diff --git a/spec/app/pane-spec.coffee b/spec/app/pane-spec.coffee
index bb5c0b430..6004ced05 100644
--- a/spec/app/pane-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/pane-spec.coffee
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ describe "Pane", ->
         pane.removeItem(editSession2)
         expect(editSession2.destroyed).toBeTruthy()
 
+  describe "core:close", ->
+    it "removes the current item", ->
+      initialItemCount = pane.getItems().length
+      pane.trigger 'core:close'
+      expect(pane.getItems().length).toBe initialItemCount - 1
+
   describe "pane:show-next-item and pane:show-previous-item", ->
     it "advances forward/backward through the pane's items, looping around at either end", ->
       expect(pane.currentItem).toBe view1
diff --git a/src/app/pane.coffee b/src/app/pane.coffee
index 3f6a8c2ba..4b9a20357 100644
--- a/src/app/pane.coffee
+++ b/src/app/pane.coffee
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class Pane extends View
     @viewsByClassName = {}
     @showItem(@items[0])
 
+    @command 'core:close', @removeCurrentItem
     @command 'pane:show-next-item', @showNextItem
     @command 'pane:show-previous-item', @showPreviousItem
     @command 'pane:split-left', => @splitLeft()
@@ -65,6 +66,9 @@ class Pane extends View
     @items.splice(@getCurrentItemIndex() + 1, 0, item)
     item
 
+  removeCurrentItem: =>
+    @removeItem(@currentItem)
+
   removeItem: (item) ->
     @showNextItem() if item is @currentItem and @items.length > 1
     _.remove(@items, item)