diff --git a/build/Gruntfile.coffee b/build/Gruntfile.coffee
index cae4d02c9..615800a63 100644
--- a/build/Gruntfile.coffee
+++ b/build/Gruntfile.coffee
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 fs = require 'fs'
 path = require 'path'
 os = require 'os'
-babelOptions = require '../static/babelrc'
 
 # This is the main Gruntfile that manages building N1 distributions.
 # The reason it's inisde of the build/ folder is so everything can be
@@ -51,12 +50,10 @@ _.extend(global, require('harmony-collections')) unless global.WeakMap?
 module.exports = (grunt) ->
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-coffeelint-cjsx')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-lesslint')
-  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-babel')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-cson')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-csslint')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-coffee-react')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-coffee')
-  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-eslint')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-less')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-shell')
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-markdown')
@@ -129,7 +126,7 @@ module.exports = (grunt) ->
       ext: '.js'
 
   babelConfig =
-    options: babelOptions
+    options: require("../static/babelrc")
     dist:
       files: [{
         expand: true
diff --git a/build/config/eslint.json b/build/config/eslint.json
index c2d4d40ab..d5f23b39b 100644
--- a/build/config/eslint.json
+++ b/build/config/eslint.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
+  "parser": "babel-eslint",
   "extends": "airbnb",
   "globals": {
     "NylasEnv": false,
@@ -28,6 +29,5 @@
     "no-shadow": [1],
     "quotes": [0],
     "semi": [0]
-  },
-  "parser": "babel-eslint"
+  }
 }
diff --git a/build/package.json b/build/package.json
index aef93816f..2305f1e76 100644
--- a/build/package.json
+++ b/build/package.json
@@ -8,19 +8,19 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "asar": "^0.10",
     "async": "~0.2.9",
-    "babel-eslint": "^4.1.3",
+    "babel-eslint": "6.x.x",
     "bluebird": "^3.0",
+    "chalk": "1.x.x",
     "coffee-react-transform": "^3.1.0",
     "coffeelint-cjsx": "^2.0",
     "donna": "1.0.10",
     "escope": "3.3.0",
-    "eslint": "^1.5.1",
-    "eslint-config-airbnb": "^0.1.0",
-    "eslint-plugin-react": "^3.4.2",
+    "eslint": "2.x.x",
+    "eslint-config-airbnb": "8.x.x",
+    "eslint-plugin-react": "5.x.x",
     "fs-plus": "2.x",
     "github-releases": "~0.3.0",
     "grunt": "~0.4.1",
-    "grunt-babel": "^5.0.1",
     "grunt-cli": "~0.1.9",
     "grunt-coffee-react": "^2.1.0",
     "grunt-coffeelint": "git+https://github.com/atom/grunt-coffeelint.git#cfb99aa99811d52687969532bd5a98011ed95bfe",
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
     "grunt-cson": "0.14.0",
     "grunt-download-electron": "^2.1",
     "grunt-electron-installer": "1.2.1",
-    "grunt-eslint": "^17.3.1",
     "grunt-lesslint": "0.13.0",
     "grunt-markdown": "^0.7.0",
     "grunt-peg": "~1.1.0",
diff --git a/build/tasks/babel-task.es6 b/build/tasks/babel-task.es6
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..770f49cda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/tasks/babel-task.es6
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// Copied from https://github.com/babel/grunt-babel to ensure we always
+// use the `babel-core` defined in our own package.json as opposed to the
+// grunt-babel dependency's
+
+const path = require('path');
+const babel = require('babel-core');
+
+module.exports = function babelTask(grunt) {
+  grunt.registerMultiTask('babel', 'Use next generation JavaScript, today', () => {
+    const options = this.options();
+
+    this.files.forEach((el) => {
+      delete options.filename;
+      delete options.filenameRelative;
+
+      options.sourceFileName = path.relative(path.dirname(el.dest), el.src[0]);
+
+      if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+        options.sourceFileName = options.sourceFileName.replace(/\\/g, '/');
+      }
+
+      options.sourceMapTarget = path.basename(el.dest);
+
+      const res = babel.transformFileSync(el.src[0], options);
+      let sourceMappingURL = '';
+
+      if (res.map) {
+        sourceMappingURL = `\n//# sourceMappingURL=${path.basename(el.dest)}.map`;
+      }
+
+      grunt.file.write(el.dest, `${res.code}${sourceMappingURL}\n`);
+
+      if (res.map) {
+        grunt.file.write(`${el.dest}.map`, JSON.stringify(res.map));
+      }
+    });
+  });
+};
diff --git a/build/tasks/eslint-task.es6 b/build/tasks/eslint-task.es6
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a462f486
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/tasks/eslint-task.es6
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+// Copied from https://github.com/sindresorhus/grunt-eslint
+// So we can use our own eslint instead of this tasks's dependency.
+const chalk = require('chalk');
+const eslint = require('eslint');
+
+module.exports = function eslintTask(grunt) {
+  grunt.registerMultiTask('eslint', 'Validate files with ESLint', () => {
+    const opts = this.options({
+      outputFile: false,
+      quiet: false,
+      maxWarnings: -1,
+    });
+
+    // legacy
+    // TODO: remove in the future
+    if (opts.config) {
+      opts.configFile = opts.config;
+    }
+    if (opts.rulesdir) {
