diff --git a/alert.go b/alert.go
index 428765d..2b78ac6 100644
--- a/alert.go
+++ b/alert.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os/exec"
 	"text/template"
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ func (alert Alert) IsValid() bool {
 }
 
 // BuildTemplates compiles command templates for the Alert
-func (alert *Alert) BuildTemplates() {
+func (alert *Alert) BuildTemplates() error {
 	if alert.commandTemplate == nil && alert.Command != nil {
 		// build template
 		log.Println("Building template for command...")
@@ -52,46 +53,50 @@ func (alert *Alert) BuildTemplates() {
 		alert.commandShellTemplate = template.Must(
 			template.New(alert.Name).Parse(alert.CommandShell),
 		)
-		log.Printf("Template built: %v", alert.commandShellTemplate)
 	} else {
-		log.Fatalf("No template provided for alert %s", alert.Name)
+		return fmt.Errorf("No template provided for alert %s", alert.Name)
 	}
+
+	return nil
 }
 
 // Send will send an alert notice by executing the command template
-func (alert Alert) Send(notice AlertNotice) {
+func (alert Alert) Send(notice AlertNotice) (output_str string, err error) {
 	var cmd *exec.Cmd
-
 	if alert.commandTemplate != nil {
-		// build template
-		log.Println("Send command thing...")
 		command := []string{}
 		for _, cmdTmp := range alert.commandTemplate {
 			var commandBuffer bytes.Buffer
-			err := cmdTmp.Execute(&commandBuffer, notice)
+			err = cmdTmp.Execute(&commandBuffer, notice)
 			if err != nil {
-				panic(err)
+				return
 			}
 			command = append(command, commandBuffer.String())
 		}
 		cmd = exec.Command(command[0], command[1:]...)
 	} else if alert.commandShellTemplate != nil {
 		var commandBuffer bytes.Buffer
-		err := alert.commandShellTemplate.Execute(&commandBuffer, notice)
+		err = alert.commandShellTemplate.Execute(&commandBuffer, notice)
 		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
+			return
 		}
 		shellCommand := commandBuffer.String()
 
-		log.Printf("About to run alert command: %s", shellCommand)
 		cmd = ShellCommand(shellCommand)
 	} else {
-		panic("No template compiled?")
+		err = fmt.Errorf("No templates compiled for alert %v", alert.Name)
+		return
 	}
 
