diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 549579ab..c6d20cc3 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -64,9 +64,11 @@
     "typescript": "^3.2.2"
   },
   "dependencies": {
+    "@types/is-ci": "^1.1.0",
     "chalk": "^1.1.3",
     "cross-spawn": "^5.1.0",
     "fs-extra": "^4.0.1",
+    "is-ci": "^2.0.0",
     "klaw-sync": "^4.0.0",
     "minimist": "^1.2.0",
     "rimraf": "^2.6.2",
diff --git a/src/applyPatches.ts b/src/applyPatches.ts
index e71f7c59..352e00a3 100644
--- a/src/applyPatches.ts
+++ b/src/applyPatches.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ import { posix } from "path"
 import { getPackageDetailsFromPatchFilename } from "./PackageDetails"
 import { parsePatchFile } from "./patch/parse"
 import { reversePatch } from "./patch/reverse"
+import isCi from "is-ci"
+
+// don't want to exit(1) on postinsall locally.
+// see https://github.com/ds300/patch-package/issues/86
+const shouldExitPostinstallWithError = isCi || process.env.NODE_ENV === "test"
 
 function findPatchFiles(patchesDirectory: string): string[] {
   if (!existsSync(patchesDirectory)) {
@@ -49,7 +54,7 @@ export const applyPatchesForApp = (
 
   if (files.length === 0) {
     console.error(red("No patch files found"))
-    process.exit(1)
+    process.exit(shouldExitPostinstallWithError ? 1 : 0)
   }
 
   files.forEach(filename => {
@@ -106,7 +111,7 @@ export const applyPatchesForApp = (
           pathSpecifier,
         })
       }
-      process.exit(1)
+      process.exit(shouldExitPostinstallWithError ? 1 : 0)
     }
   })
 }
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index ffaa4ed9..b36a6a60 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@
   dependencies:
     "@types/node" "*"
 
+"@types/is-ci@^1.1.0":
+  version "1.1.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/is-ci/-/is-ci-1.1.0.tgz#583c5fbfcc461be9971106b9558930d67df49227"
+  integrity sha512-NbyqP5D4hwl5UWnnW4Cz0gIRjhecgx/9OApcCIpp4+tjqjROGf/NBcKKDfbI3YFBTTkD3JBshiNSv5V7VoVJJg==
+
 "@types/jest@^23.3.12":
   version "23.3.12"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/jest/-/jest-23.3.12.tgz#7e0ced251fa94c3bc2d1023d4b84b2992fa06376"
@@ -707,6 +712,11 @@ ci-info@^1.0.0:
   version "1.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/ci-info/-/ci-info-1.0.0.tgz#dc5285f2b4e251821683681c381c3388f46ec534"
 
+ci-info@^2.0.0:
+  version "2.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/ci-info/-/ci-info-2.0.0.tgz#67a9e964be31a51e15e5010d58e6f12834002f46"
+  integrity sha512-5tK7EtrZ0N+OLFMthtqOj4fI2Jeb88C4CAZPu25LDVUgXJ0A3Js4PMGqrn0JU1W0Mh1/Z8wZzYPxqUrXeBboCQ==
+
 class-utils@^0.3.5:
   version "0.3.6"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/class-utils/-/class-utils-0.3.6.tgz#f93369ae8b9a7ce02fd41faad0ca83033190c463"
@@ -1846,6 +1856,13 @@ is-ci@^1.0.10, is-ci@^1.0.9:
   dependencies:
     ci-info "^1.0.0"
 
+is-ci@^2.0.0:
+  version "2.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/is-ci/-/is-ci-2.0.0.tgz#6bc6334181810e04b5c22b3d589fdca55026404c"
+  integrity sha512-YfJT7rkpQB0updsdHLGWrvhBJfcfzNNawYDNIyQXJz0IViGf75O8EBPKSdvw2rF+LGCsX4FZ8tcr3b19LcZq4w==
+  dependencies:
+    ci-info "^2.0.0"
+
 is-data-descriptor@^0.1.4:
   version "0.1.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/is-data-descriptor/-/is-data-descriptor-0.1.4.tgz#0b5ee648388e2c860282e793f1856fec3f301b56"