My integration scheme usually works somewhat like this, though it changes in complexity per project:

• README.rst that suggests a Developing section, specifying that virtualenv and pip are required and instructs the developer to use prepare an existing virtualenv environment for testing using,

• python setup.py develop, achieved by a custom SetupDevelop command class in setup.py, that derives the run() method to assert that os.getenv('VIRTUAL_ENV') is defined (to remind you not to pollute your environment accidentally), run the baseclass setuptools.command.develop.develop.run(), which installs the egg link to allow rapidly editing without re-installing, and then call self.spawn(('pip', 'install', '--upgrade', '--requirement', 'requirements-dev.txt')).

• setup.py file contains:

  from setuptools.command.develop import develop
  
  class SetupDevelop(develop):
  
  """ 'setup.py develop' is augmented to install development tools. """
  
      # pylint: disable=R0904
      #         Too many public methods (43/20)
  
      def run(self):
          """ Execute command pip for development requirements. """
          # pylint: disable=E1101
          # Instance of 'SetupDevelop' has no 'spawn' member (col 8)
          assert os.getenv('VIRTUAL_ENV'), 'You should be in a virtualenv'
          develop.run(self)
          self.spawn(('pip', 'install', '--upgrade', '--requirement', 'requirements-dev.txt'))
  
  setup(
      name=PACKAGE_NAME,
      version=VERSION,
      (...)
      cmdclass={
          'develop': SetupDevelop,
      },
  )
  

• requirements-dev.txt file contains:

  # This file contains dependencies required for running tests, and any other
  # miscellaneous developer tools
  tox
  IPython
  

• tox.ini file contains:

  [tox]
  envlist = prospector,
             py27,
             py34,
  [testenv]
  # for any python, run simple pytest with coverage
  deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements-testing.txt
  commands = {envbindir}/py.test --strict --cov {envsitepackagesdir}/PACKAGENAME \
             PACKAGE/TESTS {posargs}
  
  [testenv:prospector]
  # run static analysis using prospector
  deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements-analysis.txt
  commands = prospector \
                 --die-on-tool-error \
                 --test-warnings \
                 --doc-warnings \
                 {toxinidir}
  

• requirements-testing.txt file containing:

  # This file contains python dependencies required by tox when running tests
  webtest==2.0.6
  pytest==2.6.4
  pytest-cov==1.6
  

• requirements-analysis.txt file containing:

  prospector[with_dodgy,with_frosted,with_mccabe,with_pep257,with_pep8,with_pyroma,with_vulture]
  

• and a sample .prospector.yaml file containing:

  inherits:
    - strictness_veryhigh
  
  ignore:
    - (^|/)\..+
    - ^docs/
    - ^build/
  
  test-warnings: true
  
  output-format: grouped
  
  dodgy:
      # Looks at Python code to search for things which look "dodgy"
      # such as passwords or git conflict artifacts
      run: true
  
  frosted:
      # static analysis
      run: true
  
  mccabe:
      # complexity checking.
      run: true
  
  pep257:
      # docstring checking
      run: true
  
  pep8:
      # style checking
      run: true
      options:
          max-line-length: 100
  
  pyflakes:
      # preferring 'frosted' instead (a fork of)
      run: false
  
  pylint:
      # static analysis and then some
      run: true
      options:
          max-line-length: 100
          # allow 'log' as global constant
          const-rgx: "(([A-Z_][A-Z0-9_]*)|(__.*__)|log)$"
          const-hint: "(([A-Z_][A-Z0-9_]*)|(__.*__)|log)$"
          # pytest module has dynamically assigned functions,
          # raising errors such as: E1101: Module 'pytest' has
          # no 'mark' member
          ignored-classes: pytest
      disable:
          # Too many lines in module
          - C0302
          # Used * or ** magic
          - W0142
          # Used builtin function 'filter'.
          # (For maintainability, one should prefer list comprehension.)
          - W0141
  
  pyroma:
      # checks setup.py
      run: true
  
  vulture:
      # this tool does a good job of finding unused code.
      run: true
  

The workflow then simply becomes:

1. create or active a virtualenv (mkvirtualenv, workon, etc.)
2. run ./setup.py develop
3. run tox, or optionally just tox -eprospector for static analysis