diff --git a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
index 92053e5a7c64dcd4a5da7df935ec65c06802a566..8b201f348f19d2fc181b3b5544e52df2954ebee7 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ describe ApplicationHelper do
 
   describe 'project_icon' do
     it 'returns an url for the avatar' do
-      project = create(:project, avatar: File.open(uploaded_image_temp_path))
+      project = create(:empty_project, avatar: File.open(uploaded_image_temp_path))
 
       avatar_url = "http://#{Gitlab.config.gitlab.host}/uploads/project/avatar/#{project.id}/banana_sample.gif"
       expect(helper.project_icon("#{project.namespace.to_param}/#{project.to_param}").to_s).
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ describe ApplicationHelper do
     end
 
     it 'gives uploaded icon when present' do
-      project = create(:project)
+      project = create(:empty_project)
 
       allow_any_instance_of(Project).to receive(:avatar_in_git).and_return(true)
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/blob_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/blob_helper_spec.rb
index a43a7238c708b1ac9a5ba87d02e6e9ba5f61602a..fa516f9903ecc9a83c1730959d4a49394446b01b 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/blob_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/blob_helper_spec.rb
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ describe BlobHelper do
 
   describe "#edit_blob_link" do
     let(:namespace) { create(:namespace, name: 'gitlab' )}
-    let(:project) { create(:project, namespace: namespace) }
+    let(:project) { create(:project, :repository, namespace: namespace) }
 
     before do
       allow(self).to receive(:current_user).and_return(double)
diff --git a/spec/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper_spec.rb
index 810311e2b1a2ff2d06ebbc5b49dd9be1ee05c4d6..87c032360317ffd2fd137f22b46df7dee6ff6266 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper_spec.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 describe GitlabMarkdownHelper do
   include ApplicationHelper
 
-  let!(:project) { create(:project) }
+  let!(:project) { create(:project, :repository) }
 
   let(:user)          { create(:user, username: 'gfm') }
   let(:commit)        { project.commit }
@@ -55,18 +55,19 @@ describe GitlabMarkdownHelper do
   end
 
   describe '#link_to_gfm' do
-    let(:commit_path) { namespace_project_commit_path(project.namespace, project, commit) }
-    let(:issues)      { create_list(:issue, 2, project: project) }
+    let(:link)    { '/commits/0a1b2c3d' }
+    let(:issues)  { create_list(:issue, 2) }
+    let(:project) { issues.first.project }
 
     it 'handles references nested in links with all the text' do
-      actual = helper.link_to_gfm("This should finally fix #{issues[0].to_reference} and #{issues[1].to_reference} for real", commit_path)
+      actual = helper.link_to_gfm("This should finally fix #{issues[0].to_reference} and #{issues[1].to_reference} for real", link)
       doc = Nokogiri::HTML.parse(actual)
 
       # Make sure we didn't create invalid markup
       expect(doc.errors).to be_empty
 
       # Leading commit link
-      expect(doc.css('a')[0].attr('href')).to eq commit_path
+      expect(doc.css('a')[0].attr('href')).to eq link
       expect(doc.css('a')[0].text).to eq 'This should finally fix '
 
       # First issue link
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ describe GitlabMarkdownHelper do
       expect(doc.css('a')[1].text).to eq issues[0].to_reference
 
       # Internal commit link
-      expect(doc.css('a')[2].attr('href')).to eq commit_path
+      expect(doc.css('a')[2].attr('href')).to eq link
       expect(doc.css('a')[2].text).to eq ' and '
 
       # Second issue link
@@ -84,12 +85,12 @@ describe GitlabMarkdownHelper do
       expect(doc.css('a')[3].text).to eq issues[1].to_reference
 
       # Trailing commit link
-      expect(doc.css('a')[4].attr('href')).to eq commit_path
+      expect(doc.css('a')[4].attr('href')).to eq link
       expect(doc.css('a')[4].text).to eq ' for real'
     end
 
     it 'forwards HTML options' do
-      actual = helper.link_to_gfm("Fixed in #{commit.id}", commit_path, class: 'foo')
+      actual = helper.link_to_gfm("Fixed in #{commit.id}", link, class: 'foo')
       doc = Nokogiri::HTML.parse(actual)
 
       expect(doc.css('a')).to satisfy do |v|
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ describe GitlabMarkdownHelper do
 
