diff --git a/.github/workflows/conda-env-create-run-pytest.yml b/.github/workflows/conda-env-create-run-pytest.yml
index f1714f7..3c85a41 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/conda-env-create-run-pytest.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/conda-env-create-run-pytest.yml
@@ -29,14 +29,6 @@ jobs:
         # install catalogbuilder to conda env directories
         $CONDA/envs/catalogbuilder/bin/python -m pip install --prefix $CONDA/envs/catalogbuilder .
 
-    - name: Run pytest in catalogbuilder conda environment
-      run: |
-        which python
-        python --version
-        $CONDA/envs/catalogbuilder/bin/python --version
-        # which pytest
-        $CONDA/envs/catalogbuilder/bin/pytest catalogbuilder
-
     - name: Make sample data
       run: |
         which python
@@ -57,11 +49,8 @@ jobs:
       with:
           name: workflow-artifacts1 
           path: |
-            gfdl_autotest.csv
-            gfdl_autotest.json
-            cats/gfdl_autotest_from_yaml.csv
-            cats/gfdl_autotest_from_yaml.json
-
+            catalogbuilder/cats/gfdl_autotest_from_yaml.json
+            catalogbuilder/cats/gfdl_autotest_from_yaml.csv 
     - name: Download all workflow run artifacts
       uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/conda-pkg-extra-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/conda-pkg-extra-tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8d544a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/conda-pkg-extra-tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+name: conda-pkg-extra-tests
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+    # for testing conda build w no upload during PRs
+    - main
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    container:
+      image: continuumio/miniconda3:latest
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout Files
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - name: Run Docker to Build
+      run: |
+        conda config --append channels conda-forge
+        conda config --append channels noaa-gfdl
+        conda install conda-build conda-verify
+        conda build .
+    - name: Run additional utilities as tests
+      run: |
+        conda create --name catalogbuildertest 
+        conda install -n catalogbuildertest catalogbuilder --use-local
+        /opt/conda/envs/catalogbuildertest/bin/pytest catalogbuilder/tests/test_create_catalog.py
+        #we will save the output from following alone as manifest
+    - name: upload-artifacts
+      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+      with:
+          name: workflow-artifacts1 
+          path: |
+            sample-mdtf-catalog.csv
+            sample-mdtf-catalog.json
+    - name: Download all workflow run artifacts
+      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 01fba10..e42ebf6 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 recursive-include catalogbuilder/cats *
-
+recursive-include catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/dat *
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d9dbf0d..259cc14 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,5 +4,4 @@ Cite our work: [![DOI](https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.5196586.svg)]
 
 See our [project documentation site ](https://noaa-gfdl.github.io/CatalogBuilder/).
 
-
 This project follows the [all-contributors](https://github.com/all-contributors/all-contributors) specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/builderconfig.py b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/builderconfig.py
index 2eb95ef..97d5cd1 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/builderconfig.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/builderconfig.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 headerlist = ["activity_id", "institution_id", "source_id", "experiment_id",
                   "frequency", "realm", "table_id",
                   "member_id", "grid_label", "variable_id",
-                  "temporal_subset", "chunk_freq","grid_label","platform","dimensions","cell_methods","path"]
+                  "time_range", "chunk_freq","grid_label","platform","dimensions","cell_methods","path"]
 
 #what kind of directory structure to expect?
 #For a directory structure like /archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/dat/gfdlcmipfreq.yaml b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/dat/gfdlcmipfreq.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..240c103
--- /dev/null
+++ b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/dat/gfdlcmipfreq.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+monthly:
+    frequency: mon
+daily:
+    frequency: day 
+hourly:
+    frequency: 1hr
+annual:
+    frequency: yearly
+3hr:
+    frequency: 3hr 
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/getinfo.py b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/getinfo.py
index da31bf9..2f94254 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/getinfo.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/getinfo.py
@@ -42,6 +42,19 @@ def getinfoFromYAML(dictInfo,yamlfile,miptable=None):
                 dictInfo["realm"]  = "NA"
     return(dictInfo)
 
+def getFreqFromYAML(yamlfile,gfdlfreq=None):
+    #returns cmip freq for gfdl pp freq 
+    import yaml
+    cmipfreq = None
+    with open(yamlfile) as f:
+        mappings = yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.FullLoader)
+        if(gfdlfreq):
+            try:
+                cmipfreq = mappings[gfdlfreq]["frequency"]
+            except KeyError:
+                cmipfreq = None 
+    return(cmipfreq)
+
 def getStem(dirpath,projectdir):
     '''
     return stem from the project directory passed and the files crawled within
@@ -81,31 +94,34 @@ def getInfoFromFilename(filename,dictInfo,logger):
     return dictInfo
 
