diff --git a/shell.js b/shell.js
index 7a4f4c8..b829f5e 100644
--- a/shell.js
+++ b/shell.js
@@ -1698,18 +1698,22 @@ function tempDir() {
   if (state.tempDir)
     return state.tempDir; // from cache
 
-  state.tempDir = writeableDir(process.env['TMPDIR']) ||
-                  writeableDir(process.env['TEMP']) ||
-                  writeableDir(process.env['TMP']) ||
-                  writeableDir(process.env['Wimp$ScrapDir']) || // RiscOS
-                  writeableDir('C:\\TEMP') || // Windows
-                  writeableDir('C:\\TMP') || // Windows
-                  writeableDir('\\TEMP') || // Windows
-                  writeableDir('\\TMP') || // Windows
-                  writeableDir('/tmp') ||
-                  writeableDir('/var/tmp') ||
-                  writeableDir('/usr/tmp') ||
-                  writeableDir('.'); // last resort
+  state.tempDir = os.tmpDir ?
+    // node 0.8+ has `os.tmpDir()`
+    os.tmpDir() :
+    // back-compat for older node installs
+    writeableDir(process.env['TMPDIR']) ||
+    writeableDir(process.env['TEMP']) ||
+    writeableDir(process.env['TMP']) ||
+    writeableDir(process.env['Wimp$ScrapDir']) || // RiscOS
+    writeableDir('C:\\TEMP') || // Windows
+    writeableDir('C:\\TMP') || // Windows
+    writeableDir('\\TEMP') || // Windows
+    writeableDir('\\TMP') || // Windows
+    writeableDir('/tmp') ||
+    writeableDir('/var/tmp') ||
+    writeableDir('/usr/tmp') ||
+    writeableDir('.'); // last resort
 
   return state.tempDir;
 }
diff --git a/test/tempdir.js b/test/tempdir.js
index 704ca56..ebf5914 100644
--- a/test/tempdir.js
+++ b/test/tempdir.js
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ var shell = require('..');
 
 var assert = require('assert'),
     path = require('path'),
-    fs = require('fs');
+    fs = require('fs'),
+    os = require('os');
 
 // Node shims for < v0.7
 fs.existsSync = fs.existsSync || path.existsSync;
@@ -21,6 +22,10 @@ shell.mkdir('tmp');
 //
 
 var tmp = shell.tempdir();
+// node 0.8+
+if (os.tmpDir) {
+  assert.equal(os.tmpDir(), tmp);
+}
 assert.equal(shell.error(), null);
 assert.equal(fs.existsSync(tmp), true);