diff --git a/tools/release/git/github-urls.ts b/tools/release/git/github-urls.ts
index 8afd37b7e593..0c0fdbbdc83d 100644
--- a/tools/release/git/github-urls.ts
+++ b/tools/release/git/github-urls.ts
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ export function getGithubBranchCommitsUrl(owner: string, repository: string, bra
 
 /** Gets a Github URL that can be used to create a new release from a given tag. */
 export function getGithubNewReleaseUrl(options: {owner: string, repository: string,
-    tagName: string, releaseTitle: string}) {
+    tagName: string, releaseTitle: string, body: string}) {
 
   return `https://github.com/${options.owner}/${options.repository}/releases/new?` +
     `tag=${encodeURIComponent(options.tagName)}&` +
-    `title=${encodeURIComponent(options.releaseTitle)}&`;
+    `title=${encodeURIComponent(options.releaseTitle)}&` +
+    `body=${encodeURIComponent(options.body)}`;
 }
diff --git a/tools/release/publish-release.ts b/tools/release/publish-release.ts
index 39b6b81cb0e1..be6a832bcac6 100644
--- a/tools/release/publish-release.ts
+++ b/tools/release/publish-release.ts
@@ -126,6 +126,9 @@ class PublishReleaseTask extends BaseReleaseTask {
       repository: this.repositoryName,
       tagName: newVersionName,
       releaseTitle: releaseTitle,
+      // TODO: we cannot insert the real changelog here since the URL would become
+      // way too large and Github would consider this as a malformed page request.
+      body: 'Copy-paste changelog in here!'
     });
 
     console.log();
@@ -133,8 +136,11 @@ class PublishReleaseTask extends BaseReleaseTask {
 
     // Always log out of npm after releasing to prevent unintentional changes to
     // any packages.
-    npmLogout();
-    console.info(green(bold(`  ✓   Logged out of npm`)));
+    if (npmLogout()) {
+      console.info(green(`  ✓   Logged out of npm`));
+    } else {
+      console.error(red(`  ✘   Could not log out of NPM. Please manually log out!`));
+    }
 
     console.info(yellow(`  ⚠   Please draft a new release of the version on Github.`));
     console.info(yellow(`      ${newReleaseUrl}`));