 #adding this back to trace back some old errors
-def getInfoFromGFDLFilename(filename,dictInfo,logger):
+def getInfoFromGFDLFilename(filename,dictInfo,logger,configyaml):
     # 5 AR: get the following from the netCDF filename e.g. atmos.200501-200912.t_ref.nc
-    if(filename.endswith(".nc")): #and not filename.startswith(".")):
-        ncfilename = filename.split(".")
-        varname = ncfilename[-2]
-        dictInfo["variable_id"] = varname
-        timerange = ncfilename[-3]
-        dictInfo["time_range"] = timerange
-        #miptable = "" #ncfilename[1]
-        #dictInfo["mip_table"] = miptable
-        #modelname = ncfilename[2]
-        #dictInfo["model"] = modelname
-        #expname = ncfilename[3]
-        #dictInfo["experiment_id"] = expname
-        #ens = ncfilename[4]
-        #dictInfo["ensemble_member"] = ens
-        #grid = ncfilename[5]
-        #dictInfo["grid_label"] = grid
-        try:
-           tsubset = ncfilename[1]
-        except IndexError:
-           tsubset = "null" #For fx fields
-        dictInfo["temporal_subset"] = tsubset
+  if ( (filename.endswith(".nc"))): # & ("static" not in filename)) ): 
+    stemdir = filename.split(".")
+    #lets go backwards and match given input directory to the template, add things to dictInfo
+    j = -2
+    cnt = 1 #'variable_id': 'static', 'time_range': 'land'}
+    if configyaml:
+        output_file_template = configyaml.output_file_template
     else:
-        logger.debug("Filename not compatible with this version of the builder:"+filename)
+        try:
+            output_file_template = builderconfig.output_file_template
+        except:
+            sys.exit("No output_path_template found. Check configuration.")
+    nlen = len(output_file_template)
+    for i in range(nlen-1,-1,-1): #nlen = 3
+      try:
+          if(output_file_template[i] != "NA"):
+              try:
+                  #print(output_file_template[i], "=" , stemdir[(j)])
+                  dictInfo[output_file_template[i]] = stemdir[(j)]
+              except IndexError:
+                  #print("Check configuration. Is output file template set correctly?")
+                  dictInfo[output_file_template[i]] = ""
+      except IndexError:
+          sys.exit("oops in getInfoFromGFDLFilename"+str(i)+str(j)+output_file_template[i]+stemdir[j])
+      j = j - 1
+    cnt = cnt + 1
     return dictInfo
 
