diff --git a/lib/blockchain.js b/lib/blockchain.js
index 5bb67191..4736779e 100644
--- a/lib/blockchain.js
+++ b/lib/blockchain.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-var mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
-var wrench = require('wrench');
+var fs = require('fs-extra');
 var colors = require('colors');
 var GethCommands = require('./geth_commands.js');
 var utils = require('./utils.js');
@@ -53,10 +52,10 @@ Blockchain.prototype.initChainAndGetAddress = function() {
 
   // ensure datadir exists, bypassing the interactive liabilities prompt.
   this.datadir = '.embark/development/datadir';
-  mkdirp.sync(this.datadir);
+  fs.mkdirpSync(this.datadir);
 
   // copy mining script
-  wrench.copyDirSyncRecursive(utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js"), ".embark/development/js", {forceDelete: true});
+  fs.copySync(utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js"), ".embark/development/js", {overwrite: true});
 
   // check if an account already exists, create one if not, return address
   result = this.runCommand(this.client.listAccountsCommand());
diff --git a/lib/config.js b/lib/config.js
index 532531bc..d1115ea0 100644
--- a/lib/config.js
+++ b/lib/config.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-var fs = require('fs');
+var fs = require('fs-extra');
 var Plugins = require('./plugins.js');
 var utils = require('./utils.js');
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Config.prototype.loadConfigFiles = function(options) {
   if (options.interceptLogs === undefined) {
     interceptLogs = true;
   }
-  this.embarkConfig = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(options.embarkConfig));
+  this.embarkConfig = fs.readJSONSync(options.embarkConfig);
   this.embarkConfig.plugins = this.embarkConfig.plugins || {};
 
   this.plugins = new Plugins({plugins: this.embarkConfig.plugins, logger: this.logger, interceptLogs: interceptLogs});
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ Config.prototype.reloadConfig = function() {
 };
 
 Config.prototype.loadBlockchainConfigFile = function() {
-  var defaultBlockchainConfig = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(this.configDir + "blockchain.json"))[this.env];
-  this.blockchainConfig = defaultBlockchainConfig;
+  var defaultBlockchainConfig = fs.readJSONSync(this.configDir + "blockchain.json");
+  this.blockchainConfig = defaultBlockchainConfig[this.env];
 };
 
 Config.prototype.loadContractsConfigFile = function() {
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ Config.prototype.loadContractsConfigFile = function() {
     });
   }
 
-  var contractsConfig = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(this.configDir + "contracts.json"));
+  var contractsConfig = fs.readJSONSync(this.configDir + "contracts.json");
   configObject = utils.recursiveMerge(configObject, contractsConfig);
   var defaultContractsConfig = configObject['default'];
   var envContractsConfig = configObject[this.env];
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ Config.prototype.loadStorageConfigFile = function() {
   //  });
   //}
 
-  var storageConfig = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(this.configDir + "storage.json"));
+  var storageConfig = fs.readJSONSync(this.configDir + "storage.json");
   configObject = utils.recursiveMerge(configObject, storageConfig);
   var defaultStorageConfig = configObject['default'];
   var envStorageConfig = configObject[this.env];
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ Config.prototype.loadCommunicationConfigFile = function() {
   //  });
   //}
 
-  var communicationConfig = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(this.configDir + "communication.json"));
+  var communicationConfig = fs.readJSONSync(this.configDir + "communication.json");
   configObject = utils.recursiveMerge(configObject, communicationConfig);
   var defaultCommunicationConfig = configObject['default'];
   var envCommunicationConfig = configObject[this.env];
@@ -135,12 +135,12 @@ Config.prototype.loadChainTrackerFile = function() {
   //var self = this;
   var chainTracker;
   try {
-    chainTracker = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(this.chainsFile));
+    chainTracker = fs.readJSONSync(this.chainsFile);
   }
   catch(err) {
     //self.logger.info(this.chainsFile + ' file not found, creating it...');
     chainTracker = {};
-    fs.writeFileSync(this.chainsFile, '{}');
+    fs.writeJSONSync(this.chainsFile, {});
   }
   this.chainTracker = chainTracker;
 };
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ Config.prototype.loadFiles = function(files) {
       readFiles.push({filename: 'ipfs.js',   content: fs.readFileSync(utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/ipfs.js")).toString(), path: utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/ipfs.js")});
       // TODO: remove duplicated files if funcitonality is the same for storage and orbit
       readFiles.push({filename: 'ipfs-api.js',   content: fs.readFileSync(utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/ipfs-api.min.js")).toString(), path: utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/ipfs-api.min.js")});
-      readFiles.push({filename: 'orbit.js',      content: fs.readFileSync(utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/orbit.min.js")).toString(), path: utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/orbit.min.js")});
+      readFiles.push({filename: 'orbit.js',  content: fs.readFileSync(utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/orbit.min.js")).toString(), path: utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/orbit.min.js")});
       readFiles.push({filename: 'embark.js', content: fs.readFileSync(utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/build/embark.bundle.js")).toString(), path: utils.joinPath(__dirname, "/../js/build/embark.bundle.js")});
     }
   });
diff --git a/lib/deploy_tracker.js b/lib/deploy_tracker.js
index 9f446a9c..8a792923 100644
--- a/lib/deploy_tracker.js
+++ b/lib/deploy_tracker.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-var fs = require('fs');
-var prettyJson = require("json-honey");
+var fs = require('fs-extra');
 
