diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 96ca72f50..a74913fd8 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -18,18 +18,7 @@
     "atom-keymap": "8.0.2",
     "atom-select-list": "0.0.15",
     "atom-ui": "0.4.1",
-    "babel-core": "6.22.1",
-    "babel-plugin-add-module-exports": "0.2.1",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-async-to-generator": "6.22.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-class-properties": "6.23.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-decorators-legacy": "1.3.4",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-do-expressions": "6.22.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-es2015-modules-commonjs": "6.23.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-export-extensions": "6.22.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-flow-strip-types": "6.22.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-function-bind": "6.22.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-object-rest-spread": "6.23.0",
-    "babel-plugin-transform-react-jsx": "6.23.0",
+    "babel-core": "5.8.38",
     "cached-run-in-this-context": "0.4.1",
     "chai": "3.5.0",
     "chart.js": "^2.3.0",
diff --git a/script/package.json b/script/package.json
index 9441213ac..9a4bcb84a 100644
--- a/script/package.json
+++ b/script/package.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   "description": "Atom build scripts",
   "dependencies": {
     "async": "2.0.1",
+    "babel-core": "5.8.38",
     "coffeelint": "1.15.7",
     "colors": "1.1.2",
     "csslint": "1.0.2",
diff --git a/spec/main-process/file-recovery-service.test.js b/spec/main-process/file-recovery-service.test.js
index 4821dbc9b..862b7f428 100644
--- a/spec/main-process/file-recovery-service.test.js
+++ b/spec/main-process/file-recovery-service.test.js
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ describe("FileRecoveryService", () => {
       const mockWindow = {}
       const filePath = temp.path()
       fs.writeFileSync(filePath, "content")
-      fs.chmodSync(filePath, 0o444)
+      fs.chmodSync(filePath, 0444)
 
       let logs = []
       this.stub(console, 'log', (message) => logs.push(message))
diff --git a/src/babel.js b/src/babel.js
index d72b29ffd..a944f2e8c 100644
--- a/src/babel.js
+++ b/src/babel.js
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ var defaultOptions = require('../static/babelrc.json')
 
 var babel = null
 var babelVersionDirectory = null
-var options = null
 
 var PREFIXES = [
   '/** @babel */',
@@ -48,27 +47,16 @@ exports.compile = function (sourceCode, filePath) {
     var noop = function () {}
     Logger.prototype.debug = noop
     Logger.prototype.verbose = noop
-
-    options = {ast: false, babelrc: false}
-    for (var key in defaultOptions) {
-      if (key === 'plugins') {
-        const plugins = []
-        for (const [pluginName, pluginOptions] of defaultOptions[key]) {
-          plugins.push([require.resolve(`babel-plugin-${pluginName}`), pluginOptions])
-        }
-        options[key] = plugins
-      } else {
-        options[key] = defaultOptions[key]
-      }
-    }
   }
 
   if (process.platform === 'win32') {
     filePath = 'file:///' + path.resolve(filePath).replace(/\\/g, '/')
   }
 
-  options.filename = filePath
-
+  var options = {filename: filePath}
+  for (var key in defaultOptions) {
+    options[key] = defaultOptions[key]
+  }
   return babel.transform(sourceCode, options).code
 }
 
diff --git a/static/babelrc.json b/static/babelrc.json
index 11474dd8d..26b70dc41 100644
--- a/static/babelrc.json
+++ b/static/babelrc.json
@@ -1,16 +1,7 @@
 {
+  "breakConfig": true,
   "sourceMap": "inline",
-  "plugins": [
-    ["add-module-exports", {}],
-    ["transform-async-to-generator", {}],
-    ["transform-decorators-legacy", {}],
-    ["transform-class-properties", {}],
-    ["transform-es2015-modules-commonjs", {"strictMode": false}],
-    ["transform-export-extensions", {}],
-    ["transform-do-expressions", {}],
-    ["transform-function-bind", {}],
-    ["transform-object-rest-spread", {}],
-    ["transform-flow-strip-types", {}],
-    ["transform-react-jsx", {}]
-  ]
+  "blacklist": ["es6.forOf", "useStrict"],
+  "optional": ["asyncToGenerator"],
+  "stage": 0
 }