diff --git a/src/git-repository.coffee b/src/git-repository.coffee
index 1663f9ad4..ee27f87a5 100644
--- a/src/git-repository.coffee
+++ b/src/git-repository.coffee
@@ -463,8 +463,12 @@ class GitRepository
   refreshStatus: ->
     @handlerPath ?= require.resolve('./repository-status-handler')
 
+    relativeProjectPaths = @project?.getPaths()
+      .map (path) => @relativize(path)
+      .filter (path) -> path.length > 0
+
     @statusTask?.terminate()
-    @statusTask = Task.once @handlerPath, @getPath(), ({statuses, upstream, branch, submodules}) =>
+    @statusTask = Task.once @handlerPath, @getPath(), relativeProjectPaths, ({statuses, upstream, branch, submodules}) =>
       statusesUnchanged = _.isEqual(statuses, @statuses) and
                           _.isEqual(upstream, @upstream) and
                           _.isEqual(branch, @branch) and
diff --git a/src/repository-status-handler.coffee b/src/repository-status-handler.coffee
index d0763fd5a..2fda9a335 100644
--- a/src/repository-status-handler.coffee
+++ b/src/repository-status-handler.coffee
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Git = require 'git-utils'
 path = require 'path'
 
-module.exports = (repoPath) ->
+module.exports = (repoPath, paths = []) ->
   repo = Git.open(repoPath)
 
   upstream = {}
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ module.exports = (repoPath) ->
   if repo?
     # Statuses in main repo
     workingDirectoryPath = repo.getWorkingDirectory()
-    for filePath, status of repo.getStatus()
+    repoStatus = (if paths.length > 0 then repo.getStatusForPaths(paths) else repo.getStatus())
+    for filePath, status of repoStatus
       statuses[filePath] = status
 
     # Statuses in submodules