diff --git a/synthtool/gcp/common.py b/synthtool/gcp/common.py
index 80300b003..9b3fb893a 100644
--- a/synthtool/gcp/common.py
+++ b/synthtool/gcp/common.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import re
 import yaml
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import List
 
 from synthtool.languages import node
 from synthtool.sources import templates
@@ -33,11 +34,14 @@
 class CommonTemplates:
     def __init__(self):
         self._templates = templates.Templates(_TEMPLATES_DIR)
+        self.excludes = []  # type: List[str]
 
     def _generic_library(self, directory: str, **kwargs) -> Path:
+        # load common repo meta information (metadata that's not language specific).
         if "metadata" in kwargs:
             self._load_generic_metadata(kwargs["metadata"])
-        t = templates.TemplateGroup(_TEMPLATES_DIR / directory)
+
+        t = templates.TemplateGroup(_TEMPLATES_DIR / directory, self.excludes)
         result = t.render(**kwargs)
         _tracked_paths.add(result)
         metadata.add_template_source(
@@ -49,6 +53,11 @@ def py_library(self, **kwargs) -> Path:
         return self._generic_library("python_library", **kwargs)
 
     def node_library(self, **kwargs) -> Path:
+        # TODO: once we've migrated all Node.js repos to either having
+        #  .repo-metadata.json, or excluding README.md, we can remove this.
+        if not os.path.exists("./.repo-metadata.json"):
+            self.excludes.append("README.md")
+
         kwargs["metadata"] = node.read_metadata()
         kwargs["publish_token"] = node.get_publish_token(kwargs["metadata"]["name"])
         return self._generic_library("node_library", **kwargs)
diff --git a/synthtool/sources/templates.py b/synthtool/sources/templates.py
index a9a94cb07..e9ee5a0a5 100644
--- a/synthtool/sources/templates.py
+++ b/synthtool/sources/templates.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-from typing import Union
+from typing import Union, List
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import jinja2
@@ -69,14 +69,18 @@ def render(self, template_name: str, **kwargs) -> Path:
 
 
 class TemplateGroup:
-    def __init__(self, location: PathOrStr) -> None:
+    def __init__(self, location: PathOrStr, excludes: List[str] = []) -> None:
         self.env = _make_env(location)
         self.dir = tmp.tmpdir()
+        self.excludes = excludes
 
     def render(self, **kwargs) -> Path:
         for template_name in self.env.list_templates():
-            print(template_name)
-            _render_to_path(self.env, template_name, self.dir, kwargs)
+            if template_name not in self.excludes:
+                print(template_name)
+                _render_to_path(self.env, template_name, self.dir, kwargs)
+            else:
+                print(f"Skipping: {template_name}")
 
         return self.dir