diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 63d3de4eac94..42d5f3ed5b4e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@
     "Tim Sullivan <tim@elastic.co>",
     "Yuri Astrakhan <yuri@elastic.co>"
   ],
+  "kibana": {
+    "clean": {
+      "extraPatterns": [
+        "build",
+        "optimize",
+        ".eslintcache"
+      ]
+    }
+  },
   "scripts": {
     "preinstall": "node ./preinstall_check",
     "kbn": "node scripts/kbn",
@@ -406,4 +415,4 @@
     "node": "8.11.4",
     "yarn": "^1.10.1"
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js b/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js
index 4660a71d482e..67732b54fc72 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js
@@ -7845,7 +7845,6 @@ class Project {
         this.path = projectPath;
         this.packageJsonLocation = (0, _path.resolve)(this.path, 'package.json');
         this.nodeModulesLocation = (0, _path.resolve)(this.path, 'node_modules');
-        this.optimizeLocation = (0, _path.resolve)(this.path, 'optimize');
         this.targetLocation = (0, _path.resolve)(this.path, 'target');
         this.productionDependencies = this.json.dependencies || {};
         this.devDependencies = this.json.devDependencies || {};
@@ -7900,6 +7899,9 @@ class Project {
     getIntermediateBuildDirectory() {
         return (0, _path.resolve)(this.path, this.getBuildConfig().intermediateBuildDirectory || '.');
     }
+    getCleanConfig() {
+        return this.json.kibana && this.json.kibana.clean || {};
+    }
     hasScript(name) {
         return name in this.scripts;
     }
@@ -23153,28 +23155,46 @@ function _asyncToGenerator(fn) { return function () { var gen = fn.apply(this, a
 const CleanCommand = exports.CleanCommand = {
     description: 'Remove the node_modules and target directories from all projects.',
     name: 'clean',
-    run(projects, projectGraph, { rootPath }) {
+    run(projects) {
         return _asyncToGenerator(function* () {
-            const directoriesToDelete = [];
+            const toDelete = [];
             for (const project of projects.values()) {
                 if (yield (0, _fs.isDirectory)(project.nodeModulesLocation)) {
-                    directoriesToDelete.push(project.nodeModulesLocation);
+                    toDelete.push({
+                        cwd: project.path,
+                        pattern: (0, _path.relative)(project.path, project.nodeModulesLocation)
+                    });
                 }
                 if (yield (0, _fs.isDirectory)(project.targetLocation)) {
-                    directoriesToDelete.push(project.targetLocation);
+                    toDelete.push({
+                        cwd: project.path,
+                        pattern: (0, _path.relative)(project.path, project.targetLocation)
+                    });
                 }
-                if (yield (0, _fs.isDirectory)(project.optimizeLocation)) {
-                    directoriesToDelete.push(project.optimizeLocation);
+                const { extraPatterns } = project.getCleanConfig();
+                if (extraPatterns) {
+                    toDelete.push({
+                        cwd: project.path,
+                        pattern: extraPatterns
+                    });
                 }
             }
-            if (directoriesToDelete.length === 0) {
-                _log.log.write(_chalk2.default.bold.green('\n\nNo directories to delete'));
+            if (toDelete.length === 0) {
+                _log.log.write(_chalk2.default.bold.green('\n\nNothing to delete'));
             } else {
-                _log.log.write(_chalk2.default.bold.red('\n\nDeleting directories:\n'));
-                for (const dir of directoriesToDelete) {
-                    const deleting = (0, _del2.default)(dir, { force: true });
-                    _ora2.default.promise(deleting, (0, _path.relative)(rootPath, dir));
-                    yield deleting;
+                _log.log.write(_chalk2.default.bold.red('\n\nDeleting:\n'));
+                const originalCwd = process.cwd();
+                try {
+                    for (const _ref of toDelete) {
+                        const { pattern, cwd } = _ref;
+
+                        process.chdir(cwd);
+                        const promise = (0, _del2.default)(pattern);
+                        _ora2.default.promise(promise, (0, _path.relative)(originalCwd, (0, _path.join)(cwd, String(pattern))));
+                        yield promise;
+                    }
+                } finally {
+                    process.chdir(originalCwd);
                 }
             }
         })();
diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/__snapshots__/bootstrap.test.ts.snap b/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/__snapshots__/bootstrap.test.ts.snap
index 003d434978ef..53c942de0aff 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/__snapshots__/bootstrap.test.ts.snap
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/__snapshots__/bootstrap.test.ts.snap
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ Array [
           },
         },
         "nodeModulesLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/node_modules",
-        "optimizeLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/optimize",
         "packageJsonLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/package.json",
         "path": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands",
         "productionDependencies": Object {
@@ -46,7 +45,6 @@ Array [
           "version": "1.0.0",
         },
         "nodeModulesLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/node_modules",
-        "optimizeLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/optimize",
         "packageJsonLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/package.json",
         "path": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar",
         "productionDependencies": Object {},
@@ -71,7 +69,6 @@ Array [
             "version": "1.0.0",
           },
           "nodeModulesLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/node_modules",
-          "optimizeLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/optimize",
           "packageJsonLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/package.json",
           "path": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar",
           "productionDependencies": Object {},
@@ -105,7 +102,6 @@ Array [
         "version": "1.0.0",
       },
       "nodeModulesLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/node_modules",
-      "optimizeLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/optimize",
       "packageJsonLocation": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar/package.json",
       "path": "<repoRoot>/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/packages/bar",
       "productionDependencies": Object {},
diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/clean.ts b/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/clean.ts
index 9c6f0853ec95..b3d433e22bd7 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/clean.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/src/commands/clean.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 import chalk from 'chalk';
 import del from 'del';
 import ora from 'ora';
-import { relative } from 'path';
+import { join, relative } from 'path';
 