     it "escapes HTML passed in as the body" do
       actual = "This is a <h1>test</h1> - see #{issues[0].to_reference}"
-      expect(helper.link_to_gfm(actual, commit_path)).
+      expect(helper.link_to_gfm(actual, link)).
         to match('&lt;h1&gt;test&lt;/h1&gt;')
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/graph_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/graph_helper_spec.rb
index 51c49f0e5871b8c912f123d024229df3f77ae7b6..400635abdde451c5315b32c3757f13d17ba62442 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/graph_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/graph_helper_spec.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe GraphHelper do
   describe '#get_refs' do
-    let(:project) { create(:project) }
+    let(:project) { create(:project, :repository) }
     let(:commit)  { project.commit("master") }
     let(:graph) { Network::Graph.new(project, 'master', commit, '') }
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb
index 9c7e0ee2fe02d4b866059c9997c448b49ae8669f..13fb9c1f1a7eacf7b47e3c394b66e3e49c6bf20a 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/issues_helper_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "spec_helper"
 
 describe IssuesHelper do
-  let(:project) { create :project }
+  let(:project) { create(:empty_project) }
   let(:issue) { create :issue, project: project }
   let(:ext_project) { create :redmine_project }
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/members_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/members_helper_spec.rb
index 33934cdf8b1387f98c0e7184822db3078c0f0b27..2b455571d524589efe19496e0ccec544f7ff3019 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/members_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/members_helper_spec.rb
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ describe MembersHelper do
   end
 
   describe '#leave_confirmation_message' do
-    let(:project) { build_stubbed(:project) }
+    let(:project) { build_stubbed(:empty_project) }
     let(:group) { build_stubbed(:group) }
     let(:user) { build_stubbed(:user) }
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/merge_requests_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/merge_requests_helper_spec.rb
index 1f221487393fbf94ff215643593116d1a27069ea..550b4a66a6a63806568cda02dcd9cd473871395f 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/merge_requests_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/merge_requests_helper_spec.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe MergeRequestsHelper do
   describe 'ci_build_details_path' do
-    let(:project) { create :project }
+    let(:project) { create(:empty_project) }
     let(:merge_request) { MergeRequest.new }
     let(:ci_service) { CiService.new }
     let(:last_commit) { Ci::Pipeline.new({}) }
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ describe MergeRequestsHelper do
     it { is_expected.to eq('#1, #2, and #3') }
 
     context 'for JIRA issues' do
-      let(:project) { create(:project) }
+      let(:project) { create(:empty_project) }
       let(:issues) do
         [
           ExternalIssue.new('JIRA-123', project),
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ describe MergeRequestsHelper do
     end
 
     describe 'within different projects' do
-      let(:project) { create(:project) }
-      let(:fork_project) { create(:project, forked_from_project: project) }
+      let(:project) { create(:empty_project) }
+      let(:fork_project) { create(:empty_project, forked_from_project: project) }
       let(:merge_request) { create(:merge_request, source_project: fork_project, target_project: project) }
       subject { format_mr_branch_names(merge_request) }
       let(:source_title) { "#{fork_project.path_with_namespace}:#{merge_request.source_branch}" }
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ describe MergeRequestsHelper do
   end
 
   describe 'mr_widget_refresh_url' do
+    let(:project)       { create(:empty_project) }
     let(:merge_request) { create(:merge_request, source_project: project) }
-    let(:project)       { create(:project) }
 
     it 'returns correct url for MR' do
       expected_url = "#{project.path_with_namespace}/merge_requests/#{merge_request.iid}/merge_widget_refresh"
diff --git a/spec/helpers/milestones_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/milestones_helper_spec.rb
index ea744dbb62951edea829ddbed5368dfd25464c7c..14a95479339e936a6942ef448a737514f6a5e00a 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/milestones_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/milestones_helper_spec.rb
@@ -21,24 +21,22 @@ describe MilestonesHelper do
   end
 
   describe '#milestone_counts' do
-    let(:project) { FactoryGirl.create(:project) }
+    let(:project) { create(:empty_project) }
     let(:counts) { helper.milestone_counts(project.milestones) }
 
     context 'when there are milestones' do
-      let!(:milestone_1) { FactoryGirl.create(:active_milestone, project: project) }
-      let!(:milestone_2) { FactoryGirl.create(:active_milestone, project: project) }
-      let!(:milestone_3) { FactoryGirl.create(:closed_milestone, project: project) }
-
       it 'returns the correct counts' do
+        create_list(:active_milestone, 2, project: project)
+        create(:closed_milestone, project: project)
+
         expect(counts).to eq(opened: 2, closed: 1, all: 3)
       end
     end
 
     context 'when there are only milestones of one type' do
-      let!(:milestone_1) { FactoryGirl.create(:active_milestone, project: project) }
-      let!(:milestone_2) { FactoryGirl.create(:active_milestone, project: project) }
-
       it 'returns the correct counts' do
+        create_list(:active_milestone, 2, project: project)
+
         expect(counts).to eq(opened: 2, closed: 0, all: 2)
       end
     end
diff --git a/spec/helpers/preferences_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/preferences_helper_spec.rb
index 77841e85223a54b9c96756ff730bcd49750ebb95..1f02e06e312580890e222cced2e9dce09052c696 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/preferences_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/preferences_helper_spec.rb
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ describe PreferencesHelper do
       end
 
