duplicate headers' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/header_transformation_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/header_transformation_spec.rb
index 4a704639..49fe2af6 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/header_transformation_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/header_transformation_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'header transformations option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/invalid_headers_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/invalid_headers_spec.rb
index 2e989ad4..19d9d11a 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/invalid_headers_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/invalid_headers_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 #
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/keep_headers_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/keep_headers_spec.rb
index f2d6a5d9..4958555b 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/keep_headers_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/keep_headers_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':keep_original_headers option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/key_mapping_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/key_mapping_spec.rb
index 39e61b5f..4c66beb2 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/key_mapping_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/key_mapping_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'key_mapping' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/no_header_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/no_header_spec.rb
index 9955cb11..1ba727c7 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/no_header_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/no_header_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'no header in file' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/not_downcase_header_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/not_downcase_header_spec.rb
index 2124a718..f59b9bc5 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/not_downcase_header_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/not_downcase_header_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':downcase_header option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/required_headers_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/required_headers_spec.rb
index 99dc9884..d30a231a 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/required_headers_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/required_headers_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'required_headers -> required_keys' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/silence_missing_keys_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/silence_missing_keys_spec.rb
index 03319f1c..8e230633 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/silence_missing_keys_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/silence_missing_keys_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'silence missing keys' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/strings_as_keys_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/strings_as_keys_spec.rb
index 5bf1266d..b31629ff 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/strings_as_keys_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/strings_as_keys_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':strings_as_keys option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/header_handling/strip_chars_from_headers_spec.rb b/spec/features/header_handling/strip_chars_from_headers_spec.rb
index db904d73..0e529c72 100644
--- a/spec/features/header_handling/strip_chars_from_headers_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/header_handling/strip_chars_from_headers_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':strip_chars_from_headers option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/ignore_comments_spec.rb b/spec/features/ignore_comments_spec.rb
index 956774a5..f28b8797 100644
--- a/spec/features/ignore_comments_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/ignore_comments_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':comment_regexp option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/quotes/escaped_quote_chars_spec.rb b/spec/features/quotes/escaped_quote_chars_spec.rb
index 6f9bd31c..297cd0f9 100644
--- a/spec/features/quotes/escaped_quote_chars_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/quotes/escaped_quote_chars_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 [true, false].each do |bool|
diff --git a/spec/features/quotes/quoted_spec.rb b/spec/features/quotes/quoted_spec.rb
index 4ee627a3..0d598bc8 100644
--- a/spec/features/quotes/quoted_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/quotes/quoted_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'loading file with quoted fields' do
diff --git a/spec/features/skip_lines_spec.rb b/spec/features/skip_lines_spec.rb
index 6b19e380..7dfa632c 100644
--- a/spec/features/skip_lines_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/skip_lines_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe ':skip_lines option' do
diff --git a/spec/features/special_cases/hard_sample_spec.rb b/spec/features/special_cases/hard_sample_spec.rb
index fbaf1c0a..e43579a3 100644
--- a/spec/features/special_cases/hard_sample_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/special_cases/hard_sample_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'can handle the difficult CSV file' do
diff --git a/spec/features/special_cases/malformed_spec.rb b/spec/features/special_cases/malformed_spec.rb
index 5436bcf5..dc949890 100644
--- a/spec/features/special_cases/malformed_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/special_cases/malformed_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 # according to RFC-4180 quotes inside of "words" shouldbe doubled, but our parser is robust against that.
diff --git a/spec/features/special_cases/problematic_spec.rb b/spec/features/special_cases/problematic_spec.rb
index 06417686..f8696dc9 100644
--- a/spec/features/special_cases/problematic_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/special_cases/problematic_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'loading file with UTF-8 characters in the header' do
diff --git a/spec/features/special_cases/trading_spec.rb b/spec/features/special_cases/trading_spec.rb
index c6d99ac9..b88da4e2 100644
--- a/spec/features/special_cases/trading_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/special_cases/trading_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 # somebody reported that a column called 'options_trader' would be truncated to 'trader'
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/blank_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/blank_spec.rb
index 07dcf8ac..d6447908 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/blank_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/blank_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 describe 'blank?' do
   it 'is true for nil' do
     expect(SmarterCSV.send(:blank?, nil)).to eq true
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/close_file_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/close_file_spec.rb
index cf6b6eb8..a1541b62 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/close_file_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/close_file_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'file operations' do
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/file_encoding_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/file_encoding_spec.rb
index dce39fff..c698e40b 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/file_encoding_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/file_encoding_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 RSpec.describe SmarterCSV do
   describe 'encoding warning message' do
     let(:file_path) { 'path/to/csvfile.csv' }
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/option_validations_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/option_validations_spec.rb
index 9f070944..f497b1d3 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/option_validations_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/option_validations_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 fixture_path = 'spec/fixtures'
 
 describe 'option validations' do
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/options_processing_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/options_processing_spec.rb
index 61b65732..df738bf0 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/options_processing_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/options_processing_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 describe 'options processing' do
   describe '#process_options' do
     it 'prints out given options in verbose mode' do
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/column_separator_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/column_separator_spec.rb
index eb8ecaf4..74ed7de3 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/column_separator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/column_separator_spec.rb
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 #   code paths are behaving identically.
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 [true, false].each do |bool|
   describe "fulfills RFC-4180 and more with#{bool ? ' C-' : 'out '}acceleration" do
     describe 'parse with col_sep' do
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/max_size_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/max_size_spec.rb
index fa2f7e44..8bbadc72 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/max_size_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/max_size_spec.rb
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 #   code paths are behaving identically.
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 # the purpose of the max_size parameter is to handle a corner case where
 # CSV lines contain more fields than the header.
 # In which case the remaining fields in the line are ignored
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/old_csv_library_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/old_csv_library_spec.rb
index 9231f7d4..c106bc80 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/old_csv_library_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/old_csv_library_spec.rb
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 #   code paths are behaving identically.
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 [true, false].each do |bool|
   describe "fulfills RFC-4180 and more with#{bool ? ' C-' : 'out '}acceleration" do
     describe 'old CSV library parsing tests' do
diff --git a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/rfc4180_and_more_spec.rb b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/rfc4180_and_more_spec.rb
index e315cf2a..b47894d1 100644
--- a/spec/smarter_csv/parse/rfc4180_and_more_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/smarter_csv/parse/rfc4180_and_more_spec.rb
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 #   code paths are behaving identically.
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-require 'spec_helper'
-
 [true, false].each do |bool|
   describe "fulfills RFC-4180 and more with#{bool ? ' C-' : 'out '}acceleration" do
     let(:options) { {col_sep: ',', row_sep: $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR, quote_char: '"', acceleration: bool } }