diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 0897dae..431c270 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -25,11 +25,6 @@ group :development do
   gem "guard-rspec",   require: false
   gem "guard-rubocop", require: false
 
-  # preloading environment
-  gem "spring"
-  gem "spring-commands-rspec"
-  gem "spring-watcher-listen"
-
   # debugging
   gem "pry"
   gem "pry-byebug"
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 2f4cf69..1a9b0e4 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -211,13 +211,6 @@ GEM
     simplecov-html (0.10.2)
     simplecov-rcov (0.2.3)
       simplecov (>= 0.4.1)
-    spring (2.0.2)
-      activesupport (>= 4.2)
-    spring-commands-rspec (1.0.4)
-      spring (>= 0.9.1)
-    spring-watcher-listen (2.0.1)
-      listen (>= 2.7, < 4.0)
-      spring (>= 1.2, < 3.0)
     systemu (2.6.5)
     terminal-table (1.8.0)
       unicode-display_width (~> 1.1, >= 1.1.1)
@@ -262,9 +255,6 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   rubocop (= 0.57.2)
   simplecov (= 0.16.1)
   simplecov-rcov (= 0.2.3)
-  spring
-  spring-commands-rspec
-  spring-watcher-listen
   webmock (~> 3.0)
   yard
 
diff --git a/bin/rails b/bin/rails
index ef53508..4595731 100755
--- a/bin/rails
+++ b/bin/rails
@@ -1,12 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env ruby
 # This command will automatically be run when you run "rails" with Rails 4 gems installed from the root of your application.
 
-begin
-  load File.expand_path('../spring', __FILE__)
-rescue LoadError => e
-  raise unless e.message.include?('spring')
-end
-
 ENGINE_ROOT = File.expand_path('../..', __FILE__)
 ENGINE_PATH = File.expand_path('../../lib/diaspora_federation/engine', __FILE__)
 
diff --git a/bin/rake b/bin/rake
index c2ffc27..486010f 100755
--- a/bin/rake
+++ b/bin/rake
@@ -7,12 +7,6 @@
 # this file is here to facilitate running it.
 #
 
-begin
-  load File.expand_path('../spring', __FILE__)
-rescue LoadError => e
-  raise unless e.message.include?('spring')
-end
-
 require "pathname"
 ENV["BUNDLE_GEMFILE"] ||= File.expand_path("../../Gemfile",
   Pathname.new(__FILE__).realpath)
diff --git a/bin/rspec b/bin/rspec
index 5f7d9af..d738b23 100755
--- a/bin/rspec
+++ b/bin/rspec
@@ -7,12 +7,6 @@
 # this file is here to facilitate running it.
 #
 
-begin
-  load File.expand_path('../spring', __FILE__)
-rescue LoadError => e
-  raise unless e.message.include?('spring')
-end
-
 require "pathname"
 ENV["BUNDLE_GEMFILE"] ||= File.expand_path("../../Gemfile",
   Pathname.new(__FILE__).realpath)
diff --git a/bin/spring b/bin/spring
deleted file mode 100755
index fb2ec2e..0000000
--- a/bin/spring
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env ruby
-
-# This file loads spring without using Bundler, in order to be fast.
-# It gets overwritten when you run the `spring binstub` command.
-
-unless defined?(Spring)
-  require 'rubygems'
-  require 'bundler'
-
-  lockfile = Bundler::LockfileParser.new(Bundler.default_lockfile.read)
-  spring = lockfile.specs.detect { |spec| spec.name == "spring" }
-  if spring
-    Gem.use_paths Gem.dir, Bundler.bundle_path.to_s, *Gem.path
-    gem 'spring', spring.version
-    require 'spring/binstub'
-  end
-end
diff --git a/config/spring.rb b/config/spring.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index d8a7f92..0000000
--- a/config/spring.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-Spring.application_root = "./test/dummy"
-
-root_path = Pathname.new(File.expand_path("."))
-Spring.watcher = Spring::Watcher::Listen.new(root_path, 0.2)
-
-Spring.watch("./lib/")