       context 'when repository is not empty' do
-        let(:project) { create(:project, :public) }
+        let(:project) { create(:project, :public, :repository) }
 
         it 'returns readme if user has repository access' do
           allow(helper).to receive(:can?).with(nil, :download_code, project).and_return(true)
diff --git a/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb
index 8113742923b05969c4af4d22338f2e8317548938..8d1570aa6f355daf2c2a588361a886c51cb2edb3 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ describe ProjectsHelper do
   end
 
   describe "can_change_visibility_level?" do
-    let(:project) { create(:project) }
+    let(:project) { create(:project, :repository) }
     let(:user) { create(:project_member, :reporter, user: create(:user), project: project).user }
     let(:fork_project) { Projects::ForkService.new(project, user).execute }
 
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ describe ProjectsHelper do
   end
 
   describe '#license_short_name' do
-    let(:project) { create(:project) }
+    let(:project) { create(:empty_project) }
 
     context 'when project.repository has a license_key' do
       it 'returns the nickname of the license if present' do
diff --git a/spec/helpers/search_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/search_helper_spec.rb
index 4b2ca3514f8effb288728470ea594375fe996795..e51720f10ed444879204c0a8e3c35daaaf8e1cc8 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/search_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/search_helper_spec.rb
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ describe SearchHelper do
       end
 
       it "includes the user's projects" do
-        project = create(:project, namespace: create(:namespace, owner: user))
+        project = create(:empty_project, namespace: create(:namespace, owner: user))
         expect(search_autocomplete_opts(project.name).size).to eq(1)
       end
 
@@ -52,7 +52,9 @@ describe SearchHelper do
       end
 
       context "with a current project" do
-        before { @project = create(:project) }
+        before do
+          @project = create(:project, :repository)
+        end
 
         it "includes project-specific sections" do
           expect(search_autocomplete_opts("Files").size).to eq(1)
diff --git a/spec/helpers/submodule_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/submodule_helper_spec.rb
index 37ac6a2699d2d8aebe1997bba0f3dfa45c7c4658..4da1569e59f0dbe25b0b7dffae5adc3ec740f73a 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/submodule_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/submodule_helper_spec.rb
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ describe SubmoduleHelper do
 
     context 'submodules with relative links' do
       let(:group) { create(:group, name: "Master Project", path: "master-project") }
-      let(:project) { create(:project, group: group) }
+      let(:project) { create(:empty_project, group: group) }
       let(:commit_id) { sample_commit[:id] }
 
       before do
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ describe SubmoduleHelper do
 
       context 'personal project' do
         let(:user) { create(:user) }
-        let(:project) { create(:project, namespace: user.namespace) }
+        let(:project) { create(:empty_project, namespace: user.namespace) }
 
         it 'one level down with personal project' do
           result = relative_self_links('../test.git', commit_id)
diff --git a/spec/helpers/tree_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/tree_helper_spec.rb
index 8d6537ba4b54b6eced05bac9a9faa4ea84846a18..9523d0f4aa6c9bed593be5161704a2681eac12e9 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/tree_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/tree_helper_spec.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe TreeHelper do
   describe 'flatten_tree' do
-    let(:project) { create(:project) }
+    let(:project) { create(:project, :repository) }
 
     before do
       @repository = project.repository
diff --git a/spec/helpers/visibility_level_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/visibility_level_helper_spec.rb
index db3ad1b99e97b4e26422ae414a7cd56e4b3d7cbd..8942b00b128219918015fb2a6ca36b0e44ff9f0c 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/visibility_level_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/visibility_level_helper_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe VisibilityLevelHelper do
-  let(:project)          { build(:project) }
+  let(:project)          { build(:empty_project) }
   let(:group)            { build(:group) }
   let(:personal_snippet) { build(:personal_snippet) }
   let(:project_snippet)  { build(:project_snippet) }
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ describe VisibilityLevelHelper do
 
   describe "skip_level?" do
     describe "forks" do
-      let(:project)       { create(:project, :internal) }
-      let(:fork_project)  { create(:project, forked_from_project: project) }
+      let(:project)       { create(:empty_project, :internal) }
+      let(:fork_project)  { create(:empty_project, forked_from_project: project) }
 
       it "skips levels" do
         expect(skip_level?(fork_project, Gitlab::VisibilityLevel::PUBLIC)).to be_truthy
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ describe VisibilityLevelHelper do
     end
 
     describe "non-forked project" do
-      let(:project) { create(:project, :internal) }
+      let(:project) { create(:empty_project, :internal) }
 
       it "skips levels" do
         expect(skip_level?(project, Gitlab::VisibilityLevel::PUBLIC)).to be_falsey