diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 07d8dc1..3b8702b 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-clean');
 	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jshint');
 	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-jscs-checker');
+	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-shell');
 	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-karma');
 	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-bump');
 	grunt.loadNpmTasks('lumbar');
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 		uglify: {},
 		copy: {},
 		compress: {},
+		shell: {},
 		clean: {
 			temp: 'build/temp'
 		}
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 
 	// Bare minimum for debugging
 	grunt.registerTask('dev', [
+		'shell:assume-unchanged',
 		'lumbar:build',
 		'languages'
 	]);
@@ -374,6 +377,24 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 
 
 
+	/* dist & git hacks
+	----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+	// These shell commands are used to force/unforce git from thinking that files have changed.
+	// Used to ignore changes when dist files are overwritten, but not committed, during development.
+	*/
+
+	config.shell['assume-unchanged'] = {
+		command: 'git update-index --assume-unchanged `git ls-files dist`'
+	};
+	config.shell['no-assume-unchanged'] = {
+		command: 'git update-index --no-assume-unchanged `git ls-files dist`'
+	};
+	config.shell['list-assume-unchanged'] = {
+		command: 'git ls-files -v | grep \'^h\''
+	};
+
+
+
 	// finally, give grunt the config object...
 	grunt.initConfig(config);
 
diff --git a/build/release.sh b/build/release.sh
index 38312f6..f712652 100755
--- a/build/release.sh
+++ b/build/release.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ fi
 
 grunt bump --setversion=$version && \
 grunt dist && \
-npm run-script no-assume-unchanged && \
+grunt shell:no-assume-unchanged && \
 git add -f dist/*.js dist/*.css dist/lang/*.js && \
 git add *.json && \
 git commit -e -m "version $version" && \
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ status=$?
 
 # regardless of error/success, undo the temporary no-assume-unchanged
 git reset
-npm run-script assume-unchanged
+grunt shell:assume-unchanged
 
 if [ $status -eq 0 ]
 then
diff --git a/build/watch.sh b/build/watch.sh
index c6db7b4..56eb656 100755
--- a/build/watch.sh
+++ b/build/watch.sh
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 
 cd "`dirname $0`/.."
 
-npm run-script assume-unchanged
+grunt shell:assume-unchanged
 grunt lumbar:watch
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6473270..6fc9947 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     "grunt-contrib-clean": "^0.4.1",
     "grunt-contrib-jshint": "^0.8.0",
     "grunt-jscs-checker": "^0.4.4",
+    "grunt-shell": "^0.7.0",
     "grunt-karma": "^0.8.3",
     "grunt-bump": "0.0.14",
     "lumbar": "^2.0.1",
@@ -22,10 +23,6 @@
     "karma-phantomjs-launcher": "^0.1.4"
   },
   "scripts": {
-    "install": "bower install; npm run-script assume-unchanged",
-    "preuninstall": "npm run-script no-assume-unchanged",
-    "assume-unchanged": "git update-index --assume-unchanged dist/*.js dist/*.css dist/lang/*.js",
-    "no-assume-unchanged": "git update-index --no-assume-unchanged dist/*.js dist/*.css dist/lang/*.js",
-    "list-assume-unchanged": "git ls-files -v | grep '^h'"
+    "install": "bower install"
   }
 }