diff --git a/.npmrc b/.npmrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd3327a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.npmrc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build-utils/grunt-config/run.js b/build-utils/grunt-config/run.js
index c9fc981..bc129c7 100644
--- a/build-utils/grunt-config/run.js
+++ b/build-utils/grunt-config/run.js
@@ -4,25 +4,18 @@ module.exports = {
   options: {
     failOnError: true
   },
-  //run typescrip compiler directly since all tools don't support latest flags
+  //run typescript compiler directly since all tools don't support latest flags
   tscEs6: {
-    cmd: 'npm',
-    args: `run tsc -- src/ts/main.ts src/ts/file-reader.ts
-    --noEmit false
-    --outDir ./build/npm/lib/
-    --module es2020
-    --target es2020
-    --rootDir src/ts/
-    --declaration true
-    --declarationDir ./build/npm/types
-    `.replace(/\n[\t ]+/g, ' ').split(' ').filter(x => x != '')
+    options: {
+      cwd: process.cwd()
+    },
+    exec: `bash build-utils/tsc-build.sh`
   },
   npmPublish: {
     options: {
       cwd: process.cwd() + "/build/npm"
     },
-    cmd: 'npm',
-    args: ['publish'],
+    exec: `. ./ENV_VARS && npm publish`
   },
   publishRelease: {
     options: {
diff --git a/build-utils/release.sh b/build-utils/release.sh
index f68b64c..a157452 100644
--- a/build-utils/release.sh
+++ b/build-utils/release.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ set -e #exit on errors
 # check vars
 : "${VERSION?Need to set VERSION environment variable}"
 : "${GITHUB_TOKEN?Need to set GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable}"
+: "${NPM_TOKEN?Need to set NPM_TOKEN environment variable}"
 
 echo "Start Github release for ${VERSION}..."
 
diff --git a/build-utils/tsc-build.sh b/build-utils/tsc-build.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f48128c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-utils/tsc-build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# tsc-build.sh
+# assumes to run in repo root
+
+set -e #exit on errors
+
+# load (private) environment variables like RELEASE_KEY from non-commited file
+. ./ENV_VARS
+
+# check vars
+: "${NPM_TOKEN?Need to set NPM_TOKEN environment variable}"
+
+cd ./build/npm
+
+NPM_TOKEN=$NPM_TOKEN npm run tsc -- src/ts/main.ts src/ts/file-reader.ts \
+    --noEmit false \
+    --outDir ./build/npm/lib/ \
+    --module es2020 \
+    --target es2020 \
+    --rootDir src/ts/ \
+    --declaration true \
+    --declarationDir ./build/npm/types \
\ No newline at end of file