 import { isDirectory } from '../utils/fs';
 import { log } from '../utils/log';
@@ -30,31 +30,56 @@ export const CleanCommand: ICommand = {
   description: 'Remove the node_modules and target directories from all projects.',
   name: 'clean',
 
-  async run(projects, projectGraph, { rootPath }) {
-    const directoriesToDelete = [];
+  async run(projects) {
+    const toDelete = [];
     for (const project of projects.values()) {
       if (await isDirectory(project.nodeModulesLocation)) {
-        directoriesToDelete.push(project.nodeModulesLocation);
+        toDelete.push({
+          cwd: project.path,
+          pattern: relative(project.path, project.nodeModulesLocation),
+        });
       }
 
       if (await isDirectory(project.targetLocation)) {
-        directoriesToDelete.push(project.targetLocation);
+        toDelete.push({
+          cwd: project.path,
+          pattern: relative(project.path, project.targetLocation),
+        });
       }
 
-      if (await isDirectory(project.optimizeLocation)) {
-        directoriesToDelete.push(project.optimizeLocation);
+      const { extraPatterns } = project.getCleanConfig();
+      if (extraPatterns) {
+        toDelete.push({
+          cwd: project.path,
+          pattern: extraPatterns,
+        });
       }
     }
 
-    if (directoriesToDelete.length === 0) {
-      log.write(chalk.bold.green('\n\nNo directories to delete'));
+    if (toDelete.length === 0) {
+      log.write(chalk.bold.green('\n\nNothing to delete'));
     } else {
-      log.write(chalk.bold.red('\n\nDeleting directories:\n'));
+      log.write(chalk.bold.red('\n\nDeleting:\n'));
 
-      for (const dir of directoriesToDelete) {
-        const deleting = del(dir, { force: true });
-        ora.promise(deleting, relative(rootPath, dir));
-        await deleting;
+      /**
+       * In order to avoid patterns like `/build` in packages from accidentally
+       * impacting files outside the package we use `process.chdir()` to change
+       * the cwd to the package and execute `del()` without the `force` option
+       * so it will check that each file being deleted is within the package.
+       *
+       * `del()` does support a `cwd` option, but it's only for resolving the
+       * patterns and does not impact the cwd check.
+       */
+      const originalCwd = process.cwd();
+      try {
+        for (const { pattern, cwd } of toDelete) {
+          process.chdir(cwd);
+          const promise = del(pattern);
+          ora.promise(promise, relative(originalCwd, join(cwd, String(pattern))));
+          await promise;
+        }
+      } finally {
+        process.chdir(originalCwd);
       }
     }
   },
diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project.ts b/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project.ts
index 58cc047aa8c2..bdc6be48e0cd 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project.ts
@@ -32,11 +32,15 @@ import {
 } from './package_json';
 import { installInDir, runScriptInPackage, runScriptInPackageStreaming } from './scripts';
 
-interface IBuildConfig {
+interface BuildConfig {
   skip?: boolean;
   intermediateBuildDirectory?: string;
 }
 
+interface CleanConfig {
+  extraPatterns?: string[];
+}
+
 export class Project {
   public static async fromPath(path: string) {
     const pkgJson = await readPackageJson(path);
@@ -46,7 +50,6 @@ export class Project {
   public readonly json: IPackageJson;
   public readonly packageJsonLocation: string;
   public readonly nodeModulesLocation: string;
-  public readonly optimizeLocation: string;
   public readonly targetLocation: string;
   public readonly path: string;
   public readonly allDependencies: IPackageDependencies;
@@ -62,7 +65,6 @@ export class Project {
 
     this.packageJsonLocation = resolvePath(this.path, 'package.json');
     this.nodeModulesLocation = resolvePath(this.path, 'node_modules');
-    this.optimizeLocation = resolvePath(this.path, 'optimize');
     this.targetLocation = resolvePath(this.path, 'target');
 
     this.productionDependencies = this.json.dependencies || {};
@@ -117,7 +119,7 @@ export class Project {
     );
   }
 
-  public getBuildConfig(): IBuildConfig {
+  public getBuildConfig(): BuildConfig {
     return (this.json.kibana && this.json.kibana.build) || {};
   }
 
@@ -130,6 +132,10 @@ export class Project {
     return resolvePath(this.path, this.getBuildConfig().intermediateBuildDirectory || '.');
   }
 
+  public getCleanConfig(): CleanConfig {
+    return (this.json.kibana && this.json.kibana.clean) || {};
+  }
+
   public hasScript(name: string) {
     return name in this.scripts;
   }