diff --git a/.ng-dev/config.ts b/.ng-dev/config.ts
index 573b9f1847..4f059b5a6e 100644
--- a/.ng-dev/config.ts
+++ b/.ng-dev/config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {commitMessage} from './commit-message';
 import {format} from './format';
 import {github} from './github';
 import {merge} from './merge';
+import {release} from './release';
 
 module.exports = {
   commitMessage,
@@ -10,4 +11,5 @@ module.exports = {
   github,
   merge,
   caretaker,
+  release,
 };
diff --git a/.ng-dev/release.ts b/.ng-dev/release.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b285ece61a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ng-dev/release.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import {join} from 'path';
+import {exec} from 'shelljs';
+import {ReleaseConfig} from '../dev-infra/release/config';
+
+/** Configuration for the `ng-dev release` command. */
+export const release: ReleaseConfig = {
+  npmPackages: [
+    '@angular/animations',
+    '@angular/bazel',
+    '@angular/common',
+    '@angular/compiler',
+    '@angular/compiler-cli',
+    '@angular/core',
+    '@angular/elements',
+    '@angular/forms',
+    '@angular/language-service',
+    '@angular/localize',
+    '@angular/platform-browser',
+    '@angular/platform-browser-dynamic',
+    '@angular/platform-server',
+    '@angular/platform-webworker',
+    '@angular/platform-webworker-dynamic',
+    '@angular/router',
+    '@angular/service-worker',
+    '@angular/upgrade',
+  ],
+  // TODO: Implement release package building here.
+  buildPackages: async () => [],
+  // TODO: This can be removed once there is a org-wide tool for changelog generation.
+  generateReleaseNotesForHead: async () => {
+    exec('yarn -s gulp changelog', {cwd: join(__dirname, '../')});
+  },
+};
diff --git a/dev-infra/release/config/BUILD.bazel b/dev-infra/release/config/BUILD.bazel
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b8f17b6bf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-infra/release/config/BUILD.bazel
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+load("@npm_bazel_typescript//:index.bzl", "ts_library")
+
+ts_library(
+    name = "config",
+    srcs = glob([
+        "**/*.ts",
+    ]),
+    module_name = "@angular/dev-infra-private/release/config",
+    visibility = ["//dev-infra:__subpackages__"],
+    deps = [
+        "//dev-infra/utils",
+        "@npm//@types/semver",
+    ],
+)
diff --git a/dev-infra/release/config/index.ts b/dev-infra/release/config/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..da1f759116
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-infra/release/config/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google LLC All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+
+import * as semver from 'semver';
+
+import {assertNoErrors, getConfig, NgDevConfig} from '../../utils/config';
+
+/** Interface describing a built package. */
+export interface BuiltPackage {
+  /** Name of the package. */
+  name: string;
+  /** Path to the package output directory. */
+  outputPath: string;
+}
+
+/** Configuration for staging and publishing a release. */
+export interface ReleaseConfig {
+  /** Registry URL used for publishing release packages. Defaults to the NPM registry. */
+  publishRegistry?: string;
+  /** List of NPM packages that are published as part of this project. */
+  npmPackages: string[];
+  /** Builds release packages and returns a list of paths pointing to the output. */
+  buildPackages: () => Promise<BuiltPackage[]|null>;
+  /** Generates the release notes from the most recent tag to `HEAD`. */
+  generateReleaseNotesForHead: (outputPath: string) => Promise<void>;
+  /**
+   * Gets a pattern for extracting the release notes of the a given version.
+   * @returns A pattern matching the notes for a given version (including the header).
+   */
+  // TODO: Remove this in favor of a canonical changelog format across the Angular organization.
+  extractReleaseNotesPattern?: (version: semver.SemVer) => RegExp;
+}
+
+/** Configuration for releases in the dev-infra configuration. */
+export type DevInfraReleaseConfig = NgDevConfig<{release: ReleaseConfig}>;
+
+/** Retrieve and validate the config as `ReleaseConfig`. */
+export function getReleaseConfig(config: Partial<DevInfraReleaseConfig> = getConfig()):
+    ReleaseConfig {
+  // List of errors encountered validating the config.
+  const errors: string[] = [];
+
+  if (config.release === undefined) {
+    errors.push(`No configuration defined for "release"`);
+  }
+  if (config.release?.npmPackages === undefined) {
+    errors.push(`No "npmPackages" configured for releasing.`);
+  }
+  if (config.release?.buildPackages === undefined) {
+    errors.push(`No "buildPackages" function configured for releasing.`);
+  }
+  if (config.release?.generateReleaseNotesForHead === undefined) {
+    errors.push(`No "generateReleaseNotesForHead" function configured for releasing.`);
+  }
+
+  assertNoErrors(errors);
+  return config.release!;
+}