diff --git a/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts b/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts
index e6e97e3a52..fb1581ef08 100644
--- a/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/commit-message/cli.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
 import * as yargs from 'yargs';
+import {getUserConfig} from '../utils/config';
 
 import {info} from '../utils/console';
 
@@ -78,11 +79,17 @@ export function buildCommitMessageParser(localYargs: yargs.Argv) {
                 }
                 return file;
               },
+            },
+            'error': {
+              type: 'boolean',
+              description:
+                  'Whether invalid commit messages should be treated as failures rather than a warning',
+              default: !!getUserConfig().commitMessage?.errorOnInvalidMessage || !!process.env['CI']
             }
           },
           args => {
             const file = args.file || args['file-env-variable'] || '.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG';
-            validateFile(file);
+            validateFile(file, args.error);
           })
       .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 830d33ab2d..87973835ca 100644
--- a/dev-infra/commit-message/validate-file.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/commit-message/validate-file.ts
@@ -8,29 +8,40 @@
 import {readFileSync} from 'fs';
 import {resolve} from 'path';
 
-import {getRepoBaseDir} from '../utils/config';
-import {error, green, info, red} from '../utils/console';
+import {getRepoBaseDir, getUserConfig} from '../utils/config';
+import {error, green, info, log, red, yellow} from '../utils/console';
 
 import {deleteCommitMessageDraft, saveCommitMessageDraft} from './commit-message-draft';
 import {printValidationErrors, validateCommitMessage} from './validate';
 
 /** Validate commit message at the provided file path. */
-export function validateFile(filePath: string) {
+export function validateFile(filePath: string, isErrorMode: boolean) {
   const commitMessage = readFileSync(resolve(getRepoBaseDir(), filePath), 'utf8');
   const {valid, errors} = validateCommitMessage(commitMessage);
   if (valid) {
     info(`${green('√')}  Valid commit message`);
     deleteCommitMessageDraft(filePath);
+    process.exitCode = 0;
     return;
   }
 
-  error(`${red('✘')}  Invalid commit message`);
-  printValidationErrors(errors);
-  error('Aborting commit attempt due to invalid commit message.');
+  /** Function used to print to the console log. */
+  let printFn = isErrorMode ? error : log;
+
+  printFn(`${isErrorMode ? red('✘') : yellow('!')}  Invalid commit message`);
+  printValidationErrors(errors, printFn);
+  if (isErrorMode) {
+    printFn(red('Aborting commit attempt due to invalid commit message.'));
+    printFn(
+        red('Commit message aborted as failure rather than warning due to local configuration.'));
+  } else {
+    printFn(yellow('Before this commit can be merged into the upstream repository, it must be'));
+    printFn(yellow('amended to follow commit message guidelines.'));
+  }
 
   // On all invalid commit messages, the commit message should be saved as a draft to be
   // restored on the next commit attempt.
   saveCommitMessageDraft(filePath, commitMessage);
-  // If the validation did not return true, exit as a failure.
-  process.exit(1);
+  // Set the correct exit code based on if invalid commit message is an error.
+  process.exitCode = isErrorMode ? 1 : 0;
 }