diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 42666dcee..0ce0c0baf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -127,3 +127,4 @@ deployment_identifier
 
 # Ignore phpunit.xml, only phpunit.xml.dist should be committed.
 phpunit.xml
+symfony.lock
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index c110d5656..cb268c8c6 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -45,14 +45,19 @@ before_install:
   # Exit build early if only documentation was changed in a Pull Request.
   - source ${BLT_DIR}/scripts/travis/exit_early
   # Decrypt private SSH key id_rsa_blt.enc, save as ~/.ssh/id_rsa_blt.
-  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" == "false" ]]; then openssl aes-256-cbc -K $encrypted_c0b166e924da_key -iv $encrypted_c0b166e924da_iv -in id_rsa_blt.enc -out ~/.ssh/id_rsa -d; chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa; ls -lash ~/.ssh; eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"; ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa; fi
+  #- if [[ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" == "false" ]]; then openssl aes-256-cbc -K $encrypted_c0b166e924da_key -iv $encrypted_c0b166e924da_iv -in id_rsa_blt.enc -out ~/.ssh/id_rsa -d; chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa; ls -lash ~/.ssh; eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"; ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa; fi
   - echo "extension = memcached.so" >> ~/.phpenv/versions/$(phpenv version-name)/etc/php.ini
   - sudo service memcached status
   - phpenv config-rm xdebug.ini
   - phpenv config-add travis.php.ini
-  - composer self-update
+  - composer self-update 1.7.2
+  - composer -V
+  - composer clear-cache
+  - export COMPOSER_PROCESS_TIMEOUT=2000
+  - ls -la $HOME
   - composer validate --no-check-all --ansi
-  - composer install
+  - composer install -vvv
+  - composer -n info
 
 install:
   - source ${BLT_DIR}/scripts/travis/setup_environment
@@ -82,12 +87,4 @@ before_deploy:
 after_success:
   # - ./vendor/bin/coveralls -vvv
 
-deploy:
-  - provider: script
-    # Deploys build artifact's source branch to acquia-pso/blted8 on GitHub.
-    script: ${BLT_DIR}/scripts/blt/ci/internal/deploy_blted8.sh
-    skip_cleanup: true
-    on:
-      branch: $DEPLOY_SOURCE_BRANCH
-      php: 5.6
-      condition: $DRUPAL_CORE_VERSION = default
+
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index d6ec99bcb..5fffa5b6c 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
         "doctrine/common": "^2.5",
         "doctrine/inflector": "~1.1.0",
         "drupal/coder": "^8.3.1",
-        "drush/drush": "^9.4.0",
+        "drush/drush": "9.5.2",
         "grasmash/drupal-security-warning": "^1.0.0",
         "grasmash/yaml-cli": "^1.0.0",
         "grasmash/yaml-expander": "^1.2.0",
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@
         "symfony/yaml": "^3.2.8",
         "tivie/php-os-detector": "^1.0",
         "typhonius/acquia-php-sdk-v2": "^1.0.3",
-        "wikimedia/composer-merge-plugin": "^1.4.1"
+        "wikimedia/composer-merge-plugin": "^1.4.1",
+        "consolidation/site-alias": "^1.1.11|^2"
     },
     "autoload": {
         "psr-4": {
@@ -69,6 +70,14 @@
         "typhonius/acquia_cli": "^1.0",
         "davereid/drush-acquia-hook-invoke": "dev-master"
     },
+    "scripts": {
+        "pre-install-cmd": [
+          "composer dump-autoload --optimize --classmap-authoritative"
+        ],
+        "pre-update-cmd": [
+          "composer dump-autoload --optimize --classmap-authoritative"
+        ]
+    },
     "minimum-stability": "dev",
     "prefer-stable": true,
     "require-dev": {
diff --git a/composer.required.json b/composer.required.json
index 6e8dc4892..30cdc800a 100644
--- a/composer.required.json
+++ b/composer.required.json
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+
 {
   "repositories": {
     "drupal": {
@@ -6,20 +7,23 @@
     }
   },
   "require": {
-    "drupal/core": "^8.6.0",
-    "drupal/config_split": "^1.0.0"
+    "drupal/config_split": "^1.0.0",
+     "drupal/core": "^8.6.0"
   },
   "require-dev": {
     "behat/behat": ">=3.1 <3.4",
+    "behat/mink": "^1.7",
+    "behat/mink-extension": "^2.2",
     "bex/behat-screenshot": "^1.2",
     "drupal/drupal-extension": "~3.2",
+    "composer/installers": "^1.2.0",
     "drupal-composer/drupal-scaffold": "^2.1.0",
     "jarnaiz/behat-junit-formatter": "^1.3.2",
     "se/selenium-server-standalone": "^2.53",
     "jakoch/phantomjs-installer":   "2.1.1-p07",
     "dmore/behat-chrome-extension": "^1.0.0",
     "sensiolabs-de/deprecation-detector": "dev-master",
-    "webflo/drupal-core-require-dev": "^8.6.0"
+    "webflo/drupal-core-require-dev": "8.6.3"
   },
   "autoload-dev": {
     "psr-4": {
diff --git a/phpcs.xml.dist b/phpcs.xml.dist
index b15937b0b..1f537177e 100644
--- a/phpcs.xml.dist
+++ b/phpcs.xml.dist
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@
   <file>scripts/blt/examples</file>
   <file>src/Robo</file>
   <file>settings</file>
-  <file>tests</file>
   <file>template/blt</file>
 
