diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index fc04c5d3ed..c4cf7518eb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ publish:
 bootstrap:
 	npm install
 	./node_modules/.bin/lerna bootstrap
+	# remove all existing babel-runtimes and use the top-level babel-runtime
+	rm -rf packages/*/node_modules/babel-runtime
 	make build
 	cd packages/babel-runtime; \
 	node scripts/build-dist.js
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 99cbd2078c..917d901f24 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@
   "license": "MIT",
   "devDependencies": {
     "async": "^1.5.0",
-    "babel": "5.8.21",
+    "babel-core": "^6.3.17",
+    "babel-plugin-transform-runtime": "^6.3.13",
+    "babel-runtime": "^6.0.0",
+    "babel-preset-es2015": "^6.6.0",
+    "babel-preset-stage-0": "^6.0.0",
     "browserify": "^11.2.0",
     "bundle-collapser": "^1.2.1",
     "chai": "^2.2.0",
@@ -14,7 +18,7 @@
     "kcheck": "^2.0.0",
     "fs-readdir-recursive": "^0.1.2",
     "gulp": "^3.9.0",
-    "gulp-babel": "^5.3.0",
+    "gulp-babel": "^6.0.0",
     "gulp-newer": "^1.0.0",
     "gulp-plumber": "^1.0.1",
     "gulp-util": "^3.0.7",
@@ -37,26 +41,15 @@
     "uglify-js": "^2.4.16"
   },
   "babel": {
+    "presets": ["es2015", "react", "stage-0"],
+    "plugins": ["transform-runtime"],
     "ignore": [
       "packages/babel-cli/src/babel-plugin/templates"
     ],
-    "stage": 0,
-    "loose": [
-      "all"
-    ],
-    "blacklist": [
-      "es6.tailCall"
-    ],
-    "optional": [
-      "flow",
-      "optimisation.flow.forOf",
-      "runtime"
-    ],
     "env": {
       "test": {
         "auxiliaryCommentBefore": "istanbul ignore next"
       }
-    },
-    "breakConfig": true
+    }
   }
 }