diff --git a/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts b/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts
index aada6a3178..6e459d19d2 100644
--- a/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,29 @@ export function buildCommitMessageParser(localYargs: yargs.Argv) {
   return localYargs.help()
       .strict()
       .command(
-          'pre-commit-validate', 'Validate the most recent commit message', {},
-          () => {
-            validateFile('.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG');
+          'pre-commit-validate', 'Validate the most recent commit message', {
+            'file': {
+              type: 'string',
+              conflicts: ['file-env-variable'],
+              description: 'The path of the commit message file.',
+            },
+            'file-env-variable': {
+              type: 'string',
+              conflicts: ['file'],
+              description:
+                  'The key of the environment variable for the path of the commit message file.',
+              coerce: arg => {
+                const file = process.env[arg];
+                if (!file) {
+                  throw new Error(`Provided environment variable "${arg}" was not found.`);
+                }
+                return file;
+              },
+            }
+          },
+          args => {
+            const file = args.file || args.fileEnvVariable || '.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG';
+            validateFile(file);
           })
       .command(
           'validate-range', 'Validate a range of commit messages', {
diff --git a/dev-infra/commit-message/validate-file.ts b/dev-infra/commit-message/validate-file.ts
index b5c02555a9..9769caa33b 100644
--- a/dev-infra/commit-message/validate-file.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/commit-message/validate-file.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
 import {readFileSync} from 'fs';
-import {join} from 'path';
+import {resolve} from 'path';
 
 import {getRepoBaseDir} from '../utils/config';
 
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import {validateCommitMessage} from './validate';
 
 /** Validate commit message at the provided file path. */
 export function validateFile(filePath: string) {
-  const commitMessage = readFileSync(join(getRepoBaseDir(), filePath), 'utf8');
+  const commitMessage = readFileSync(resolve(getRepoBaseDir(), filePath), 'utf8');
   if (validateCommitMessage(commitMessage)) {
     console.info('√  Valid commit message');
     return;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 0f2589f789..647c82bbb3 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@
   "cldr-data-coverage": "full",
   "husky": {
     "hooks": {
-      "commit-msg": "yarn -s ng-dev commit-message pre-commit-validate"
+      "commit-msg": "yarn -s ng-dev commit-message pre-commit-validate --file-env-variable HUSKY_GIT_PARAMS"
     }
   }
 }