diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index f91aeca1e5..792a11cae8 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -43,7 +43,12 @@ gem 'ember-source', '2.13.3'
 gem 'ember-handlebars-template', '0.7.5'
 gem 'barber'
 
-gem 'message_bus'
+# message bus 2.2.0 should be very stable
+# we trimmed some of the internal API surface down so we went with
+# a pre release here to make we don't do a full release prior to
+# baking here. Remove 2.2.0.pre no later than Jan 2019 and move back
+# to the standard releases
+gem 'message_bus', '2.2.0.pre.1'
 
 gem 'rails_multisite'
 
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 22551fd1a3..daefc70c4e 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ GEM
       mini_mime (>= 0.1.1)
     maxminddb (0.1.21)
     memory_profiler (0.9.12)
-    message_bus (2.1.6)
+    message_bus (2.2.0.pre.1)
       rack (>= 1.1.3)
     metaclass (0.0.4)
     method_source (0.8.2)
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   mail (= 2.7.1.rc1)
   maxminddb
   memory_profiler
-  message_bus
+  message_bus (= 2.2.0.pre.1)
   mini_mime
   mini_racer
   mini_scheduler