diff --git a/spec/git-repository-provider-spec.coffee b/spec/git-repository-provider-spec.coffee
index c61327321..5294678ef 100644
--- a/spec/git-repository-provider-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/git-repository-provider-spec.coffee
@@ -55,14 +55,15 @@ describe "GitRepositoryProvider", ->
           provider.repositoryForDirectory(directory).then (result) ->
             expect(result).toBe null
 
-    describe "when specified a Directory that throws an exception when explored", ->
-      it "catches the exception and returns null for the sync implementation", ->
+    describe "when specified a Directory without existsSync()", ->
+      it "returns null", ->
         provider = new GitRepositoryProvider atom.project
 
-        # Tolerate an implementation of Directory whose sync methods are unsupported.
-        subdirectory = existsSync: ->
-        spyOn(subdirectory, "existsSync").andThrow("sync method not supported")
-        directory = getSubdirectory: ->
+        # Tolerate an implementation of Directory that does not implement existsSync().
+        subdirectory = {}
+        directory =
+          getSubdirectory: ->
+          isRoot: -> true
         spyOn(directory, "getSubdirectory").andReturn(subdirectory)
 
         provider = new GitRepositoryProvider atom.project
@@ -70,13 +71,14 @@ describe "GitRepositoryProvider", ->
         expect(repo).toBe null
         expect(directory.getSubdirectory).toHaveBeenCalledWith(".git")
 
-      it "catches the exception and returns a Promise that resolves to null for the async implementation", ->
+      it "returns a Promise that resolves to null for the async implementation", ->
         provider = new GitRepositoryProvider atom.project
 
         # Tolerate an implementation of Directory whose sync methods are unsupported.
-        subdirectory = existsSync: ->
-        spyOn(subdirectory, "existsSync").andThrow("sync method not supported")
-        directory = getSubdirectory: ->
+        subdirectory = {}
+        directory =
+          getSubdirectory: ->
+          isRoot: -> true
         spyOn(directory, "getSubdirectory").andReturn(subdirectory)
 
         waitsForPromise ->
diff --git a/src/git-repository-provider.coffee b/src/git-repository-provider.coffee
index c9e96f908..fcf4a8df5 100644
--- a/src/git-repository-provider.coffee
+++ b/src/git-repository-provider.coffee
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ findGitDirectorySync = (directory) ->
   # can return cached values rather than always returning new objects:
   # getParent(), getFile(), getSubdirectory().
   gitDir = directory.getSubdirectory('.git')
-  if gitDir.existsSync() and isValidGitDirectorySync gitDir
+  if gitDir.existsSync?() and isValidGitDirectorySync gitDir
     gitDir
   else if directory.isRoot()
     return null
@@ -26,9 +26,9 @@ isValidGitDirectorySync = (directory) ->
   # To decide whether a directory has a valid .git folder, we use
   # the heuristic adopted by the valid_repository_path() function defined in
   # node_modules/git-utils/deps/libgit2/src/repository.c.
-  return directory.getSubdirectory('objects').existsSync() and
-      directory.getFile('HEAD').existsSync() and
-      directory.getSubdirectory('refs').existsSync()
+  return directory.getSubdirectory('objects').existsSync?() and
+      directory.getFile('HEAD').existsSync?() and
+      directory.getSubdirectory('refs').existsSync?()
 
 # Provider that conforms to the atom.repository-provider@0.1.0 service.
 module.exports =
@@ -51,13 +51,6 @@ class GitRepositoryProvider
   # * {GitRepository} if the given directory has a Git repository.
   # * `null` if the given directory does not have a Git repository.
   repositoryForDirectorySync: (directory) ->
-    # Ensure that this method does not throw.
-    try
-      @repositoryForDirectorySyncInternal(directory)
-    catch e
-      null
-
-  repositoryForDirectorySyncInternal: (directory) ->
     # Only one GitRepository should be created for each .git folder. Therefore,
     # we must check directory and its parent directories to find the nearest
     # .git folder.