diff --git a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/package.json b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/package.json
index 525a1e997..f61752221 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/package.json
+++ b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/package.json
@@ -10,13 +10,14 @@
     "source-map-support": "^0.5.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "@types/aws-lambda": "0.0.22",
+    "@types/aws-lambda": "8.10.1",
     "@types/node": "^8.0.57",
-    "serverless-webpack": "^4.0.0",
-    "ts-loader": "^2.3.7",
-    "typescript": "^2.5.2",
-    "webpack": "^3.6.0"
+    "serverless-webpack": "^5.1.1",
+    "ts-loader": "^4.2.0",
+    "typescript": "^2.8.1",
+    "webpack": "^4.5.0"
   },
-  "author": "The serverless webpack authors (https://github.com/elastic-coders/serverless-webpack)",
+  "author":
+    "The serverless webpack authors (https://github.com/elastic-coders/serverless-webpack)",
   "license": "MIT"
 }
diff --git a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/serverless.yml b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/serverless.yml
index bb8a2f566..ef04a44b7 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/serverless.yml
+++ b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/serverless.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ plugins:
 
 provider:
   name: aws
-  runtime: nodejs6.10
+  runtime: nodejs8.10
 
 functions:
   hello:
diff --git a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/tsconfig.json b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/tsconfig.json
index cb07c78d8..20be6a1c6 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/tsconfig.json
+++ b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 {
   "compilerOptions": {
     "sourceMap": true,
+    "target": "es6",
     "lib": [
-      "es5",
-      "es2015.promise"
-    ]
+      "esnext"
+    ],
+    "moduleResolution": "node"
   },
   "exclude": [
     "node_modules"
diff --git a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/webpack.config.js b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/webpack.config.js
index 46a0b7e61..482b98431 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/webpack.config.js
+++ b/lib/plugins/create/templates/aws-nodejs-typescript/webpack.config.js
@@ -3,21 +3,16 @@ const slsw = require('serverless-webpack');
 
 const entries = {};
 
-Object.keys(slsw.lib.entries).forEach(key => (
-  entries[key] = ['./source-map-install.js', slsw.lib.entries[key]]
-));
+Object.keys(slsw.lib.entries).forEach(
+  key => (entries[key] = ['./source-map-install.js', slsw.lib.entries[key]])
+);
 
 module.exports = {
+  mode: slsw.lib.webpack.isLocal ? 'development' : 'production',
   entry: entries,
   devtool: 'source-map',
   resolve: {
-    extensions: [
-      '.js',
-      '.jsx',
-      '.json',
-      '.ts',
-      '.tsx'
-    ]
+    extensions: ['.js', '.jsx', '.json', '.ts', '.tsx'],
   },
   output: {
     libraryTarget: 'commonjs',
@@ -26,8 +21,9 @@ module.exports = {
   },
   target: 'node',
   module: {
-    loaders: [
-      { test: /\.ts(x?)$/, loader: 'ts-loader' },
+    rules: [
+      // all files with a `.ts` or `.tsx` extension will be handled by `ts-loader`
+      { test: /\.tsx?$/, loader: 'ts-loader' },
     ],
   },
 };