diff --git a/modules/zuul/manifests/init.pp b/modules/zuul/manifests/init.pp
index bafcf57cdb..82af3304b4 100644
--- a/modules/zuul/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/modules/zuul/manifests/init.pp
@@ -13,6 +13,15 @@ class zuul (
     ensure => "present",
   }
 
+  # Packages that need to be installed from pip
+  $pip_packages = ["GitPython"]
+
+  package { $pip_packages:
+    ensure => latest,  # we want the latest from these
+    provider => pip,
+    require => Class[pip]
+  }
+
   vcsrepo { "/opt/zuul":
     ensure => latest,
     provider => git,
@@ -57,6 +66,11 @@ class zuul (
     owner => 'jenkins'
   }
 
+  file { "/var/lib/zuul/git":
+    ensure => "directory",
+    owner => 'jenkins'
+  }
+
   file { "/etc/init.d/zuul/":
     owner => 'root',
     group => 'root',
diff --git a/modules/zuul/templates/zuul.conf.erb b/modules/zuul/templates/zuul.conf.erb
index ffe31c37b2..1e0bc5100d 100644
--- a/modules/zuul/templates/zuul.conf.erb
+++ b/modules/zuul/templates/zuul.conf.erb
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ sshkey=/var/lib/jenkins/.ssh/id_rsa
 layout_config=/etc/zuul/layout.yaml
 log_config=/etc/zuul/logging.conf
 state_dir=/var/lib/zuul
+git_dir=/var/lib/zuul/git