diff --git a/lib/publish-gh-pages.js b/lib/publish-gh-pages.js
index 7b2f6ba162..3877b599a7 100755
--- a/lib/publish-gh-pages.js
+++ b/lib/publish-gh-pages.js
@@ -110,18 +110,14 @@ shell.exec('git rm -rf .');
 
 shell.cd('../..');
 
-fromPath = path.join('build', PROJECT_PATH, '/');
-toPath = path.join('build', `${PROJECT_NAME}-${DEPLOYMENT_BRANCH}`);
-// In github.io case, project is deployed to root. Need to not recursively
-// copy the deployment-branch to be.
-excludePath = `${PROJECT_NAME}-${DEPLOYMENT_BRANCH}`;
-// cannot use shell.cp because it doesn't support copying dotfiles and we
-// need to copy directories like .circleci, for example
-// https://github.com/shelljs/shelljs/issues/79
-shell.exec(
-  `rsync -rtv --exclude=${excludePath} --exclude=.DS_Store ${fromPath} ${
-    toPath
-  }`
+shell.cp(
+  '-R',
+  // in github.io case, project is deployed to root. need to not recursively
+  // copy the deployment-branch to be.
+  // The !(...) represents the same thing as "everything but this"
+  // Copies everything in /build except the directory after the !.
+  path.join('build', PROJECT_PATH, `!(${PROJECT_NAME}-${DEPLOYMENT_BRANCH})`),
+  path.join('build', `${PROJECT_NAME}-${DEPLOYMENT_BRANCH}`)
 );
 
 shell.cd(path.join('build', `${PROJECT_NAME}-${DEPLOYMENT_BRANCH}`));