diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index b84099cd0fa3f..054ad67eee528 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096 ${NODE_OPTIONS:-}"
 
 if ! npm ci --help; then
   echo "upgrading npm, because "npm ci" is not supported"
-  npm i -g npm
+  npm i -g npm@~6.8.0
 fi
 
 echo "============================================================================================="
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/cdk/.npmignore b/packages/@aws-cdk/cdk/.npmignore
index b757d55c46996..5e482731ecbf0 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/cdk/.npmignore
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/cdk/.npmignore
@@ -13,4 +13,7 @@ dist
 # Include .jsii
 !.jsii
 
-*.snk
\ No newline at end of file
+*.snk
+
+# Work around npm@6.8.0 ignoring 'core' by default -- https://github.com/npm/npm-packlist/issues/24
+!core