 def getInfoFromGFDLDRS(dirpath,projectdir,dictInfo,configyaml):
@@ -241,12 +257,14 @@ def getStandardName(list_variable_id):
   #search for variable and its cf name
   for variable_id in list_variable_id:
      cfname = (df[df['GFDL_varname'] == variable_id]["standard_name"])
+     #print(cfname,variable_id)
      list_cfname = cfname.tolist()
-     if not list_cfname:
+     if(len(list_cfname) == 0):
         #print("what if the names correspond to CMOR_varname")
         cfname = (df[df['CMOR_varname'] == variable_id]["standard_name"])
         list_cfname = cfname.tolist()
+        #print(list_cfname)
      if len(list_cfname) > 0:
        unique_cf = list(set(list_cfname))[0]
-     dictCF[variable_id] = unique_cf
+       dictCF[variable_id] = unique_cf
   return (dictCF)
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py
index 79164ad..cc1bdad 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def crawlLocal(projectdir, dictFilter,dictFilterIgnore,logger,configyaml,slow):
                if (op.countOf(filename,".") == 1):
                  dictInfo = getinfo.getInfoFromFilename(filename,dictInfo, logger)
                else:
-                 dictInfo = getinfo.getInfoFromGFDLFilename(filename,dictInfo, logger)
+                 dictInfo = getinfo.getInfoFromGFDLFilename(filename,dictInfo, logger,configyaml)
                dictInfo = getinfo.getInfoFromGFDLDRS(dirpath, projectdir, dictInfo,configyaml)
                list_bad_modellabel = ["","piControl","land-hist","piClim-SO2","abrupt-4xCO2","hist-piAer","hist-piNTCF","piClim-ghg","piClim-OC","hist-GHG","piClim-BC","1pctCO2"]
                list_bad_chunklabel = ['DO_NOT_USE']
@@ -106,6 +106,15 @@ def crawlLocal(projectdir, dictFilter,dictFilterIgnore,logger,configyaml,slow):
                     if "standard_name" in missingcols: 
                         dictInfo["standard_name"] = "na"
                         getinfo.getInfoFromVarAtts(dictInfo["path"],dictInfo["variable_id"],dictInfo)
- 
+               #replace frequency as needed 
+               if 'frequency' in dictInfo.keys():
+                      package_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+                      yamlfile = os.path.join(package_dir, 'dat/gfdlcmipfreq.yaml')
+                      cmipfreq = None
+                      gfdlfreq = dictInfo['frequency']  
+                      cmipfreq = getinfo.getFreqFromYAML(yamlfile,gfdlfreq=dictInfo['frequency'])
+                      if(cmipfreq is not None):
+                          dictInfo['frequency'] = cmipfreq 
+                          #print("Adjusting frequency from ", gfdlfreq ," to ",cmipfreq)  
                listfiles.append(dictInfo)
     return listfiles
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/scripts/configs/config-example.yml b/catalogbuilder/scripts/configs/config-example.yml
index 2013e59..76bcfaa 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/scripts/configs/config-example.yml
+++ b/catalogbuilder/scripts/configs/config-example.yml
@@ -1,2 +1,41 @@
-input_path: "/archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp/" #"ENTER INPUT PATH HERE" #Example: /Users/ar46/archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp/"
-output_path: "catalog" # ENTER NAME OF THE CSV AND JSON, THE SUFFIX ALONE. e.g catalog (the builder then generates catalog.csv and catalog.json. This can also be an absolute path)
+#what kind of directory structure to expect? 
+#For a directory structure like /archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp
+# the output_path_template is set as follows.
+#We have NA in those values that do not match up with any of the expected headerlist (CSV columns), otherwise we
+#simply specify the associated header name in the appropriate place. E.g. The third directory in the PP path example
+#above is the model (source_id), so the third list value in output_path_template is set to 'source_id'. We make sure
+#this is a valid value in headerlist as well.
+#The fourth directory is am5f3b1r0 which does not map to an existing header value. So we simply NA in output_path_template
+#for the fourth value.
+
+#catalog headers
+#The headerlist is expected column names in your catalog/csv file. This is usually determined by the users in conjuction
+#with the ESM collection specification standards and the appropriate workflows.
+
+headerlist: ["activity_id", "institution_id", "source_id", "experiment_id",
+                  "frequency", "realm", "table_id",
+                  "member_id", "grid_label", "variable_id",
+                  "time_range", "chunk_freq","platform","dimensions","cell_methods","standard_name","path"]
+
+#what kind of directory structure to expect?
+#For a directory structure like /archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp
+# the output_path_template is set as follows.
+#We have NA in those values that do not match up with any of the expected headerlist (CSV columns), otherwise we
+#simply specify the associated header name in the appropriate place. E.g. The third directory in the PP path example
+#above is the model (source_id), so the third list value in output_path_template is set to 'source_id'. We make sure
+#this is a valid value in headerlist as well.
+#The fourth directory is am5f3b1r0 which does not map to an existing header value. So we simply NA in output_path_template
+#for the fourth value.
+
+output_path_template: ['NA','NA','source_id','NA','experiment_id','platform','custom_pp','realm','cell_methods','frequency','chunk_freq']
+
+output_file_template: ['realm','time_range','variable_id']
+
+#OUTPUT FILE INFO is currently passed as command-line argument.
+#We will revisit adding a csvfile, jsonfile and logfile configuration to the builder configuration file in the future.
+#csvfile =  #jsonfile =  #logfile =
+
+#######################################################
+
+input_path:  "archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp"
+output_path: "sample-mdtf-catalog"  # ENTER NAME OF THE CSV AND JSON, THE SUFFIX ALONE. e.g catalog (the builder then generates catalog.csv and catalog.json. This can also be an absolute path)
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl.py b/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl.py
index b744f0d..84bb84d 100755
--- a/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl.py
@@ -29,23 +29,8 @@
 package_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 template_path = os.path.join(package_dir, '../cats/gfdl_template.json')
 