 var DeployTracker = function(options) {
   this.logger = options.logger;
@@ -49,7 +48,7 @@ DeployTracker.prototype.getContract = function(contractName, code, args) {
 // chainConfig can be an abstract PersistentObject
 DeployTracker.prototype.save = function() {
   if (this.chainConfig === false) { return; }
-  fs.writeFileSync("./chains.json", prettyJson(this.chainConfig));
+  fs.writeJSONSync("./chains.json", this.chainConfig);
 };
 
 module.exports = DeployTracker;
diff --git a/lib/pipeline.js b/lib/pipeline.js
index 042ada1a..010f32a1 100644
--- a/lib/pipeline.js
+++ b/lib/pipeline.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 /*jshint esversion: 6, loopfunc: true */
-var fs = require('fs');
-var mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
+var fs = require('fs-extra');
 
 var Pipeline = function(options) {
   this.buildDir = options.buildDir;
@@ -49,7 +48,7 @@ Pipeline.prototype.build = function(abi) {
 
     var dir = targetFile.split('/').slice(0, -1).join('/');
     self.logger.trace("creating dir " + this.buildDir + dir);
-    mkdirp.sync(this.buildDir + dir);
+    fs.mkdirpSync(this.buildDir + dir);
 
     // if it's a directory
     if (targetFile.slice(-1) === '/' || targetFile.indexOf('.') === -1) {
@@ -64,7 +63,7 @@ Pipeline.prototype.build = function(abi) {
         filename = filename.replace(targetDir, '');
         self.logger.info("writing file " + (self.buildDir + targetDir + filename).bold.dim);
 
-        fs.writeFileSync(self.buildDir + targetDir + filename, fs.readFileSync(file.path));
+        fs.copySync(self.buildDir + targetDir + filename, file.path, {overwrite: true});
       });
     } else {
       var content = contentFiles.map(function(file) {
diff --git a/lib/plugin.js b/lib/plugin.js
index 57419311..fd7e0472 100644
--- a/lib/plugin.js
+++ b/lib/plugin.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*jshint esversion: 6, loopfunc: true */
-var fs = require('fs');
+var fs = require('fs-extra');
 var utils = require('./utils.js');
 
 // TODO: pass other params like blockchainConfig, contract files, etc..
diff --git a/lib/template_generator.js b/lib/template_generator.js
index 8e4448ed..1befd03a 100644
--- a/lib/template_generator.js
+++ b/lib/template_generator.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-// TODO: replace with something else more native to node
-var wrench = require('wrench');
+var fs = require('fs-extra');
 var utils = require('./utils.js');
 
 var TemplateGenerator = function(templateName) {
@@ -10,7 +9,7 @@ TemplateGenerator.prototype.generate = function(destinationFolder, name) {
   var templatePath = utils.joinPath(__dirname, '/../', this.templateName);
   console.log('Initializing Embark Template....'.green);
 
-  wrench.copyDirSyncRecursive(templatePath, destinationFolder + name);
+  fs.copySync(templatePath, destinationFolder + name);
   utils.cd(destinationFolder + name);
 
   console.log('Installing packages.. this can take a few seconds'.green);
diff --git a/lib/watch.js b/lib/watch.js
index 9c94e1d8..fa68d056 100644
--- a/lib/watch.js
+++ b/lib/watch.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 /*jshint esversion: 6 */
-var fs = require('fs');
+var fs = require('fs-extra');
 var chokidar = require('chokidar');
 
+// TODO: this should be receiving the config object not re-reading the
+// embark.json file
 var Watch = function(options) {
   this.logger = options.logger;
   this.events = {};
@@ -11,7 +13,7 @@ Watch.prototype.start = function() {
    var self = this;
   // TODO: should come from the config object instead of reading the file
   // directly
-  var embarkConfig = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("embark.json"));
+  var embarkConfig = fs.readJSONSync("embark.json");
 
   this.watchAssets(embarkConfig, function() {
     self.logger.trace('ready to watch asset changes');
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a1e3f67b..e0cbdbd6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -25,17 +25,15 @@
     "colors": "^1.1.2",
     "commander": "^2.8.1",
     "finalhandler": "^0.5.0",
+    "fs-extra": "^2.0.0",
     "grunt": "^1.0.1",
-    "json-honey": "^0.4.1",
     "merge": "^1.2.0",
-    "mkdirp": "^0.5.1",
     "request": "^2.75.0",
     "serve-static": "^1.11.1",
     "shelljs": "^0.5.0",
     "solc": "0.4.8",
     "toposort": "^1.0.0",
-    "web3": "^0.18.2",
-    "wrench": "^1.5.8"
+    "web3": "^0.18.2"
   },
   "author": "Iuri Matias <iuri.matias@gmail.com>",
   "contributors": [],