diff --git a/build/actions/os.js b/build/actions/os.js
index 59e9563f..6744fd6d 100644
--- a/build/actions/os.js
+++ b/build/actions/os.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 (function() {
-  var _, async, capitano, commandOptions, elevate, image, mkdirp, npm, os, packageJSON, path, resin, visuals;
+  var _, async, capitano, commandOptions, elevate, image, mkdirp, os, packageJSON, path, resin, selfupdate, visuals;
 
   capitano = require('capitano');
 
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 
   visuals = require('resin-cli-visuals');
 
-  commandOptions = require('./command-options');
+  selfupdate = require('selfupdate');
 
-  npm = require('../npm');
+  commandOptions = require('./command-options');
 
   packageJSON = require('../../package.json');
 
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
     action: function(params, options, done) {
       return async.waterfall([
         function(callback) {
-          return npm.isUpdated(packageJSON.name, packageJSON.version, callback);
+          return selfupdate.isUpdated(packageJSON, callback);
         }, function(isUpdated, callback) {
           if (isUpdated) {
             return callback();
diff --git a/build/actions/update.js b/build/actions/update.js
index 1685e24c..24335b00 100644
--- a/build/actions/update.js
+++ b/build/actions/update.js
@@ -1,13 +1,7 @@
 (function() {
-  var _, child_process, npm, packageJSON, president;
+  var packageJSON, selfupdate;
 
-  _ = require('lodash');
-
-  child_process = require('child_process');
-
-  president = require('president');
-
-  npm = require('../npm');
+  selfupdate = require('selfupdate');
 
   packageJSON = require('../../package.json');
 
@@ -16,34 +10,12 @@
     description: 'update the resin cli',
     help: 'Use this command to update the Resin CLI\n\nThis command outputs information about the update process.\nUse `--quiet` to remove that output.\n\nThe Resin CLI checks for updates once per day.\n\nMajor updates require a manual update with this update command,\nwhile minor updates are applied automatically.\n\nExamples:\n\n	$ resin update',
     action: function(params, options, done) {
-      return npm.isUpdated(packageJSON.name, packageJSON.version, function(error, isUpdated) {
-        var command, onUpdate;
+      return selfupdate.update(packageJSON, function(error, version) {
         if (error != null) {
           return done(error);
         }
-        if (isUpdated) {
-          return done(new Error('You\'re already running the latest version.'));
-        }
-        onUpdate = function(error, stdout, stderr) {
-          if (error != null) {
-            return done(error);
-          }
-          if (!_.isEmpty(stderr)) {
-            return done(new Error(stderr));
-          }
-          console.info("Upgraded " + packageJSON.name + ".");
-          return done();
-        };
-        command = "npm install --global " + packageJSON.name;
-        return child_process.exec(command, function(error, stdout, stderr) {
-          if (error == null) {
-            return onUpdate(null, stdout, stderr);
-          }
-          if (_.any([error.code === 3, error.code === 'EPERM', error.code === 'ACCES'])) {
-            return president.execute(command, onUpdate);
-          }
-          return done(error);
-        });
+        console.info("Updated " + packageJSON.name + " to version " + version + ".");
+        return done();
       });
     }
   };
diff --git a/build/npm.js b/build/npm.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 94b0ad9d..00000000
--- a/build/npm.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-(function() {
-  var _, async, npm;
-
-  npm = require('npm');
-
-  async = require('async');
-
-  _ = require('lodash-contrib');
-
-  exports.getLatestVersion = function(name, callback) {
-    return async.waterfall([
-      function(callback) {
-        var options;
-        options = {
-          loglevel: 'silent',
-          global: true
-        };
-        return npm.load(options, _.unary(callback));
-      }, function(callback) {
-        return npm.commands.view([name], true, function(error, data) {
-          var versions;
-          versions = _.keys(data);
-          return callback(error, _.first(versions));
-        });
-      }
-    ], callback);
-  };
-
-  exports.isUpdated = function(name, currentVersion, callback) {
-    return exports.getLatestVersion(name, function(error, latestVersion) {
-      if (error != null) {
-        return callback(error);
-      }
-      return callback(null, currentVersion === latestVersion);
-    });
-  };
-
-}).call(this);
diff --git a/lib/actions/os.coffee b/lib/actions/os.coffee
index 9bcdb2fc..8e60f8a4 100644
--- a/lib/actions/os.coffee
+++ b/lib/actions/os.coffee
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ mkdirp = require('mkdirp')
 resin = require('resin-sdk')
 image = require('resin-image')
 visuals = require('resin-cli-visuals')
+selfupdate = require('selfupdate')
 commandOptions = require('./command-options')
-npm = require('../npm')
 packageJSON = require('../../package.json')
 elevate = require('../elevate')
 
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ exports.install =
 		async.waterfall [
 