-	output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
-	log.Printf("Check %s\n---\n%s\n---", alert.Name, string(output))
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
+	// Exit if we're not ready to run the command
+	if cmd == nil || err != nil {
+		return
 	}
+
+	var output []byte
+	output, err = cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	output_str = string(output)
+	log.Printf("Check %s\n---\n%s\n---", alert.Name, output_str)
+
+	return output_str, err
 }
diff --git a/alert_test.go b/alert_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bf3a61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alert_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"log"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestAlertIsValid(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		alert    Alert
+		expected bool
+		name     string
+	}{
+		{Alert{Command: []string{"echo", "test"}}, true, "Command only"},
+		{Alert{CommandShell: "echo test"}, true, "CommandShell only"},
+		{Alert{}, false, "No commands"},
+		{
+			Alert{Command: []string{"echo", "test"}, CommandShell: "echo test"},
+			false,
+			"Both commands",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		log.Printf("Testing case %s", c.name)
+		actual := c.alert.IsValid()
+		if actual != c.expected {
+			t.Errorf("IsValid(%v), expected=%t actual=%t", c.name, c.expected, actual)
+			log.Printf("Case failed: %s", c.name)
+		}
+		log.Println("-----")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAlertSend(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		alert          Alert
+		notice         AlertNotice
+		expectedOutput string
+		expectErr      bool
+		name           string
+	}{
+		{
+			Alert{Command: []string{"echo", "{{.MonitorName}}"}},
+			AlertNotice{MonitorName: "test"},
+			"test\n",
+			false,
+			"Command with template",
+		},
+		{
+			Alert{CommandShell: "echo {{.MonitorName}}"},
+			AlertNotice{MonitorName: "test"},
+			"test\n",
+			false,
+			"Command shell with template",
+		},
+		{
+			Alert{Command: []string{"echo", "{{.Bad}}"}},
+			AlertNotice{MonitorName: "test"},
+			"",
+			true,
+			"Command with bad template",
+		},
+		{
+			Alert{CommandShell: "echo {{.Bad}}"},
+			AlertNotice{MonitorName: "test"},
+			"",
+			true,
+			"Command shell with bad template",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		log.Printf("Testing case %s", c.name)
+		c.alert.BuildTemplates()
+		output, err := c.alert.Send(c.notice)
+		hasErr := (err != nil)
+		if output != c.expectedOutput {
+			t.Errorf("Send(%v output), expected=%v actual=%v", c.name, c.expectedOutput, output)
+			log.Printf("Case failed: %s", c.name)
+		}
+		if hasErr != c.expectErr {
+			t.Errorf("Send(%v err), expected=%v actual=%v", c.name, "Err", err)
+			log.Printf("Case failed: %s", c.name)
+		}
+		log.Println("-----")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAlertSendNoTemplates(t *testing.T) {
+	alert := Alert{}
+	notice := AlertNotice{}
+	output, err := alert.Send(notice)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("Send(no template), expected=%v actual=%v", "Err", output)
+	}
+	log.Println("-----")
+}
+
+func TestAlertBuildTemplate(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		alert     Alert
+		expectErr bool
+		name      string
+	}{
+		{Alert{Command: []string{"echo", "test"}}, false, "Command only"},
+		{Alert{CommandShell: "echo test"}, false, "CommandShell only"},
+		{Alert{}, true, "No commands"},
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		log.Printf("Testing case %s", c.name)
+		err := c.alert.BuildTemplates()
+		hasErr := (err != nil)
+		if hasErr != c.expectErr {
+			t.Errorf("IsValid(%v), expected=%t actual=%t", c.name, c.expectErr, err)
+			log.Printf("Case failed: %s", c.name)
+		}
+		log.Println("-----")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 770619f..a577437 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ func (config Config) IsValid() (isValid bool) {
 func (config *Config) Init() {
 	for name, alert := range config.Alerts {
 		alert.Name = name
-		alert.BuildTemplates()
+		if err := alert.BuildTemplates(); err != nil {
+			panic(err)
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index befdcf2..6ef9397 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -29,7 +29,10 @@ func main() {
 					}
 					for _, alertName := range alerts {
 						if alert, ok := config.Alerts[alertName]; ok {
-							alert.Send(*alertNotice)
+							_, err := alert.Send(*alertNotice)
+							if err != nil {
+								panic(err)
+							}
 						} else {
 							log.Printf("WARNING: Could not find alert for %s", alertName)
 						}
diff --git a/monitor_test.go b/monitor_test.go
index d047b44..9747f33 100644
--- a/monitor_test.go
+++ b/monitor_test.go
@@ -146,13 +146,13 @@ func TestMonitorFailureAlertEvery(t *testing.T) {
 		name         string
 	}{
 		/*
-			  		TODO: Actually found a bug in original implementation. There is an inconsistency in the way AlertAfter is treated.
-						For "First alert only" (ie. AlertEvery=0), it is the number of failures to ignore before alerting, so AlertAfter=1
-						  will ignore the first failure and alert on the second failure
-						For other intervals (ie. AlertEvery=1), it is essentially indexed on one. Essentially making AlertAfter=1 trigger
-						  on the first failure.
+			TODO: Actually found a bug in original implementation. There is an inconsistency in the way AlertAfter is treated.
+			For "First alert only" (ie. AlertEvery=0), it is the number of failures to ignore before alerting, so AlertAfter=1
+			will ignore the first failure and alert on the second failure
+			For other intervals (ie. AlertEvery=1), it is essentially indexed on one. Essentially making AlertAfter=1 trigger
+			on the first failure.
 
-						For usabilty, this should be consistent. Consistent with what though? minitor-py? Or itself? Dun dun duuuunnnnn!
+			For usabilty, this should be consistent. Consistent with what though? minitor-py? Or itself? Dun dun duuuunnnnn!
 		*/
 		{Monitor{AlertAfter: 1}, true, "Empty"}, // Defaults to true because AlertAfter and AlertEvery default to 0
 		// Alert first time only, after 1