diff --git a/.push_test_table.sh b/.push_test_table.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index b3dd96a8bb..0000000000
--- a/.push_test_table.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-# When pushing to a pull request on GitHub, Travis does two builds:
-# (1) One for the pull request itself. In this case, $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST 
-# is 'false' and $TRAVIS_BRANCH contains the branch name
-# (2) One to *simulate* a merge with master. In this case, $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST
-# is the pull ID number and $TRAVIS_BRANCH = 'master'
-# 
-# Read more about Travis environment variables --
-# http://docs.travis-ci.com/user/ci-environment/
-# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-# Only build test table if $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST is false
-[ "${TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST}" != "false" ] && exit 0
-
-git config --global user.name "cpsievert"
-git config --global user.email "cpsievert1@gmail.com"
-
-# Since Travis does `git clone --branch=$TRAVIS_BRANCH --depth=50`, 
-# we can't simply `git checkout master`. As far as I can tell, we are
-# forced to re-clone -- https://gist.github.com/cpsievert/698c7f1404f972782e71
-
-cd ..
-rm -rf plotly/
-git clone https://github.com/ropensci/plotly.git
-cd plotly
-echo "user,SHA1,label" >> ../code_commits.csv
-echo "ropensci,`git rev-parse HEAD`,master" >> ../code_commits.csv
-git checkout $TRAVIS_BRANCH
-echo "ropensci,`git rev-parse HEAD`,${TRAVIS_BRANCH}" >> ../code_commits.csv
-Rscript -e "devtools::install()"
-
-cd ..
-git clone https://github.com/ropensci/plotly-test-table.git
-cd plotly-test-table
-git checkout gh-pages
-
-mv ../code_commits.csv .
-cat code_commits.csv
-touch table.R
-make
-
-# add, commit, push to gh-pages branch of plotly-test-table
-./git-add.sh
-git commit -a -m "Travis build number ${TRAVIS_BUILD_NUMBER} of ${TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG}"
-# This post explains how this works -- http://rmflight.github.io/posts/2014/11/travis_ci_gh_pages.html
-GH_REPO="@github.com/ropensci/plotly-test-table.git"
-FULL_REPO="https://${GH_TOKEN}${GH_REPO}"
-git pull $FULL_REPO gh-pages
-git push $FULL_REPO gh-pages
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f79a945730..afe1413a1a 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@ r_packages:
   - httr 
 
 before_script:
-  - chmod 755 ./.push_test_table.sh
+  - chmod 755 inst/testscripts/.push_test_table.sh
 
 after_success:
-  - ./.push_test_table.sh
+  - inst/testscripts/.push_test_table.sh
 