-#Setting up argument parsing/flags
-@click.command()
-#TODO arguments dont have help message. So consider changing arguments to options?
-@click.argument('input_path',required=False,nargs=1)
-#,help='The directory path with the datasets to be cataloged. E.g a GFDL PP path till /pp')
-@click.argument('output_path',required=False,nargs=1)
-#,help='Specify output filename suffix only. e.g. catalog')
-@click.option('--config',required=False,type=click.Path(exists=True),nargs=1,help='Path to your yaml config, Use the config_template in intakebuilder repo')
-@click.option('--filter_realm', nargs=1)
-@click.option('--filter_freq', nargs=1)
-@click.option('--filter_chunk', nargs=1)
-@click.option('--overwrite', is_flag=True, default=False)
-@click.option('--append', is_flag=True, default=False)
-@click.option('--slow','-s', is_flag=True, default=False)
-def main(input_path=None, output_path=None, config=None, filter_realm=None, filter_freq=None, filter_chunk=None,
+def create_catalog(input_path=None, output_path=None, config=None, filter_realm=None, filter_freq=None, filter_chunk=None,
          overwrite=False, append=False, slow = False):
-
     configyaml = None
     # TODO error catching
     #print("input path: ",input_path, " output path: ", output_path)
@@ -86,7 +71,6 @@ def main(input_path=None, output_path=None, config=None, filter_realm=None, filt
     dictFilter["chunk_freq"] = "5yr"
     dictFilterIgnore["remove"]= 'DO_NOT_USE'
     '''
-    #########################################################
     dictInfo = {}
     project_dir = project_dir.rstrip("/")
     logger.info("Calling gfdlcrawler.crawlLocal")
@@ -117,7 +101,6 @@ def main(input_path=None, output_path=None, config=None, filter_realm=None, filt
                          #if(df['variable_id'].eq(k)).any():
                          df['standard_name'].loc[(df['variable_id'] == k)] = v
                              #df['standard_name'] = v 
-   
     if(slow == False) & ('standard_name' in headers):
        if ((df is not None) & (len(df) != 0) ):
            with open(csv_path, 'w') as csvfile:
@@ -126,7 +109,25 @@ def main(input_path=None, output_path=None, config=None, filter_realm=None, filt
     print("JSON generated at:", os.path.abspath(json_path))
     print("CSV generated at:", os.path.abspath(csv_path))
     logger.info("CSV generated at" + os.path.abspath(csv_path))
+    return(csv_path,json_path)
 
+#Setting up argument parsing/flags
+@click.command()
+#TODO arguments dont have help message. So consider changing arguments to options?
+@click.argument('input_path',required=False,nargs=1)
+#,help='The directory path with the datasets to be cataloged. E.g a GFDL PP path till /pp')
+@click.argument('output_path',required=False,nargs=1)
+#,help='Specify output filename suffix only. e.g. catalog')
+@click.option('--config',required=False,type=click.Path(exists=True),nargs=1,help='Path to your yaml config, Use the config_template in intakebuilder repo')
+@click.option('--filter_realm', nargs=1)
+@click.option('--filter_freq', nargs=1)
+@click.option('--filter_chunk', nargs=1)
+@click.option('--overwrite', is_flag=True, default=False)
+@click.option('--append', is_flag=True, default=False)
+@click.option('--slow','-s', is_flag=True, default=False)
 
+def create_catalog_cli(**kwargs):
+    return create_catalog(**kwargs)
+                          
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    main()
+    create_catalog_cli()
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner.py b/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner.py
index 52ac5f9..f30bcac 100755
--- a/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 #TODO test after conda pkg is published and make changes as needed 
-#from catalogbuilder.scripts import gen_intake_gfdl
-from . import gen_intake_gfdl
+from catalogbuilder.scripts import gen_intake_gfdl
 import sys
 
-input_path = "/archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp/"
+input_path = "archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp"
 output_path = "test"
-sys.argv = ['INPUT_PATH', input_path, output_path]
-print(sys.argv)
-gen_intake_gfdl.main()
+try:
+  gen_intake_gfdl.create_catalog(input_path,output_path)
+except:
+  sys.exit("Exception occured calling gen_intake_gfdl.create_catalog")
 
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner_config.py b/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner_config.py
index ffc9b9d..de0e9e8 100755
--- a/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner_config.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/scripts/gen_intake_gfdl_runner_config.py
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-#from catalogbuilder.scripts import gen_intake_gfdl
-from . import gen_intake_gfdl
-import sys
-
-# this will break at some point #TODO
-sys.argv = ['input_path','--config', '/home/a1r/github/CatalogBuilder/scripts/configs/config-example.yml']
-print(sys.argv)
-gen_intake_gfdl.main()
+from catalogbuilder.scripts import gen_intake_gfdl
+import sys, os 
+
+#This is an example call to run catalog builder using a yaml config file.
+package_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+configyaml = os.path.join(package_dir, 'configs/config-example.yml')
+
+def create_catalog_from_config(config=configyaml):
+    csv, json = gen_intake_gfdl.create_catalog(config=configyaml)
+    return(csv,json)
 
