diff --git a/lib/pack.js b/lib/pack.js
index 78e5bfd174d7b..e41836fe4324d 100644
--- a/lib/pack.js
+++ b/lib/pack.js
@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ const BB = require('bluebird')
 const byteSize = require('byte-size')
 const cacache = require('cacache')
 const columnify = require('columnify')
-const cp = require('child_process')
 const deprCheck = require('./utils/depr-check')
 const fpm = require('./fetch-package-metadata')
 const fs = require('graceful-fs')
 const install = require('./install')
 const lifecycle = BB.promisify(require('./utils/lifecycle'))
+const noProgressTillDone = require('./utils/no-progress-while-running').tillDone
 const log = require('npmlog')
 const move = require('move-concurrently')
 const npm = require('./npm')
@@ -265,89 +265,30 @@ function getContents (pkg, target, filename, silent) {
     })
 }
 
-const PASSTHROUGH_OPTS = [
-  'always-auth',
-  'auth-type',
-  'ca',
-  'cafile',
-  'cert',
-  'git',
-  'local-address',
-  'maxsockets',
-  'offline',
-  'prefer-offline',
-  'prefer-online',
-  'proxy',
-  'https-proxy',
-  'registry',
-  'send-metrics',
-  'sso-poll-frequency',
-  'sso-type',
-  'strict-ssl'
-]
-
 module.exports.packGitDep = packGitDep
 function packGitDep (manifest, dir) {
   const stream = new PassThrough()
   readJson(path.join(dir, 'package.json')).then((pkg) => {
     if (pkg.scripts && pkg.scripts.prepare) {
       log.verbose('prepareGitDep', `${manifest._spec}: installing devDeps and running prepare script.`)
-      const cliArgs = PASSTHROUGH_OPTS.reduce((acc, opt) => {
-        if (npm.config.get(opt, 'cli') != null) {
-          acc.push(`--${opt}=${npm.config.get(opt)}`)
-        }
-        return acc
-      }, [])
-      const child = cp.spawn(process.env.NODE || process.execPath, [
-        require.resolve('../bin/npm-cli.js'),
-        'install',
-        '--dev',
-        '--prod',
-        '--ignore-prepublish',
-        '--no-progress',
-        '--no-save'
-      ].concat(cliArgs), {
-        cwd: dir,
-        env: process.env
-      })
-      let errData = []
-      let errDataLen = 0
-      let outData = []
-      let outDataLen = 0
-      child.stdout.on('data', (data) => {
-        outData.push(data)
-        outDataLen += data.length
-        log.gauge.pulse('preparing git package')
-      })
-      child.stderr.on('data', (data) => {
-        errData.push(data)
-        errDataLen += data.length
-        log.gauge.pulse('preparing git package')
-      })
-      return BB.fromNode((cb) => {
-        child.on('error', cb)
-        child.on('exit', (code, signal) => {
-          if (code > 0) {
-            const err = new Error(`${signal}: npm exited with code ${code} while attempting to build ${manifest._requested}. Clone the repository manually and run 'npm install' in it for more information.`)
-            err.code = code
-            err.signal = signal
-            cb(err)
-          } else {
-            cb()
-          }
-        })
-      }).then(() => {
-        if (outDataLen > 0) log.silly('prepareGitDep', '1>', Buffer.concat(outData, outDataLen).toString())
-        if (errDataLen > 0) log.silly('prepareGitDep', '2>', Buffer.concat(errData, errDataLen).toString())
-      }, (err) => {
-        if (outDataLen > 0) log.error('prepareGitDep', '1>', Buffer.concat(outData, outDataLen).toString())
-        if (errDataLen > 0) log.error('prepareGitDep', '2>', Buffer.concat(errData, errDataLen).toString())
-        throw err
+
+      const dryrun = !!npm.config.get('dry-run')
+      const args = []
+      const opts = {
+        dev: true,
+        prod: true
+      }
+      const installer = new install.Installer(dir, dryrun, args, opts)
+      // No-op changes to manifest/lockfile (--no-save)
+      installer.saveToDependencies = cb => cb()
+
+      return BB.fromNode(cb => {
+        installer.run(noProgressTillDone(cb))
       })
     }
   }).then(() => {
     return readJson(path.join(dir, 'package.json'))
-  }).then((pkg) => {
+  }).then(() => {
     return cacache.tmp.withTmp(npm.tmp, {
       tmpPrefix: 'pacote-packing'
     }, (tmp) => {
diff --git a/test/tap/git-prepare.js b/test/tap/git-prepare.js
index 1a61056b4beda..050560e0af164 100644
--- a/test/tap/git-prepare.js
+++ b/test/tap/git-prepare.js
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ const fixture = new Tacks(Dir({
         version: '1.0.3',
         main: 'dobuild.js',
         scripts: {
-          'prepublish': 'exit 123',
+          'prepublishOnly': 'exit 123',
           'prepare': 'writer build-artifact'
         },
         devDependencies: {