diff --git a/src/atom.coffee b/src/atom.coffee
index 07569171e..7a2982101 100644
--- a/src/atom.coffee
+++ b/src/atom.coffee
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ class Atom
   initialize: ->
     @unsubscribe()
 
+    {devMode, resourcePath} = atom.getLoadSettings()
+
     Config = require './config'
     Keymap = require './keymap'
     PackageManager = require './package-manager'
@@ -35,20 +37,20 @@ class Atom
     ThemeManager = require './theme-manager'
     ContextMenuManager = require './context-menu-manager'
 
-    @packages = new PackageManager()
-
-    #TODO Remove once packages have been updated to not touch atom.packageStates directly
-    @__defineGetter__ 'packageStates', => @packages.packageStates
-    @__defineSetter__ 'packageStates', (packageStates) => @packages.packageStates = packageStates
-
-    @subscribe @packages, 'loaded', => @watchThemes()
     @themes = new ThemeManager()
-    @contextMenu = new ContextMenuManager(@getLoadSettings().devMode)
+    @contextMenu = new ContextMenuManager(devMode)
     @config = new Config()
     @pasteboard = new Pasteboard()
     @keymap = new Keymap()
     @syntax = deserialize(@getWindowState('syntax')) ? new Syntax()
 
+    @packages = new PackageManager({devMode, resourcePath, configDirPath: @config.getDirectoryPath()})
+    @subscribe @packages, 'loaded', => @watchThemes()
+
+    #TODO Remove once packages have been updated to not touch atom.packageStates directly
+    @__defineGetter__ 'packageStates', => @packages.packageStates
+    @__defineSetter__ 'packageStates', (packageStates) => @packages.packageStates = packageStates
+
   getCurrentWindow: ->
     remote.getCurrentWindow()
 
diff --git a/src/package-manager.coffee b/src/package-manager.coffee
index 70eaec4aa..a2f026b2d 100644
--- a/src/package-manager.coffee
+++ b/src/package-manager.coffee
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ module.exports =
 class PackageManager
   _.extend @prototype, EventEmitter
 
-  constructor: ->
+  constructor: ({configDirPath, devMode, @resourcePath}) ->
+    @packageDirPaths = [path.join(configDirPath, "packages")]
+    if devMode
+      @packageDirPaths.unshift(path.join(configDirPath, "dev", "packages"))
+
     @loadedPackages = {}
     @activePackages = {}
     @packageStates = {}
@@ -83,10 +87,10 @@ class PackageManager
   resolvePackagePath: (name) ->
     return name if fsUtils.isDirectorySync(name)
 
-    packagePath = fsUtils.resolve(config.packageDirPaths..., name)
+    packagePath = fsUtils.resolve(@packageDirPaths..., name)
     return packagePath if fsUtils.isDirectorySync(packagePath)
 
-    packagePath = path.join(window.resourcePath, 'node_modules', name)
+    packagePath = path.join(@resourcePath, 'node_modules', name)
     return packagePath if @isInternalPackage(packagePath)
 
   isInternalPackage: (packagePath) ->
@@ -108,11 +112,11 @@ class PackageManager
   getAvailablePackagePaths: ->
     packagePaths = []
 
-    for packageDirPath in config.packageDirPaths
+    for packageDirPath in @packageDirPaths
       for packagePath in fsUtils.listSync(packageDirPath)
         packagePaths.push(packagePath) if fsUtils.isDirectorySync(packagePath)
 
-    for packagePath in fsUtils.listSync(path.join(window.resourcePath, 'node_modules'))
+    for packagePath in fsUtils.listSync(path.join(@resourcePath, 'node_modules'))
       packagePaths.push(packagePath) if @isInternalPackage(packagePath)
 
     _.uniq(packagePaths)