   <exclude-pattern>*/node_modules</exclude-pattern>
   <exclude-pattern>*/vendor</exclude-pattern>
+  <exclude-pattern>tests</exclude-pattern>
   <exclude-pattern>*/default.local.settings.php</exclude-pattern>
 
 </ruleset>
diff --git a/settings/blt.settings.php b/settings/blt.settings.php
index 1b5dee291..3bad845c6 100644
--- a/settings/blt.settings.php
+++ b/settings/blt.settings.php
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
     $name = array_slice($domain_fragments, 1);
     $acsf_sites = $blt_config->get('multisites');
     if (in_array($name, $acsf_sites)) {
-      $acsf_site_name = $name;
+      $_acsf_site_name = $name;
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/template/.gitattributes b/template/.gitattributes
index 58251f6f4..a0bc17b3a 100644
--- a/template/.gitattributes
+++ b/template/.gitattributes
@@ -79,3 +79,9 @@
 *.PDF     -text diff
 *.jar     -text diff
 *.JAR     -text diff
+
+
+
+/.gitattributes export-ignore
+/symfony.lock export-ignore
+/composer.lock export-ignore
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/template/composer.json b/template/composer.json
index a925cd7aa..537e2324a 100644
--- a/template/composer.json
+++ b/template/composer.json
@@ -2,9 +2,22 @@
     "license": "proprietary",
     "type": "project",
     "config": {
-        "sort-packages": true
+        "sort-packages": true,
+        "optimize-autoloader": true
     },
-    "require": {},
+    "repositories": {
+        "drupal": {
+            "type": "composer",
+            "url": "https://packages.drupal.org/8"
+        },
+        "asset-packagist": {
+            "type": "composer",
+            "url": "https://asset-packagist.org"
+        }
+    },
+    "require": {
+        "zaporylie/composer-drupal-optimizations": "^1.0"
+     },
     "require-dev": {},
     "extra": {
         "enable-patching": true,
@@ -32,6 +45,14 @@
             "ignore-duplicates": true
         }
     },
+    "scripts": {
+        "pre-install-cmd": [
+          "composer dump-autoload --optimize --classmap-authoritative"
+        ],
+        "pre-update-cmd": [
+          "composer dump-autoload --optimize --classmap-authoritative"
+        ]
+    },
     "minimum-stability": "dev",
     "prefer-stable": true
 }
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/bootstrap.php b/tests/phpunit/bootstrap.php
index 075596e39..176840de3 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/bootstrap.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/bootstrap.php
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@
 use Acquia\Blt\Tests\SandboxManager;
 
 $sandbox_manager = new SandboxManager();
+
 $sandbox_manager->bootstrap();
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/src/SandboxManager.php b/tests/phpunit/src/SandboxManager.php
index e27788bae..be5b7a13f 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/src/SandboxManager.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/src/SandboxManager.php
@@ -158,9 +158,11 @@ protected function installSandboxMasterDependencies() {
     $command = '';
     $drupal_core_version = getenv('DRUPAL_CORE_VERSION');
     if ($drupal_core_version && $drupal_core_version != 'default') {
-      $command .= 'composer require "drupal/core:' . $drupal_core_version . '" --no-update --no-interaction && ';
+      $command .= 'composer require "drupal/core:' . $drupal_core_version . '" --no-update --no-interaction "'
+      && '"composer require --dev --no-update webflo/drupal-core-require-dev:~"' . $drupal_core_version;
     }
-    $command .= 'composer install --prefer-dist --no-progress --no-suggest';
+
+    $command .= 'composer install --prefer-dist --no-progress --no-suggest -vvv';
 
     $process = new Process($command, $this->sandboxMaster);
     $process->setTimeout(60 * 60);
diff --git a/travis.php.ini b/travis.php.ini
index 7999e9615..49791ca2c 100644
--- a/travis.php.ini
+++ b/travis.php.ini
@@ -1 +1,16 @@
 memory_limit = -1
+
+opcache.interned_strings_buffer=16
+opcache.log_verbosity_level=2
+opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
+opcache.memory_consumption=96
+opcache.optimization_level=0
+opcache.revalidate_freq=0
+opcache.validate_timestamps=1
+opcache.revalidate_path=0
+opcache.max_file_size=0
+opcache.use_cwd=1
+opcache.load_comments=1
+opcache.save_comments=1
+opcache.fast_shutdown=1
+opcache.max_file_size=0
\ No newline at end of file