diff --git a/docs/testing_plugins.rst b/docs/testing_plugins.rst
index 76f69a6a..d8ebdc77 100644
--- a/docs/testing_plugins.rst
+++ b/docs/testing_plugins.rst
@@ -11,24 +11,24 @@ If you use the template described in :ref:`writing_plugins_cookiecutter` your pl
 
     from datasette.app import Datasette
     import pytest
-    import httpx
+
 
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
     async def test_plugin_is_installed():
-        app = Datasette([], memory=True).app()
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(app=app) as client:
-            response = await client.get("http://localhost/-/plugins.json")
-            assert 200 == response.status_code
-            installed_plugins = {p["name"] for p in response.json()}
-            assert "datasette-plugin-template-demo" in installed_plugins
+        datasette = Datasette([], memory=True)
+        response = await datasette.client.get("/-/plugins.json")
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        installed_plugins = {p["name"] for p in response.json()}
+        assert "datasette-plugin-template-demo" in installed_plugins
 
-This test uses the `HTTPX <https://www.python-httpx.org/>`__ Python library to run mock HTTP requests through a fresh instance of Datasette. This is the recommended way to write tests against a Datasette instance.
 
-It also uses the `pytest-asyncio <https://pypi.org/project/pytest-asyncio/>`__ package to add support for ``async def`` test functions running under pytest.
+This test uses the :ref:`internals_datasette_client` object to exercise a test instance of Datasette. ``datasette.client`` is a wrapper around the `HTTPX <https://www.python-httpx.org/>`__ Python library which can imitate HTTP requests using ASGI. This is the recommended way to write tests against a Datasette instance.
+
+This test also uses the `pytest-asyncio <https://pypi.org/project/pytest-asyncio/>`__ package to add support for ``async def`` test functions running under pytest.
 
 You can install these packages like so::
 
-    pip install pytest pytest-asyncio httpx
+    pip install pytest pytest-asyncio
 
 If you are building an installable package you can add them as test dependencies to your ``setup.py`` module like this:
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ If you are building an installable package you can add them as test dependencies
         name="datasette-my-plugin",
         # ...
         extras_require={
-            "test": ["pytest", "pytest-asyncio", "httpx"]
+            "test": ["pytest", "pytest-asyncio"]
         },
         tests_require=["datasette-my-plugin[test]"],
     )
@@ -65,12 +65,11 @@ Here's an example that uses the `sqlite-utils library <https://sqlite-utils.read
 .. code-block:: python
 
     from datasette.app import Datasette
-    import httpx
     import pytest
     import sqlite_utils
 
     @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
-    def ds(tmp_path_factory):
+    def datasette(tmp_path_factory):
         db_directory = tmp_path_factory.mktemp("dbs")
         db_path = db_directory / "test.db"
         db = sqlite_utils.Database(db_path)
@@ -78,7 +77,7 @@ Here's an example that uses the `sqlite-utils library <https://sqlite-utils.read
             {"id": 1, "name": "Cleo", "age": 5},
             {"id": 2, "name": "Pancakes", "age": 4}
         ], pk="id")
-        ds = Datasette(
+        datasette = Datasette(
             [db_path],
             metadata={
                 "databases": {
@@ -92,25 +91,23 @@ Here's an example that uses the `sqlite-utils library <https://sqlite-utils.read
                 }
             }
         )
-        return ds
+        return datasette
 
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
-    async def test_example_table_json(ds):
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(app=ds.app()) as client:
-            response = await client.get("http://localhost/test/dogs.json?_shape=array")
-            assert 200 == response.status_code
-            assert [
-                {"id": 1, "name": "Cleo", "age": 5},
-                {"id": 2, "name": "Pancakes", "age": 4},
-            ] == response.json()
+    async def test_example_table_json(datasette):
+        response = await datasette.client.get("/test/dogs.json?_shape=array")
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.json() == [
+            {"id": 1, "name": "Cleo", "age": 5},
+            {"id": 2, "name": "Pancakes", "age": 4},
+        ]
 
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
-        async def test_example_table_html(ds):
-            async with httpx.AsyncClient(app=ds.app()) as client:
-                response = await client.get("http://localhost/test/dogs")
-                assert ">Some dogs</h1>" in response.text
+    async def test_example_table_html(datasette):
+        response = await datasette.client.get("/test/dogs")
+        assert ">Some dogs</h1>" in response.text
 
-Here the ``ds()`` function defines the fixture, which is than automatically passed to the two test functions based on pytest automatically matching their ``ds`` function parameters.
+Here the ``datasette()`` function defines the fixture, which is than automatically passed to the two test functions based on pytest automatically matching their ``datasette`` function parameters.
 
 The ``@pytest.fixture(scope="session")`` line here ensures the fixture is reused for the full ``pytest`` execution session. This means that the temporary database file will be created once and reused for each test.
 
@@ -119,5 +116,5 @@ If you want to create that test database repeatedly for every individual test fu
 .. code-block:: python
 
     @pytest.fixture
-    def ds(tmp_path_factory):
-        # ...
+    def datasette(tmp_path_factory):
+        # This fixture will be executed repeatedly for every test