diff --git a/packages/cli/templates/support.js b/packages/cli/templates/support.js
index bf0e95f9..cf2d47cd 100644
--- a/packages/cli/templates/support.js
+++ b/packages/cli/templates/support.js
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 import '@dhis2/cypress-commands'
+// You can use helpers of `@dhis2/cypress-commands` directly:
+//   import { enableAutoLogin } from '@dhis2/cypress-commands'
+//   enableAutoLogin()
 
 // Add additional support functions here
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/find.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/find.js
index 8d17ba6e..673bde12 100644
--- a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/find.js
+++ b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/find.js
@@ -14,3 +14,5 @@ export const find = (originalFn, subject, selectors, options = {}) => {
     const selector = parseSelectorWithDataTest(selectors, prefix)
     return originalFn(subject, selector, restOptions)
 }
+
+Cypress.Commands.overwrite('find', find)
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/get.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/get.js
index 43141dc7..e67885c1 100644
--- a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/get.js
+++ b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/get.js
@@ -14,3 +14,5 @@ export const get = (originalFn, selectors, options = {}) => {
     const selector = parseSelectorWithDataTest(selectors, prefix)
     return originalFn(selector, restOptions)
 }
+
+Cypress.Commands.overwrite('get', get)
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/login.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/login.js
index 91850b29..0f17daef 100644
--- a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/login.js
+++ b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/login.js
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
-const LOGIN_END_POINT = 'dhis-web-commons-security/login.action'
+export const LOGIN_ENDPOINT = 'dhis-web-commons-security/login.action'
 
-const loginBasicAuth = () => {
+/**
+ * This is done through cy.request(...)
+ * because Cypress doesn't allow multiple domains per test:
+ * https://docs.cypress.io/guides/guides/web-security.html#One-Superdomain-per-Test
+ */
+export const login = () => {
     const username = Cypress.env('dhis2_username')
     const password = Cypress.env('dhis2_password')
     const loginUrl = Cypress.env('dhis2_base_url')
 
-    return cy.request({
-        url: `${loginUrl}/${LOGIN_END_POINT}`,
+    cy.request({
+        url: `${loginUrl}/${LOGIN_ENDPOINT}`,
         method: 'POST',
         form: true,
         followRedirect: true,
@@ -18,40 +23,4 @@ const loginBasicAuth = () => {
     })
 }
 
-const loginDev = () => {
-    cy.visit('/')
-    cy.get('body')
-        .then($body => {
-            if (!$body.find('input#server').length) return cy.wrap(false)
-
-            const loginUrl = Cypress.env('dhis2_base_url')
-            const username = Cypress.env('dhis2_username')
-            const password = Cypress.env('dhis2_password')
-
-            cy.get('#server').type(loginUrl)
-            cy.get('#j_username').type(username)
-            cy.get('#j_password').type(password)
-            cy.get('{loginsubmit}', { prefix: 'dhis2-adapter' }).click()
-
-            return cy.wrap(true)
-        })
-        .then(found => {
-            if (found) return cy.wrap(true)
-            loginBasicAuth()
-                .its('body')
-                .should('not.include', 'class="loginPage"')
-            return cy.wrap(true)
-        })
-        .then(() => {
-            return cy
-        })
-}
-
-/**
- * This is done through cy.request(...)
- * because Cypress doesn't allow multiple domains per test:
- * https://docs.cypress.io/guides/guides/web-security.html#One-Superdomain-per-Test
- */
-export const login = () => {
-    return loginDev()
-}
+Cypress.Commands.add('login', login)
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/registerCommands.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/registerCommands.js
deleted file mode 100644
index bf4f8b59..00000000
--- a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/registerCommands.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-import { find } from './find'
-import { get } from './get'
-import { login } from './login'
-import { stubWithFixture } from './stubWithFixture'
-import { visitWhenStubbed } from './visitWhenStubbed'
-
-export const registerCommands = () => {
-    Cypress.Commands.overwrite('find', find)
-    Cypress.Commands.overwrite('get', get)
-    Cypress.Commands.add('login', login)
-    Cypress.Commands.add('stubWithFixture', stubWithFixture)
-    Cypress.Commands.add('visitWhenStubbed', visitWhenStubbed)
-}
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/stubWithFixture.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/stubWithFixture.js
index a0cfbf2d..c541db93 100644
--- a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/stubWithFixture.js
+++ b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/stubWithFixture.js
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ export const stubWithFixture = ({ method = 'GET', url, fixture }) => {
         response: `fixture:${fixture}`,
     })
 }
+
+Cypress.Commands.add('stubWithFixture', stubWithFixture)
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/visitWhenStubbed.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/visitWhenStubbed.js
index 62213b91..a3147efa 100644
--- a/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/visitWhenStubbed.js
+++ b/packages/cypress-commands/src/commands/visitWhenStubbed.js
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ export const visitWhenStubbed = (url, options = {}) => {
         },
     })
 }
+
+Cypress.Commands.add('visitWhenStubbed', visitWhenStubbed)
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/index.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/index.js
index bd26c9b2..4d33623e 100644
--- a/packages/cypress-commands/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/cypress-commands/src/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
+// will automatically create the commands
+import './commands/find'
+import './commands/get'
+import './commands/login'
+import './commands/stubWithFixture'
+import './commands/visitWhenStubbed'
+
 // helpers
 export { dataTestNameToSelector } from './helper/dataTestNameToSelector'
 export { parseSelectorWithDataTest } from './helper/parseSelectorWithDataTest'
 
-// commands
-export { registerCommands } from './commands/registerCommands'
+// setup helpers
+export { enableAutoLogin } from './setups/enableAutoLogin'
+
+// backward compatibility
+export const registerCommands = () => {
+    cy.log(
+        'The usage of `registerCommands` has been deprecated. It is now a no-op. Commands are registered automatically.'
+    )
+}
diff --git a/packages/cypress-commands/src/setups/enableAutoLogin.js b/packages/cypress-commands/src/setups/enableAutoLogin.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f75e6b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cypress-commands/src/setups/enableAutoLogin.js
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+/* globals before */
+export const enableAutoLogin = () => {
+    before(() => {
+        // Persist this across tests so we don't have to login before each test
+        Cypress.Cookies.defaults({ whitelist: 'JSESSIONID' })
+        cy.login()
+    })
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+        // This ensures the app platform knows which URL to use even if
+        // REACT_APP_DHIS2_BASE_URL is undefined It also ensures that the value
+        // from the cypress env is used instead of REACT_APP_DHIS2_BASE_URL
+        const loginUrl = Cypress.env('dhis2_base_url')
+        localStorage.setItem('DHIS2_BASE_URL', loginUrl)
+    })
+}