 			(callback) ->
-				npm.isUpdated(packageJSON.name, packageJSON.version, callback)
+				selfupdate.isUpdated(packageJSON, callback)
 
 			(isUpdated, callback) ->
 				return callback() if isUpdated
diff --git a/lib/actions/update.coffee b/lib/actions/update.coffee
index 1ca7b5ee..a37d6946 100644
--- a/lib/actions/update.coffee
+++ b/lib/actions/update.coffee
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-_ = require('lodash')
-child_process = require('child_process')
-president = require('president')
-npm = require('../npm')
+selfupdate = require('selfupdate')
 packageJSON = require('../../package.json')
 
 exports.update =
@@ -23,36 +20,7 @@ exports.update =
 			$ resin update
 	'''
 	action: (params, options, done) ->
-		npm.isUpdated packageJSON.name, packageJSON.version, (error, isUpdated) ->
+		selfupdate.update packageJSON, (error, version) ->
 			return done(error) if error?
-
-			if isUpdated
-				return done(new Error('You\'re already running the latest version.'))
-
-			onUpdate = (error, stdout, stderr) ->
-				return done(error) if error?
-				return done(new Error(stderr)) if not _.isEmpty(stderr)
-				console.info("Upgraded #{packageJSON.name}.")
-				return done()
-
-			command = "npm install --global #{packageJSON.name}"
-
-			# Attempting to self update using the NPM API was not considered safe.
-			# A safer thing to do is to call npm as a child process
-			# https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/7723
-			child_process.exec command, (error, stdout, stderr) ->
-				return onUpdate(null, stdout, stderr) if not error?
-
-				if _.any [
-
-					# 3 is equivalent to EACCES for NPM
-					error.code is 3
-
-					error.code is 'EPERM'
-					error.code is 'ACCES'
-				]
-					return president.execute(command, onUpdate)
-
-				return done(error)
-
-
+			console.info("Updated #{packageJSON.name} to version #{version}.")
+			return done()
diff --git a/lib/npm.coffee b/lib/npm.coffee
deleted file mode 100644
index 3a7d429b..00000000
--- a/lib/npm.coffee
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-npm = require('npm')
-async = require('async')
-_ = require('lodash-contrib')
-
-exports.getLatestVersion = (name, callback) ->
-	async.waterfall([
-
-		(callback) ->
-			options =
-
-				# TODO: There is no way to quiet npm install completely.
-				# Some output is still shown once the module is updated
-				# https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/2040
-				loglevel: 'silent'
-				global: true
-
-			npm.load(options, _.unary(callback))
-
-		(callback) ->
-			npm.commands.view [ name ], true, (error, data) ->
-				versions = _.keys(data)
-				return callback(error, _.first(versions))
-
-	], callback)
-
-exports.isUpdated = (name, currentVersion, callback) ->
-	exports.getLatestVersion name, (error, latestVersion) ->
-		return callback(error) if error?
-		return callback(null, currentVersion is latestVersion)
diff --git a/man/resin-completion.1 b/man/resin-completion.1
index 86cb5bb9..4b210238 100644
--- a/man/resin-completion.1
+++ b/man/resin-completion.1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH "RESIN" "1" "March 2015" "" ""
+.TH "RESIN" "1" "May 2015" "" ""
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBresin\fR \- tab completion for resin
 .SH DESCRIPTION
diff --git a/man/resin-plugins.1 b/man/resin-plugins.1
index 9b00954c..f69f2860 100644
--- a/man/resin-plugins.1
+++ b/man/resin-plugins.1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH "RESIN\-PLUGINS" "1" "March 2015" "" ""
+.TH "RESIN\-PLUGINS" "1" "May 2015" "" ""
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBresin-plugins\fR \- Creating Resin CLI plugins
 .SH DESCRIPTION
diff --git a/man/resin.1 b/man/resin.1
index 9ccaa64b..560d471f 100644
--- a/man/resin.1
+++ b/man/resin.1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH "RESIN" "1" "March 2015" "" ""
+.TH "RESIN" "1" "May 2015" "" ""
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBresin\fR \- command line tool to interact with resin\.io
 .SH SYNOPSIS
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6374f166..5908ab0e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -59,12 +59,12 @@
     "nplugm": "^2.2.0",
     "npm": "^2.6.1",
     "open": "0.0.5",
-    "president": "^1.0.0",
     "resin-cli-visuals": "^0.1.0",
-    "resin-sdk": "^1.4.3",
     "resin-image": "^1.1.2",
+    "resin-sdk": "^1.4.3",
     "resin-settings-client": "^1.0.0",
     "resin-vcs": "^1.2.0",
+    "selfupdate": "^1.1.0",
     "tmp": "^0.0.25",
     "underscore.string": "~2.4.0",
     "update-notifier": "^0.3.1"