diff --git a/app/services/ember-cli.js b/app/services/ember-cli.js
index fb32637a..8ff79756 100644
--- a/app/services/ember-cli.js
+++ b/app/services/ember-cli.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import blueprints from '../lib/blueprints';
 import config from '../config/environment';
 import Ember from 'ember';
 import moment from 'moment';
+import htmlbarsPrecompilePlugin from "../utils/babel-htmlbars-compiler";
 
 const { inject } = Ember;
 const twiddleAppName = 'demo-app';
@@ -146,6 +147,13 @@ export default Ember.Service.extend({
   dependencyResolver: inject.service(),
   store: inject.service(),
 
+  init(...args) {
+    if (!Ember.testing) {
+      Babel.options.plugins.default.push(htmlbarsPrecompilePlugin);
+    }
+    return this._super(...args);
+  },
+
   generate(type) {
     return this.get('store').createRecord('gistFile', this.buildProperties(type));
   },
diff --git a/app/utils/babel-htmlbars-compiler.js b/app/utils/babel-htmlbars-compiler.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0b4fb003
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/utils/babel-htmlbars-compiler.js
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+import Ember from "ember";
+
+const compiler = Ember.HTMLBars;
+
+export default function(babel) {
+
+  // Taken from https://github.com/pangratz/babel-plugin-htmlbars-inline-precompile/blob/master/index.js
+
+  const t = babel.types;
+
+  var replaceNodeWithPrecompiledTemplate = function(node, template) {
+    var compiledTemplateString = "Ember.HTMLBars.template(" + compiler.precompile(template) + ")";
+
+    // Prefer calling replaceWithSourceString if it is present.
+    // this prevents a deprecation warning in Babel 5.6.7+.
+    //
+    // TODO: delete the fallback once we only support babel >= 5.6.7.
+    if (node.replaceWithSourceString) {
+      node.replaceWithSourceString(compiledTemplateString);
+    } else {
+      return compiledTemplateString;
+    }
+  };
+
+
+  return new babel.Transformer('htmlbars-inline-precompile', {
+    ImportDeclaration: function(node, parent, scope, file) {
+      if (t.isLiteral(node.source, { value: "htmlbars-inline-precompile" })) {
+        var first = node.specifiers && node.specifiers[0];
+        if (t.isImportDefaultSpecifier(first)) {
+          file.importSpecifier = first.local.name;
+        } else {
+          var input = file.code;
+          var usedImportStatement = input.slice(node.start, node.end);
+          var msg = "Only `import hbs from 'htmlbars-inline-precompile'` is supported. You used: `" + usedImportStatement + "`";
+          throw file.errorWithNode(node, msg);
+        }
+
+        // Prefer calling dangerouslyRemove instead of remove (if present) to
+        // suppress a deprecation warning.
+        //
+        // TODO: delete the fallback once we only support babel >= 5.5.0.
+        if (typeof this.dangerouslyRemove === 'function') {
+          this.dangerouslyRemove();
+        } else {
+          this.remove();
+        }
+      }
+    },
+
+    CallExpression: function(node, parent, scope, file) {
+      if (t.isIdentifier(node.callee, { name: file.importSpecifier })) {
+        var argumentErrorMsg = "hbs should be invoked with a single argument: the template string";
+        if (node.arguments.length !== 1) {
+          throw file.errorWithNode(node, argumentErrorMsg);
+        }
+
+        var template = node.arguments[0].value;
+        if (typeof template !== "string") {
+          throw file.errorWithNode(node, argumentErrorMsg);
+        }
+
+        return replaceNodeWithPrecompiledTemplate(this, template);
+      }
+    },
+
+    TaggedTemplateExpression: function(node, parent, scope, file) {
+      if (t.isIdentifier(node.tag, { name: file.importSpecifier })) {
+        if (node.quasi.expressions.length) {
+          throw file.errorWithNode(node, "placeholders inside a tagged template string are not supported");
+        }
+
+        var template = node.quasi.quasis.map(function(quasi) {
+          return quasi.value.cooked;
+        }).join("");
+
+        return replaceNodeWithPrecompiledTemplate(this, template);
+      }
+    }
+  });
+}