+      opts.rulePaths = opts.rulesdir;
+    }
+
+    if (this.filesSrc.length === 0) {
+      grunt.log.writeln(chalk.magenta('Could not find any files to validate.'));
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    const formatter = eslint.CLIEngine.getFormatter(opts.format);
+
+    if (!formatter) {
+      grunt.warn(`Could not find formatter ${opts.format}'.`);
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    const engine = new eslint.CLIEngine(opts);
+
+    let report;
+    try {
+      report = engine.executeOnFiles(this.filesSrc);
+    } catch (err) {
+      grunt.warn(err);
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    if (opts.fix) {
+      eslint.CLIEngine.outputFixes(report);
+    }
+
+    let results = report.results;
+
+    if (opts.quiet) {
+      results = eslint.CLIEngine.getErrorResults(results);
+    }
+
+    const output = formatter(results);
+
+    if (opts.outputFile) {
+      grunt.file.write(opts.outputFile, output);
+    } else if (output) {
+      console.log(output);
+    }
+
+    const tooManyWarnings = opts.maxWarnings >= 0 && report.warningCount > opts.maxWarnings;
+
+    if (report.errorCount === 0 && tooManyWarnings) {
+      grunt.warn(`ESLint found too many warnings (maximum:${opts.maxWarnings})`);
+    }
+
+    return report.errorCount === 0;
+  });
+};
diff --git a/internal_packages/message-list/lib/sidebar-participant-picker.jsx b/internal_packages/message-list/lib/sidebar-participant-picker.jsx
index de2d7e83e..6032f9960 100644
--- a/internal_packages/message-list/lib/sidebar-participant-picker.jsx
+++ b/internal_packages/message-list/lib/sidebar-participant-picker.jsx
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-/** @babel */
-
 import _ from 'underscore'
 import React from 'react';
 import {Actions, FocusedContactsStore} from 'nylas-exports'
diff --git a/internal_packages/participant-profile/lib/sidebar-participant-profile.jsx b/internal_packages/participant-profile/lib/sidebar-participant-profile.jsx
index 8eda0616a..1496559b4 100644
--- a/internal_packages/participant-profile/lib/sidebar-participant-profile.jsx
+++ b/internal_packages/participant-profile/lib/sidebar-participant-profile.jsx
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-/** @babel */
 import _ from 'underscore'
 import React from 'react'
 import {shell} from 'electron'
diff --git a/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-buttons.jsx b/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-buttons.jsx
index 218467e35..62fa72163 100644
--- a/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-buttons.jsx
+++ b/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-buttons.jsx
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-/** @babel */
 import React, {Component, PropTypes} from 'react';
 import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
 import {Actions, FocusedPerspectiveStore} from 'nylas-exports';
diff --git a/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-popover.jsx b/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-popover.jsx
index 5703d3b7a..3a0745e57 100644
--- a/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-popover.jsx
+++ b/internal_packages/thread-snooze/lib/snooze-popover.jsx
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-/** @babel */
 import _ from 'underscore';
 import React, {Component, PropTypes} from 'react';
 import {DateUtils, Actions} from 'nylas-exports'
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f4aad7914..feeefb675 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
   "electronVersion": "0.37.8",
   "dependencies": {
     "async": "^0.9",
-    "babel-core": "^5.8.21",
+    "babel-core": "6.8.x",
     "bluebird": "^2.9",
     "chrono-node": "^1.1.2",
     "classnames": "1.2.1",
diff --git a/spec_integration/jasmine/bootstrap.js b/spec_integration/jasmine/bootstrap.js
index 5038e556c..cf2c27f53 100644
--- a/spec_integration/jasmine/bootstrap.js
+++ b/spec_integration/jasmine/bootstrap.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 // argv[2] = JASMINE_CONFIG_PATH=./jasmine/config.json
 // argv[3] = NYLAS_ROOT_PATH=/path/to/nylas/root
 var babelOptions = require('../../static/babelrc.json');
-require('babel-core/register')(babelOptions);
+require('babel-register')(babelOptions);
 
 var chalk = require('chalk')
 var util = require('util')
diff --git a/spec_integration/package.json b/spec_integration/package.json
index 37d220f60..0fd098f1c 100644
--- a/spec_integration/package.json
+++ b/spec_integration/package.json
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
   },
   "license": "GPL-3.0",
   "dependencies": {
+    "babel-register": "6.8.x",
     "bluebird": "^3.0.5",
-    "babel-core": "^5.8.21",
     "jasmine": "^2.3.2",
     "spectron": "^0.34.1",
     "chalk": "^1.1"
diff --git a/src/components/nylas-calendar/calendar-event-container.jsx b/src/components/nylas-calendar/calendar-event-container.jsx
index aa307e3f6..bcb01e401 100644
--- a/src/components/nylas-calendar/calendar-event-container.jsx
+++ b/src/components/nylas-calendar/calendar-event-container.jsx
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-/** @babel */
 import moment from 'moment'
 
 import React from 'react'
diff --git a/src/date-utils.es6 b/src/date-utils.es6
index da0628ed1..c92365cfb 100644
--- a/src/date-utils.es6
+++ b/src/date-utils.es6
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-/** @babel */
 import moment from 'moment'
 import chrono from 'chrono-node'
 import _ from 'underscore'