diff --git a/src/atom-paths.js b/src/atom-paths.js
index 1dde4bd91f..49dc0fb6c4 100644
--- a/src/atom-paths.js
+++ b/src/atom-paths.js
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ const getAppDirectory = () => {
 
 module.exports = {
   setAtomHome: homePath => {
-    // When a read-writeable .pulsar folder exists above app use that
+    // When a read-writeable `.pulsar` folder exists above the app directory,
+    // use that. The portability means that we don't have to use a different
+    // name to distinguish the release channel.
     const portableHomePath = path.join(getAppDirectory(), '..', '.pulsar');
     if (fs.existsSync(portableHomePath)) {
       if (hasWriteAccess(portableHomePath)) {
@@ -40,27 +42,30 @@ module.exports = {
       }
     }
 
-    // Check ATOM_HOME environment variable next
+    // Check the `ATOM_HOME` environment variable next.
     if (process.env.ATOM_HOME !== undefined) {
       return;
     }
 
-    // On Windows, we don’t try to set ATOM_HOME in `pulsar.cmd`; but we might
-    // set ATOM_CHANNEL to signal which location should be inferred as the
-    // default ATOM_HOME.
-    if (process.env.ATOM_CHANNEL) {
-      switch (process.env.ATOM_CHANNEL) {
-        case 'next':
-          process.env.ATOM_HOME = path.join(homePath, '.pulsar-next');
-          return;
-        default:
-          process.env.ATOM_HOME = path.join(homePath, '.pulsar');
-          return;
-      }
+    // We fall back to a `.pulsar` folder in the user's home folder — or a
+    // different folder name if we're not on the stable release channel.
+    //
+    // On macOS and Linux, `ATOM_HOME` gets set in `pulsar(-next).sh`, so we'd
+    // only get this far if the user launched via a non-shell method.
+    //
+    // On Windows, we don’t try to set `ATOM_HOME` in `pulsar.cmd`, so we'll
+    // always get this far.
+    //
+    // In these cases, we rely on `ATOM_CHANNEL`, which is defined either by
+    // the launcher script or by the main process shortly after launch
+    // (inferred via the version number).
+    //
+    let folderName = '.pulsar';
+    if (process.env.ATOM_CHANNEL === 'next') {
+      folderName = '.pulsar-next';
     }
 
-    // Fall back to default .atom folder in users home folder
-    process.env.ATOM_HOME = path.join(homePath, '.pulsar');
+    process.env.ATOM_HOME = path.join(homePath, folderName);
   },
 
   setUserData: app => {
@@ -80,5 +85,5 @@ module.exports = {
     }
   },
 
-  getAppDirectory: getAppDirectory
+  getAppDirectory
 };
diff --git a/src/command-installer.js b/src/command-installer.js
index f48bcd6f8f..0c11ab251c 100644
--- a/src/command-installer.js
+++ b/src/command-installer.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const path = require('path');
 const fs = require('fs-plus');
+const { getReleaseChannel } = require('./get-app-details.js');
 
 module.exports = class CommandInstaller {
   constructor(applicationDelegate) {
@@ -18,6 +19,10 @@ module.exports = class CommandInstaller {
     return process.resourcesPath;
   }
 
+  getReleaseChannel() {
+    return getReleaseChannel(this.appVersion);
+  }
+
   getScriptBaseName() {
     if (this.scriptBaseName) {
       return this.scriptBaseName;
@@ -26,22 +31,13 @@ module.exports = class CommandInstaller {
       // us the right name.
       return process.env.ATOM_BASE_NAME;
     }
-    // TODO: For now we can infer it from the presence of a file in the
-    // resources directory, but a better way would be to bake in the right
-    // metadata at build time.
-    for (let name in ['pulsar', 'pulsar-next']) {
-      for (let ext in ['sh', 'cmd']) {
-        let candidate = path.join(
-          this.getResourcesDirectory(),
-          `${name}.${ext}`
-        );
-        if (fs.existsSync(candidate)) {
-          this.scriptBaseName = name;
-          return name;
-        }
-      }
-    }
-    return 'pulsar';
+
+    // Otherwise we can make an educated guess from the name of the release
+    // channel.
+    let releaseChannel = this.getReleaseChannel();
+    this.scriptBaseName = releaseChannel === 'next' ? 'pulsar-next' : 'pulsar';
+
+    return this.scriptBaseName;
   }
 
   async installShellCommandsInteractively() {
diff --git a/src/main-process/start.js b/src/main-process/start.js
index 829aba60ae..5ce7fe4eb7 100644
--- a/src/main-process/start.js
+++ b/src/main-process/start.js
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ module.exports = function start(resourcePath, devResourcePath, startTime) {
   args.resourcePath = normalizeDriveLetterName(resourcePath);
   args.devResourcePath = normalizeDriveLetterName(devResourcePath);
 
+  const releaseChannel = getReleaseChannel(app.getVersion());
+  process.env.ATOM_CHANNEL ??= releaseChannel;
   atomPaths.setAtomHome(app.getPath('home'));
   atomPaths.setUserData(app);
 
@@ -69,7 +71,6 @@ module.exports = function start(resourcePath, devResourcePath, startTime) {
     return;
   }
 
-  const releaseChannel = getReleaseChannel(app.getVersion());
   let appUserModelId = 'dev.pulsar-edit.pulsar.' + process.arch;
 
   // If the release channel is not stable, we append it to the app user model id.
diff --git a/src/package-manager.js b/src/package-manager.js
index 23a8e904dc..4fb6d8a36f 100644
--- a/src/package-manager.js
+++ b/src/package-manager.js
@@ -177,12 +177,19 @@ module.exports = class PackageManager {
     return this.emitter.on('did-unload-package', callback);
   }
 
+  // Returns the command needed to invoke PPM for the current release channel.
+  static getCommandName() {
+    let releaseChannel = atom.getReleaseChannel();
+    let commandName = releaseChannel === 'next' ? 'ppm-next' : 'ppm';
+    return process.platform === 'win32' ? `${commandName}.cmd` : commandName;
+  }
+
   static possibleApmPaths(configPath) {
     if (process.env.APM_PATH || configPath) {
       return process.env.APM_PATH || configPath;
     }
 
-    const commandName = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'apm.cmd' : 'apm';
+    const commandName = this.getCommandName();
     const bundledPPMRoot = path.join(process.resourcesPath, 'app', 'ppm', 'bin', commandName);
     const unbundledPPMRoot = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'ppm', 'bin', commandName);
 
@@ -208,7 +215,7 @@ module.exports = class PackageManager {
       return configPath || this.apmPath;
     } else {
        this.apmPath = PackageManager.possibleApmPaths();
-       return this.apmPath
+       return this.apmPath;
     }
   }