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/tests/config-cfname.yaml b/catalogbuilder/tests/config-cfname.yaml
index 21d8ceb..06d3f46 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/tests/config-cfname.yaml
+++ b/catalogbuilder/tests/config-cfname.yaml
@@ -38,4 +38,4 @@ output_file_template: ['realm','time_range','variable_id']
 #######################################################
 
 input_path:  "/archive/am5/am5/am5f7b10r0/c96L65_am5f7b10r0_amip/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp/"
-output_path: "/home/a1r/github/noaa-gfdl/catalogs/c96L65_am5f7b10r0_amip" # ENTER NAME OF THE CSV AND JSON, THE SUFFIX ALONE. e.g catalog (the builder then generates catalog.csv and catalog.json. This can also be an absolute path)
+output_path: "/home/a1r/github/noaa-gfdl/catalogs/c96L65_am5f7b10r0_amip30" # ENTER NAME OF THE CSV AND JSON, THE SUFFIX ALONE. e.g catalog (the builder then generates catalog.csv and catalog.json. This can also be an absolute path)
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/tests/make_sample_data.py b/catalogbuilder/tests/make_sample_data.py
index f22a3a7..587bba5 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/tests/make_sample_data.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/tests/make_sample_data.py
@@ -12,17 +12,24 @@
 
 """
 import os
-import subdirs
-from subdirs import *
 from pathlib import Path
 
-realm_mapping = [realm]
 root_dir = 'archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp'
-freq_mapping = [freq]
 chunk_freq = '1yr'
 
 def make_sample_data():
     # Create directory
+    try: 
+        import subdirs
+    except:
+        import sys
+        print((os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))),"tests")))
+        sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))),"tests"))
+        import subdirs
+    from subdirs import realm, freq, time,vars 
+    realm_mapping = [realm]
+    freq_mapping = [freq]
+
     realm_ctr = (len(subdirs.realm))
     i = 0
     for j in range(0, realm_ctr):
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/tests/subdirs.py b/catalogbuilder/tests/subdirs.py
index bd40b00..b833bb2 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/tests/subdirs.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/tests/subdirs.py
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@
 'uas'
 ]
 time = [
-'000101-000112'
+'000101-000112',
 '000201-000212'
 ]
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/tests/test_ci_dynamic.py b/catalogbuilder/tests/test_ci_dynamic.py
index 9ba2a70..681fa3b 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/tests/test_ci_dynamic.py
+++ b/catalogbuilder/tests/test_ci_dynamic.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def test_loadcat():
   #todo check if its readable etc
   #we are using the dynamically generated csv and json for testing in this routine
   #leveraging GitHub actions CI workflow and manifests and caches
-  catspec = pathlib.Path(os.path.dirname(__file__)).parent / '../workflow-artifacts1/gfdl_autotest.json'
+  catspec = pathlib.Path(os.path.dirname(__file__)).parent / '../workflow-artifacts1/gfdl_autotest_from_yaml.json'
   cat = load_cat((str(catspec)))
   try:
     assert isinstance(cat.df, pd.DataFrame),"test failed"
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/tests/test_config.yaml b/catalogbuilder/tests/test_config.yaml
index 9d9bbd1..41c1288 100644
--- a/catalogbuilder/tests/test_config.yaml
+++ b/catalogbuilder/tests/test_config.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 headerlist: ["activity_id", "institution_id", "source_id", "experiment_id",
                   "frequency", "realm", "table_id",
                   "member_id", "grid_label", "variable_id",
-                  "time_range", "chunk_freq","grid_label","platform","dimensions","cell_methods","path"]
+                  "time_range", "chunk_freq","grid_label","platform","dimensions","cell_methods","standard_name","path"]
 
 #what kind of directory structure to expect?
 #For a directory structure like /archive/am5/am5/am5f3b1r0/c96L65_am5f3b1r0_pdclim1850F/gfdl.ncrc5-deploy-prod-openmp/pp
diff --git a/catalogbuilder/tests/test_create_catalog.py b/catalogbuilder/tests/test_create_catalog.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f74bba2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/catalogbuilder/tests/test_create_catalog.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+def test_create_catalog():
+      from pathlib import Path
+      import catalogbuilder
+      from catalogbuilder.scripts import gen_intake_gfdl_runner_config
+      from catalogbuilder.tests import make_sample_data
+      make_sample_data.make_sample_data()
+      json, csv = gen_intake_gfdl_runner_config.create_catalog_from_config()
+      #to output success/failure in pytest run with conda pkg local install in extra-tests CI workflow#
+      print(csv)
+      csvpath = Path(csv)
+      jsonpath = Path(json)
+      assert csvpath.is_file()
+      assert jsonpath.is_file()
+  
+