 notifications:
   slack:
diff --git a/inst/testscripts/.push_test_table.sh b/inst/testscripts/.push_test_table.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b6ef2e1976
--- /dev/null
+++ b/inst/testscripts/.push_test_table.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# exit on error
+set -e
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Travis does two types of builds:
+#
+# (1) A so-called "push". This essentially does a checkout on the most 
+# recent commit of the pull request, but *doesn't* merge with master.
+# In this case, $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST = "false"
+# (2) A so-called "pr" (pull request). This *does* merge with master.
+# In this case, $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST contains the pull request number.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# We need the pull request number to talk to the GitHub API, make comments, etc. 
+[ "${TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST}" = "false" ] && exit 0
+
+git config --global user.name "cpsievert"
+git config --global user.email "cpsievert1@gmail.com"
+
+cd ..
+git clone https://github.com/ropensci/plotly-test-table.git
+cd plotly-test-table
+git checkout gh-pages
+
+# Read more about Travis environment variables --
+# http://docs.travis-ci.com/user/ci-environment/
+Rscript ../plotly/inst/testscripts/comment.R $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST $TRAVIS_BUILD_ID $TRAVIS_COMMIT $GH_TOKEN
diff --git a/inst/testscripts/comment.R b/inst/testscripts/comment.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..31786439ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/inst/testscripts/comment.R
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# first argument is the pull request number (TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST)
+# second is travis build ID (TRAVIS_BUILD_ID)
+# third is the commit SHA1 currently being tested (TRAVIS_COMMIT)
+# fourth is the github authentication token 
+a <- commandArgs(TRUE)
+# gistr is a good reference for talking to the github API via httr
+# https://github.com/ropensci/gistr/blob/master/R/zzz.R
+library("httr")
+base <- 'https://api.github.com/repos/ropensci/plotly/'
+pr <- sprintf(paste0(base, 'pulls/%s'), a[1])
+header <- add_headers(`User-Agent` = "plotly", 
+                      `Accept` = 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
+                      `Authorization` = paste0("token ", a[4]))
+# Must be successful since we grab the branch name for this pull request
+# and SHA1 info from the request content
+res <- GET(url = pr, header)
+stop_for_status(res)
+info <- content(res)
+# find the branch name for this pull request
+# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15096331/github-api-how-to-find-the-branches-of-a-pull-request
+branch <- strsplit(info$head$label, ":")[[1]][2]
+
+# plotly-test-table build script assumes we've checkout the dev branch.
+# Note that travis does something like this for "pr" build:
+#$ git fetch origin +refs/pull/number/merge:
+#$ git checkout -qf FETCH_HEAD
+# this leaves HEAD in a detached state, but we should be able to do:
+# git checkout -b new_branch_name
+setwd("../plotly")
+if (system(paste("git checkout -b", branch)) != 0L)
+  stop(paste("Failed to 'git checkout -b'", branch, "branch"))
+devtools::install()
+setwd("../plotly-test-table")
+cat("user,SHA1,label", file = "code_commits.csv")
+row1 <- paste0("\nropensci,", info$base$sha, ",master")
+cat(row1, file = "code_commits.csv", append = TRUE)
+row2 <- paste0("\nropensci,", a[3], ",", branch)
+cat(row2, file = "code_commits.csv", append = TRUE)
+
+# copy over file (created during Rscript) 
+# with sha/branch info for building test table
+system("touch table.R")
+if (system("make") != 0L) stop("Failed to 'make' test table")
+
+# add, commit, push to gh-pages branch of plotly-test-table
+system("git add index.html")
+system("git add tables/*/*.html")
+system("git add data/*/*.png")
+system("git add data/*/*.log")
+build_link <- paste0('https://travis-ci.org/ropensci/plotly/builds/', a[2])
+commit_msg <- paste0('"Pushed from ', build_link, '"')
+system(paste('git commit -m', commit_msg))
+# This post explains how this works -- http://rmflight.github.io/posts/2014/11/travis_ci_gh_pages.html
+repo <- sprintf("https://%s@github.com/ropensci/plotly-test-table.git", a[4])
+system(paste("git pull -q", repo, "gh-pages"))
+system(paste("git push -q", repo, "gh-pages"))
+
+# post comment if a link to this SHA doesn't exist 
+# (needed since Travis randomly re-builds stuff)
+tbl_link <- sprintf("http://ropensci.github.io/plotly-test-table/tables/%s/index.html", a[3])
+msg <- sprintf("On TravisCI, commit %s was successfully merged with %s (master) to create %s. A visual testing table comparing %s with %s can be found here:\n %s", 
+               info$head$sha, info$base$sha, a[3], info$base$sha, a[3], tbl_link)
+msg <- paste("> The message below was automatically generated after build", build_link, "\n\n", msg)
+commentz <- sprintf(paste0(base, 'issues/%s/comments'), a[1])
+res <- GET(commentz, header)
+warn_for_status(res)
+info <- content(res)
+old_body <- unlist(lapply(info, "[", "body"))
+if (!any(grepl(tbl_link, old_body))) {
+  json <- jsonlite::toJSON(list(body = msg), auto_unbox = TRUE)
+  httr::POST(url = commentz, header, body = json, encode = "json")
+} else {
+  message("Link already posted")
+}