diff --git a/spec/upgrade-spec.js b/spec/upgrade-spec.js
index 7b0b5b77..76278749 100644
--- a/spec/upgrade-spec.js
+++ b/spec/upgrade-spec.js
@@ -76,6 +76,23 @@ describe('apm upgrade', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('does not display updates for "core" packages', () => {
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(packagesDir, 'core-package', 'package.json'), JSON.stringify({
+      name: 'core-package',
+      version: '1.0',
+      repository: 'https://github.com/pulsar-edit/pulsar'
+    }));
+    const callback = jasmine.createSpy('callback');
+    apm.run(['upgrade', '--list', '--no-color'], callback);
+
+    waitsFor('waiting for upgrade to complete', 600000, () => callback.callCount > 0);
+
+    runs(() => {
+      expect(console.log).toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(console.log.argsForCall[1][0]).toContain('empty');
+    });
+  });
+
   it('does not display updates for packages whose engine does not satisfy the installed Atom version', () => {
     fs.writeFileSync(path.join(packagesDir, 'test-module', 'package.json'), JSON.stringify({
       name: 'test-module',
diff --git a/src/upgrade.js b/src/upgrade.js
index afa05077..bfe1ee67 100644
--- a/src/upgrade.js
+++ b/src/upgrade.js
@@ -93,6 +93,12 @@ available updates.\
     }
 
     getLatestVersion(pack, callback) {
+      // We want to bail on checking for updates of any packages that come with the editor
+      // This can generally be detected by checking if the repository is that of Pulsar itself
+      if (pack.repository === "https://github.com/pulsar-edit/pulsar") {
+        return callback();
+      }
+      
       const requestSettings = {
         url: `${config.getAtomPackagesUrl()}/${pack.name}`,
         json: true